Dukes’ Slump Continues

A loss on the road to ODU is acceptable. Ditto for road loss at W&M. Dropping a home game to GMU is disappointing, but not the end of the world. Getting blown out by Drexel is troublesome. Coughing up a 10 point lead to a UNCW team that had lost 5 straight might mean it’s time to panic.

As we’ve come to expect, the Dukes couldn’t put together a full 40 minutes of basketball. Admittedly, the Seahawks aren’t very good. It was still encouraging to see JMU play some solid D and head into halftime with a 30-24 lead however. The fact that the Dukes build the lead without Bowles seeing much time due to foul trouble, made it even more impressive. In the second half, JMU just let the game get away from them with some untimely turnovers and poor shot selection.

Despite the Dukes’ typical offensive disappearing act in the second half, JMU still could have won the game. As I mentioned above, the Seahawks aren’t very good and they did their best to prove it to everyone watching last night. Seriously. They pretty much did whatever they could to let JMU back into the game. Foul the Dukes often to stop the clock? Sure. Miss wide open jumpers? Uh-huh. Brick free throws down the stretch? Yup. Commit costly turnovers? Definitely. It was ugly. And JMU still couldn’t capitalize.

So, is it time to panic? I still say no. What is there to panic about? This loss to to UNCW doesn’t really teach us anything. The Dukes are talented enough to beat any CAA team, and they’re inexperienced enough to lose to any CAA team. If you thought this team was poised to compete for the CAA, then God bless you and your optimism, but the time to panic was weeks ago. If you were hoping to see signs of improvement and for the Dukes move their way to the middle of the CAA pack, then just sit back and see how this thing plays out.  Maybe JMU can grow up by trying to pull itself out of this mess.