Time to Face the Ugly Truth

Julius didn't even contribute questionable shot selection tonight and the Dukes still stunk up the joint.

We might suck.  Brady has got to be in trouble now.  That’s really all there is to say after a game where the Dukes crushed William & Mary on the offensive glass and created a ton of turnovers yet used their typically dreadful offensive gameplan and a doghouse now full of players to get out of town with nothing but another big, fat loss, each one seemingly uglier than the last.  A lot of ball to be played, but someday the Dukes will have to learn to beat the dorky white kids and the dorky black kids who play white-kid ball in the green and gold.

The Excuses

Flu’s been running through the team like wildfire.  Julius Wells was so sick with some type of virus he ended up in the hospital after Monday’s loss to ODU and couldn’t play tonight or Saturday.

Not sure if Swindle’s knee or his play was the issue, but he hardly played tonight and with the Dukes already down Goins and Wells, the tired legs of the guard-heavy lineup certainly had a lot to do with a 2-23 night from three point land.

Missing Goins in the post is really catching up to them and the young fill-ins are having to learn on the fly and going through some growing pains.

The Truth

For the second year in a row, Brady’s having a pissing contest with his most talented player (Bowles, Davis).  And for the fourth year in a row (well actually around the second decade in a row but only the last few under Brady), the Dukes have zippy discipline, creativity, or poise on offense.  If Brady’s not on the super hot-seat, he should be.

2-23 is not something you can make excuses for, it’s just bad shooting.  And without Wells on the court tonight, they were mostly good looks.

The team has been out of sorts since Moore came back.  He’s been rusty, his always dicey jumper hasn’t even gotten back to semi-respectability, and he doesn’t seem to have either the green light or the confidence to try to take over the last five minutes the way he did last year.

This team may have some decent moments against the flashier offensive teams in the CAA like GMU and VCU, but when they face the lockdown zone of Georgia St. and the brutal man-to-man of Drexel, we may witness ugliness the likes of which we haven’t seen since Dean Keener was prowling the sidelines.

I was scouting WVU instead of bleeeding from eyes watching this crap on Madizone the last few minutes.  We started tweeting about next years matchup with the (real) Mountaineers and even DURING a close hoops matchup with an old rival, the interwebs showered us with love for the football mentions even on this random, cold Wednesday in a way Dukes basketball can’t even imagine.  Just to warm the hearts of JMU Nation, let’s all just remember it’s less than 8 months till Bridgeforth tailgating and the FedEx matchup with WVU is September 15th at 7 p.m.  Enormous tailgate plans forthcoming, but no weddings, showers, or other family nonsense.  If you or your spouse just conceived over the holidays, you really need to reevaluate your priorities.