The Monarchists Podcast

The redshirt freshman who was six shooting guards deep. The 2010 and 2011 CAA titles. The chase-down blocks that turned into ODU legend. 10 seasons, 657 games, and five teams in the NBA. One of Monarch Nation's most requested guests finally sat down with Aaron and Mike ... and delivered.

There's a reason we've been trying to book this one for years. Kent Bazemore is the rare name that ties every era of Monarch Nation together - the redshirt freshman who couldn't buy a bucket in practice until January, the CAA Defensive Player who helped deliver ODU's conference titles in 2010 and 2011, and the undrafted kid from a town of 300 people who turned into a 10-season NBA veteran who guarded LeBron, played with Steph Curry, and suited up for the Golden State Warriors, LA Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Sacramento Kings.

This week, Kent joined us and it's easily one of the biggest, most requested episodes we've ever put out. Grab a seat. This one runs deep.

Sixth on the Depth Chart

Before he was a Monarch legend, Kent was the sixth shooting guard on Blaine Taylor's handwritten depth chart. Coach Taylor drove all the way to Bertie County, North Carolina for a home visit, shared a meal Kent's mom cooked, and pitched him on a redshirt year most programs weren't offering at the time.

"In the team two-mile, myself and Frank Hassell were battling for last place. That's how far I had to go before I even started playing... I was 164 pounds soaking wet as a freshman."

Kent didn't score his first bucket in practice until January. By his senior year, he was the last man standing from ODU's winningest recruiting class ever, captaining a roster that had lost four starters and still finding a way to lead.

2010, VCU, and Building Something Real

No conversation with Kent goes far without landing on the VCU rivalry and the 2010 CAA Championship: a program-defining run built on suicides, team two-miles, and endless reps breaking VCU's press. He still remembers the exact possession, in the Siegel Center, where the work finally showed up in a game: a flawless press-break that ended in an alley-oop that never touched the floor.

"That program was built. It was built with freshmen. It was built through recruiting... No one talked about transferring. We felt like we ain't have anywhere to go — and that's what if we wanna get those days back, we gotta start from the ground up again."

Kent was blunt about what's changed in college basketball since then and just as direct about what it would take for ODU to get back to that level: patience, continuity, and a staff willing to build around a freshman class instead of chasing the portal.

Chase-Downs, Kobe, and Guarding LeBron

The defensive identity that made Kent a CAA Defensive Team honoree and an NBA "3-and-D" fixture traces straight back to a Bertie High School team with ten football players on a twelve-man roster. He and point guard Darius James turned the chase-down block into a signature ODU highlight and Kent still calls it, without hesitation, the most satisfying play in basketball over anything else.

He went undrafted, forced his way onto Golden State's roster with nine NBA workouts and a Summer League he refused to let go, and later found himself guarding LeBron James in Cleveland with the same edge Blaine Taylor instilled at ODU. Years later, the two would be teammates. He also shared the surreal first night as a Laker: traded on a Thursday, suiting up against the Celtics on ESPN by Friday, and getting told by a rehabbing Kobe Bryant that the team "still sucks."

"I used to stay up till 1:00 in the morning watching Kobe close games in that very arena. He was rehabbing a fractured kneecap that year, and we're all excited — he walks in and says, 'Y'all still suck.' That was my first encounter."

Atlanta, the G League, and Life After the League

Kent opened up about his five years in Atlanta: a 19-game winning streak, an Eastern Conference Finals run alongside Al Horford, Jeff Teague, and Kyle Korver, and a "Kent Bazemore Day" proclamation from the city that meant more to him than any box score. He also got candid about what it cost him when he stepped away from that community work, and why he chose the G League and rec-league basketball at Lifetime Fitness late in his career instead of hanging it up - chasing the same love of the game that started at a YMCA in a town of 300 people.

Today, Kent's based in California, working on his next chapter, doing basketball consulting and mentoring, and staying close to his kids. His message for Monarch Nation closed the episode:

"We can get back to who we were, that blue collar — we bleed the blue. Day by day, brick by brick, and the return on that investment is gonna be worth it."

This is one to watch start to finish — full episode above. Go Monarchs.