Guest Blogger: Reflecting on the JMU Loss to Richmond
Our good friend and reader, Tedward, was at the Convo last night for the Dukes 83-82 OT loss to Richmond. As a former coach, he knows the game really well. And he has a unique perspective as JMU alum with real family ties to Richmond hoops. He agreed to write this guest post for us about the game.
I attended the JMU v UR game last night. Before I give my guest blog, I must preface it with a few things. One, I am a UR season ticket holder. I have been for 30+ years. Growing up, the JMU/UR games were always the best games. Lefty v. Tarrant were epic battles. When it came time to choose a college, I chose JMU over UR. I mean, really, that’s an easy call. Just walk around both campuses, and everyone reading this post knows how great JMU is. During my JMU years, I switched allegiances, and became a huge Dukes fan. After college, UR switched to the A-10, I live 2 minutes from UR, love college hoops, and my parents go to all of the UR games; so it’s a bonding thing with my Dad. We love talking hoops, and rooting for UR hoops is what I always did. It’s easy to make fun or not understand. I get it. But I see many of the same people making fun of me, who actively root for Duke or Maryland also. To me, there’s no difference. Second, I hate UR football. And third, I also coached high school basketball for 10 years. That doesn’t make me a pro, by any means, but I have spent a lot of time around basketball.
I’ve also always kept an eye on JMU hoops over the years. It’s been tough. Whenever I did catch a game, it was pretty frustrating. I’d watch a team that can’t run a play, have a bunch of “me guys” on the team with absolutely zero leadership. Last year, as I watched the CAA tourney game, I noticed at half time that our team walked off the court (not together) to go to the locker room. UNCW sprinted off as a team. May not mean much to most fans, but that stuff matters. I couldn’t believe it. That sight just added to my frustrations, so I wasn’t expecting much last night. I was wrong.
Here are my random thoughts from the game last night:
1.) The pep band is awesome. I told the UR fans (including my wife, who loves the band during football games) that this is will be fun to watch. We got there 60 minutes before tip, and they were already impressed by them warming up. When the game started, the band was ridiculously good. Active the whole time.
2.) The Convo is loud. I had forgotten. Holy crap. It was probably 80% capacity, but was rocking. And very few students were there. Great job by the townies. I compare this to the Robins Center, which is like watching a game in a library.
3.) As for the team… I actually saw A LOT of plays and sets from JMU. I couldn?t believe it. I?d never seen that (Lefty never did much either). UR?s defense is hard to coach against. It?s 80% man and 15% zone, and the other 5% is up in the air. I?ve seen so many teams get confused with it. About 1 in 5 do well against it. JMU did. They got open 3s, attacked it off the dribble, and exposed UR?s defense?s biggest weakness… they crashed the boards. I was impressed with Brady.
4.) JMU’s defense was very good. Very intense. UR over the years finishes many games with less than 10 turnovers. I think last night UR had 22. I can’t recall a game where they’ve had that many. Only problem for JMU is they had 26 or so. Don’t worry about that too much, UR does that to everyone. Their defense doesn’t rebound well, but it makes up for it with turnovers.
5.) The talent on JMU is much better than years past. Many will say they lack a big inside presence, but a lot of teams don’t have that now. Having your 4 and 5 step out and hit 3’s can be more important in today’s game.
6.) The only player that I’d like to point out is Moore. It’s easy to point out Davis and his athletic ability. Or Semenov’s hustle. But Moore is really good. And he seems to do everything quietly. Now, I know he missed two crucial FTs. I’ve just been impressed with him every time I watch him.
In closing, it’s been tough the last 15 years watching JMU hoops. I left last night, very excited about the possibilities. They may not finish in the top 3 of the CAA (they could), but I would not want to face them in the CAA tourney. If they continue to play team defense like they did last night, good things will follow.
Nice post and I concur. That is the first time in years that I have seen JMU play together as a team and really get after it on defense. This team has the parts to get better as the season rolls along. I am not making any predictions but I would be surprised if this team does not finish above .500 overall and top 5 in the CAA. Just keep playing hard and don’t care who scores, just pass to the open guy.
Devon….what game were you watching and saw 22 TO’s by Richmond and 25 by JMU? The stats show 13 for Richmond and 15 for JMU. This was a high quality game but your description of turnovers doesn’t sound like you were on top of your game.