Good Morning ODU Fam. Heading to the beach to have some fun and hang out with friends isn’t exactly an odd thing to be doing this time of year.

But for ODU basketball, their trip to the beach will be a bit of a different vibe.

What all do we have stirring in today’s Brew? Check it out below!

🏀 Ballin’ At The Beach
📈 Raising The Bar
🎥 Meeting The Monarchs: Jahleel Culbreath
​🦁 And much more!

🎥 MEETING THE MONARCHS

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Ballin’ At The Beach. For the first time since 2016, the Monarchs are going global.

Some beach, some basketball, some fun and some community service… all of that will be packed into a trip to Costa Rica this August for the ODU men’s hoops program.

The Monarchs will travel to San José and Los Sueños on August 10-17 to play three teams from Costa Rica’s First Division. In addition, the trip will include a walking tour of San José, an ATV tour, zip lining, and a community service project with a local school in San José.

It will be the program's first trip abroad since August 16-25, 2026 when the Monarchs went to Spain.

🔼 Raising The Bar. While the popular notion nationally may be that academics have taken a back seat in college athletics, Old Dominion’s 423 student-athletes had the best academic performance in school history in 2024-25.

ODU’s athletes combined for a composite 3.34 grade-point average this past school year. That is up singificantly from last year’s 3.27 performance, which was also the best in school history.

All told, 53 percent of Monarch athletes made the Dean’s List, which is far better than the average for ODU students. You must earn a 3.4 grade-point average to be named to the Dean’s List.

⏱️ COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 6️⃣8️⃣ DAYS

2013 was a breakout season for former ODU standout Larry Pinkard as the redshirt junior hauled in 6️⃣8️⃣ passes for 1,020 yards and nine TDs.

His 6️⃣8️⃣ receptions still stands as the fourth-highest single-season total in program history.

Pinkard went on to sign with four different NFL teams over a three year span, making his official NFL debut during the 2017 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

🦁 MONARCH TRIVIA

Which former Monarch holds the single-season program record for receptions?

Got a guess?

Scroll to the bottom to find the answer!

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Nick Mayers with 79 during the 2012 season.

🦁 Let’s get this week started, y’all!