Taking a Look at the JMU Basketball Schedule
JMU officially released the 2010-2011 Men’s basketball schedule. The Dukes have a little bit of everything on the out of conference slate. JMU will test itself against athletes from power conferences (Big East, Big 12). They’ll get a chance to play against teams from mid-major conferences (MAC, Conference USA). They’ll even get to go head-to-head against privileged white kids with high SATs (Princeton). And then they’ll have the always tough CAA competition.
It’s tough to judge a schedule or make predictions this far out. It’s even harder considering this Dukes team will contain so many faces we didn’t see last year. At first glance though, I like this schedule a lot. The season starts with a real bang, as Matt Brady takes his team to Manhattan, Kansas to play Kansas State. The Wildcats finished second in the Big 12 last year and made it to the Elite 8. Playing them on the road, should be a great experience for a Dukes team looking to integrate many new pieces.
In November, The Convocation Center will host for the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Dukes will play against Princeton, Bucknell, and Presbyterian in this round-robin event. Bucknell finished second in the Patriot League last year and missed out on a shot at the NCAA’s when they were bounced from their conference tourney by Holy Cross (where my old man went to undergrad). Princeton (where my old man got his PhD…yeah, I’m kind of a disappointment) finished second in the Ivy League to a pretty ridiculous Cornell squad. Both teams should be good tests for the Dukes.
In addition to the out of conference highlights above, JMU plays a number of mid-majors and smaller conference opponents. Hopefully games against teams like Radford, Longwood, and Marshall should give the Dukes a chance to rack up some wins. The game against South Florida is an intriguing. A victory on the road against this Big East opponent could be huge confidence builder for the Dukes.
All in all, it’s a decent out of conference schedule. Some tough road games against teams from power conferences and some challenging games against mid-majors. I think it will get the Dukes ready to go for the CAA competition. I like the schedule, but I’m really much more excited to see how Denzel and Julius play with Moore, Semenov, and Coach Brady’s impressive recruiting class.
Nice to have hope this year! Would be very cool if the basketball team got rolling while a certain other team was practicing for a game in early January. Start to find out whether that’s possible this weekend.
Also – thanks to everyone for the solid comments on the tailgating issues. I’m definitely going to follow the lead and send my own letter Bourne and Rose’s way. In the meantime, let’s make this weekend’s pregame an old-school debacle!
Wait, do you really think the recruiting class for Brady was THAT good? I’m not grilling you here, but the only kid I kind’ve liked was the transfer from Wyoming…who won’t be eligible until next season. And also, any news on where Darren White went? I can’t find anything on him anywhere.
Fair point. I don’t actually think the class is THAT good, but I think guys like Goins should help do the dirty work, like rebound and play D, which didn’t get done last season. I also think Chad Jackson makes the White move a wash at worst, and an upgrade at best.
I have no idea where White ended up by the way. I thought I read a rumor that he was looking for offers from non-Division 1 schools. As far as I know it was just a rumor though.
Good call on Goins being scrappy, I just watched a bunch of highlights and he looks promising in that respect. The only reason I questioned what you said was after I had taken a look at the recruiting classes of the other CAA schools, which looked muuuccchhh more impressive, at least to this untrained eye. I mean seriously, when VCU is getting legit rivals.com recruits year in and year out, and we’re reaching for two star guys, or guys who even break the 40 grade mark…the future looks bleak at best in conference play. Sometimes I feel like JMU basketball settles, kind’ve like me at a bar around 1 am. I know last call is coming up, so I’m not going to risk getting shot down by the 10’s and go home alone with only an hour left, I’m going to pursue the 6’s, the mediocre girls I know I can bring home. Fair enough to say a racy analogy, but also fair enough to say that it might be a correct one. Why don’t they PUSH for some of the players in the DMV. Yes, you can go to Maryland, but you’re going to ride the bench. Come to us, and you’ll be a star. i.e. Denzel Bowles @ Texas A&M