What To Watch Down the Stretch
Trevon Flores could be a key off the bench.
After ending their 3 game skid and knocking off Drexel, the Dukes are 16-6 overall, 6-4 in the league, and tied with Delaware for 5th place. Virtually every prediction I read in the preseason picked JMU to finish 4th, so they’re right around where we thought they’d be. Plus JMU still plays each of the teams ahead of them in the standings, so finishing in the top 4 is a legitimate possibility. For once the Dukes will be playing to try to secure a bye in the CAA tourney, instead of just hoping to avoid the play-in game. Here are 3 things we’ll be watching for in the second half of the season.
The Way Coach Brady Handles the Bench
Four JMU players, Denzel Bowles, Julius Wells, Devon Moore, and Humpty Hitchens, average over 30 minutes a contest. That could lead to some fatigue down the stretch. It will definitely be a factor if the Dukes advance in the CAA tournament and play games on back to back days. In all likelihood there will be games that require role players to not only spell the starters, but help win ball games. I’m curious to see how Brady handles things. He’d been using a rotation of 7 or 8 guys most nights, but opened things up and gave a bunch of guys minutes against Drexel. Trevon Flores took advantage of the opportunity and played really well. It will be interesting to see if Brady was just exploiting a match-up against Drexel, or if he’s really ready to go 9 or 10 deep.
The Play of Andrey Semenov
This is obviously closely linked to the point above, but it’s worth watching on its own. Lots of fans have been killing Semenov for his play against Hofstra and ODU. He made some unfortunate mistakes and showed questionable decision making in each game, but I think fans are giving him a raw deal. He should have given the ball to Denzel instead of taking the last shot against Hofstra and the lane violation just sucked. JMU did not lose that game because of Andrey though. He went 8 for 8 from the line, so you could actualy argue that he helped keep them in it. He had a couple obvious mistakes in recent losses, but he’s been a huge spark of the bench and the consummate energy guy all season. Brady seemed to send him a message by limiting his playing time against Drexel. I’ll be paying attention to see if Andrey gets the message and improves his late game decision making, without sacrificing his aggressiveness that makes him so valuable.
Team Defense
Last season JMU football was all defense and questionable offense. Flip that around and you’ve got JMU basketball. The Dukes are tied with Mason for the highest scoring offense in the CAA. JMU is in 9th place for scoring defense, and 8th in 3-point percentage defense though. The Dukes showed they could win an ugly, defensive battle, on a relatively poor shooting night against Drexel. I think part of the reason was because Trevon Flores saw the floor and could slide over to provide help D when the Dragons penetrated. That help D was missing late against ODU, Mason, and Hofstra because Denzel was in foul trouble and had to avoid contact. I’m going to be watching to see if Trevon gets more minutes and enables the perimeter defenders to provide more pressure knowing they’ve got help.
I don’t know what to make of the team. Are we underperforming? What were our expectations coming into the season. I am slightly worried that I got too excited about the team and feel ‘let down’ by the losses when really I should be pretty excited we are in the CAA conversation for the first time since my days living above Clayton Ritter in Chandler.
At times I’m not sure if they’re underperforming, but they certainly have yet to hit on ally cylinders and play to their potential. Sounds the same, but I think there is a slight difference. Of the core 7 players, only 3 (Denzel, Julius, and Ben Louis) saw major minutes last season. I think this means the team is still gelling. I expect them to be able to beat some of these top teams the second time around and hopefully in the CAA tourney. If they don’t, I’ll say it’s underperforming. Right now, I’m going to convince myself they’re just finding themselves and building toward improvement. Or at least try to convince myself.
Does anyone know if you can get JMU vs GMU tickets for the game at the Patriot Center on 2/12 through JMU or is the only way through the Patriot Center/Ticketmaster?
Jason, I got mine through JMU. Just go to the Ticket section on jmusports.com and follow the links to basketball away games.
When you build a team quickly through transfers, team chemistry will suffer. That’s what I saw when I watched the GMU game. Defense is all five guys knowing what they are doing together. They don’t. With Bowles and Goins in the paint, our guards should be all over the other teams guards. When you know you have the most dominant inside force in the CAA behind you, JMU should be out a little further and not giving up so many 3’s. Anyways, I’m sure I’m wrong, just a thought. Great article JMUsportsblog.
Semenov has shown great hustle in the games I’ve watched. Unfortunate mistakes down the stretch in a couple of high profile games, but we need his contributions to be successful. Hard to be disappointed right now. It looks like Brady is building us back into a competitive program. They’ll get back on an upswing this season…hopefully peaking at the right time! How’s that for cup half full?