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S3E12 - Monarchists Basketball Show ft. En'Dya Buford
Episode 1229th December 2024 • The Pride of ODU • The Monarchists
00:00:00 00:09:08

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Mike and Aaron sit down with En'Dya Buford., graduate student guard from Memphis, Tennessee for Old Dominion Women's Basketball, to talk about her path to ODU, her game, her teammates and a lot more.

Transcripts

Speaker:

Robert Davis Jr.: My name is

Robert the Natural Davis Jr.

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and you're watching the

Monarchist Basketball Show.

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Pride of ODU Intro: This episode of

the Monarchist Podcast is brought to

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you by the pride of ODU Collective.

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Their mission is to elevate the

experience of student athletes through

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name, image, and likeness, while

also elevating the fan experience.

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If you or your business are

interested in getting involved,

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you can reach out to us directly

or go over to the pride of odu.com.

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That is the pride of odu.com.

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Thank you for listening, and go Monarchs.

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Mike: Hey, thanks for

joining the show, En'Dya.

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Great to sit down and chat.

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What is it to you to

mean you're a Monarch?

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En'Dya: Oh, it means a lot to me just

to be playing under coach DeLisha

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Milton-Jones her just giving me the

opportunity to be here and, you know, just

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play for the program and, you know, go out

and display what we what we really good

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at and there's a plan for the program.

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Aaron: So you started your career

at Memphis, you're from Memphis,

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and then you went to Jones College

before coming to Old Dominion.

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How did your experiences there prepare

you for your success at Old Dominion?

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En'Dya: Obviously I didn't

really play much at Memphis, so

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I didn't really get to, you know,

display what I really can do.

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But Jones was really, you know,

where I really, you know, got to

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show people what I could really do.

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So it was just preparing me for

here, and when I got here, I really

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just honestly just played my game.

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I was really free.

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She gave me the opportunity to

just play my game, be happy,

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and you know, play my game.

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You know, just play.

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Mike: All right.

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Being from Memphis, there's a specific

style of basketball there in Memphis.

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It's tough.

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It's gritty.

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What has grown up in Memphis?

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How has it changed you as a player?

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En'Dya: Really just we dogs, like

we just go get it, play our hardest,

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you know, just, we just go get it.

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We just some dogs.

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That's all I can say.

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Aaron: Coming off of Jones, you had

opportunities to go other places.

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Why Old Dominion?

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En'Dya: DeLisha Milton-Jones.

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That's my answer.

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Just, you know, want to do the things

that she's done, and just why not

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come and, you know, play for her?

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So she can show me, you

know, how it's done.

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Mike: Alright, so you've played

under a few coaching staffs.

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What is it about DeLisha and her

staff that is different about the

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other staffs you've played for?

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En'Dya: Their passion, the way they care,

what they should love, just helping me

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grow both on and off the court, just,

you know, letting me play my game and let

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me be free and just, just being happy.

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Aaron: You've been part of a

few different teams in college.

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What's one thing that Old Dominion fans

should know most about this year's squad?

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En'Dya: We got a lot of dogs on our

team that really want to win, so once

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we just figure out everything we need

to figure out, you just . Hopefully

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we can just get the end goal and just

win the the, the conference title.

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Mike: All right, so before we started,

we asked coach D what did she want to

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hear from the players in this interview?

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And she said, I want to hear

their best impression of me

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. So what you got?

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En'Dya: Yep.

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Moving right along.

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Aaron: All right.

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What's different about Coach D?

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You brought her up a couple

times while you're here.

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What's different here?

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En'Dya: She's a good

role, a good role model.

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She gonna give you a chance, you know,

like a lot of people tend to give up

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on you like after the first second

chance, but she's gonna keep trying.

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Like she's really a nice genuine person.

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Like she'll do whatever for you and you

know, just the way she showed us how much

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you care, you know, whether it's three

o'clock in the morning, three o'clock

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in the evening, like she'll be there.

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And she really just stand on her

words, and she just like another, like

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another mother to me, honestly, and

the way she just pulled me up from like

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this deep dark hole from when I was

not playing, and to just give me an

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opportunity, and she just really believed

in me, so she's just different to me.

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Mike: Alright, so, you're in

your last year here, right?

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When you look back at this

experience at Old Dominion, what

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are you going to remember most?

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En'Dya: The fans, the coaches.

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Wait, hold up.

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I might have another year.

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Yeah, I have another year, but you know,

just the way the fans show love and they

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care with the way they show up for us.

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The coaches and really

just Norfolk being Norfolk.

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It's my second home.

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So,

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Aaron: okay, so tell us something

about one of your teammates that

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most Old Dominion fans wouldn't know.

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En'Dya: Hama'ya Fielder.

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She can sing.

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She can sing really good.

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She sound really good.

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Aaron: Any particular type of

singing or it doesn't matter?

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It

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En'Dya: doesn't matter.

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She can sing.

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Mike: All right, we're gonna do

some fun questions just quick.

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Just don't think too much about it.

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Okay.

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Favorite pregame meal?

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En'Dya: Pasta alfredo.

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, Aaron: I'm gonna make

this a two parter, right?

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Before game, are you

trying to pump yourself up?

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Are you trying to calm yourself down?

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And what's that pregame

song that get you there?

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En'Dya: Anything by Glorilla.

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money bag and really just me staying calm.

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Mike: Who's your favorite

basketball player to watch and why?

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En'Dya: I would say Ja.

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Obviously, he's from Memphis

and I just like the way he play.

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Aaron: What's the favorite

thing to do in your free time?

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En'Dya: Watch Netflix or shop for shoes.

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Mike: Do you have a favorite show on

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En'Dya: Netflix?

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Grey's Anatomy.

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Okay.

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Mike: And favorite type of shoe?

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En'Dya: Anything that

makes my foot feel good.

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So it really doesn't matter.

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Mike: So you're going comfort over style?

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En'Dya: Yes.

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Mike: I like that.

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That's smart.

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En'Dya: Gotta have the feet feeling good.

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Got to.

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Mike: All right.

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So you mentioned Glorilla and Moneybag.

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Do you have a favorite musician or band?

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En'Dya: Honestly, no.

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Aaron: All right.

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So if you weren't playing on the

basketball team here, What other team

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on campus would you be playing for?

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En'Dya: I can see myself playing softball.

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Softball.

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Mike: It's club sport here, it works.

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That's right.

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Alright, so, This is Aaron, this

is a question written by Aaron.

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So, if you're gonna look at anyone weird

about, talk about your height, it's him.

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Yes.

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So, despite your height, what's your

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Despite your height, which is the

same as Aaron, you fill the bucket and

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have a knack for grabbing rebounds.

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If you had to pick a favorite move

to pull off in the game, what is it?

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En'Dya: Hmm.

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Hesi crossover.

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Go to the goal.

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Mike: All right.

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I'm gonna ask a follow up.

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This is for me.

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En'Dya: Okay.

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Mike: We all played in a like in our

driveway or at the rec center growing up.

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And we all had that moment where we were

like, this is 3 2 1 to win the game.

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What was that shot?

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Was it you driving in the

lane or you taking the three?

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Doing a half court shot, what was

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En'Dya: it?

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Mine would probably be a three pointer.

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Three pointer for sure.

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Aaron: Life after hoops.

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Alright.

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At some point the ball stops

bouncing for everybody.

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What's your major and where do you see

yourself Once you stop playing basketball?

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En'Dya: I'm majoring in communication

right now, but after basketball

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driving trucks with my dad.

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Mike: Yeah.

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So does he do overnight

or is it like day trips?

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En'Dya: He used to be what is it called?

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Like stay for days and stuff like that.

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Over the road?

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Yeah, over the road.

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He used to be over the road by

night, but now he go and come back.

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So like overnight.

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Mike: All right.

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So.

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What is your top personal

goal for this season?

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And what is your top team

goal for this season?

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And what will it take to get there?

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En'Dya: Personal goal for me is

just to keep growing in any way that

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I can, both on and off the court.

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And then team goal is obviously just

winning the the Sun Belt Conference

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with my team and with my coaches.

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And for us to get there, we

just have to stay together and

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keep believing in the coaches.

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And keep believing in each other.

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Aaron: Alright, this is my last

one before Mike closes us out.

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You wear number 25?

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Is there significant

significance behind that number?

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En'Dya: Honestly, no.

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I used to have 24, but something happened

to the jersey, so I just switched to 25.

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Aaron: Okay.

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So 24 did that, was, was there something

special about that number At the time,

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En'Dya: my favorite player was

Kobe, so I just wanted to wear 24.

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Aaron: A lot of our

favorite players are Kobe.

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Yeah, that was a good one to have.

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Mike: Yeah.

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All right, so, our show is

supported by The Pride of ODU

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. Which is supported by the fans.

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Mm-hmm . Completely.

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Do you have a message for ODU fans?

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En'Dya: Thank you guys for all the

work that y'all have done this far.

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And hopefully y'all continue

to show up and show us love and

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we'll keep playing for y'all.

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Thank y'all so much.

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Mike: Awesome.

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Thank you and go Monarchs.

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Go, go Monarchs.

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En'Dya: Go Monarchs.

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Outro: Lion Roaring Outro

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