This was head coach Tom Young's 1st season at Old Dominion.

The Monarchs competed in the Sun Belt Conference and played their home games at the ODU Fieldhouse.

They lost in the semifinals of the 1986 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament, but did earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

9 seed West Virginia in the opening round[1] before losing to No.

1 seed and eventual National runner-up Duke[2] in the round of 32.