March Misery at the CAA Tourney

It’s that time of year.  When Lipscomb and Kennesaw squared off in the first round of the Atlantic Sun tourney today, it kicked off the most consistently exciting month in sports.  Days on end of great matchups, late nights, miraculous upsets, white lies to the bossman, and general must-see mayhem.

For some squads, and their fortunate fans, there’s a least a decent chance of a few wonderful nights followed by glorious days in the office filled with reliving great moments, emailing your buddies, and old-fashioned gloating.

And then there’s March for JMU.  A month filled with enjoying the greatness that is Dawn Evans, hoping the baseball team can live up to expectations, and watching the stadium cam with dreams of Morehead State, PBR, and cornhole on a bluebird September day.  Noticeably absent from this list is anything to do with Men’s Basketball.

Nearly every year since the magic ending in ’95, the Dukes have managed to make the annual trip to Richmond a faster in n’ out than the kid in American Pie.  When it comes to a premature exit from the CAA tourney, JMU could teach Metamuecil a thing or two about regularity.  (Used that before but couldn’t resist – now didn’t you all miss the old Standard T?)

This year the boys have managed to nestle back into their honey hole: an 11 seed and the late game on Friday.  Incredibly, and I’m really showing my JMU boxer-shorts here, they’re not in a terrible spot all things considered.

First round they drew Drexel.  A terrible matchup as the team lives up to its coach’s name, Bruiser, and the Dukes play with zippy heart and testicular fortitude most of the time, but at the same time, it’s not like anyone out there’s jumping on the Dragons’ darkhorse bandwagon and they always crap out when they dip below the Mason-Dixon.

And just like in the NCAA’s where 11 seeds are often in the best positions for deep runs (see George Mason, specifically Jai Lewis after a wing buffet), the winner of the 6/11 game gets a sometimes vulnerable 3 seed.  This year that’s our favorite punching bag William & Gary.  Win those 2 and they’re in the CAA Final Four, plus I’d be able to get down to the old (not venerable) Richmond Mausloeum for Sunday’s action.  This does of course require the team actually caring, but Go Dukes!

Lastly, for your Richmond pleasure, here’s a link to a guest post JMUSB Senior Lifestyle Correspondent Uncle Ron did for one of our all-time favorite sites, Wizznutzz, a few years back.  It was really for Wiz training camp, so only a few of you will truly appreciate all the references, and sadly, I’m not sure CARRSS has survived the economic downturn, but it’s classic nonetheless.  The Daily Bacon