JMU vs. Indiana Preview

As great as last night was, tomorrow is the day we’ve all been dreaming of for so long.  The Dukes are IN the bracket, taking on a big boy and looking to follow in the long line of CAA cinderellas.  And with all the tourney madness has come an absolute explosion of amazing media coverage of the Dukes!

Many of you have probably seen the piece produced by SB Nation for their tourney series Chasing Cinderella, but if not, by all means drop what you’re doing for the next few minutes and watch that video.  It is not a stretch at all to say that the piece is the most stunningly beautiful thing ever produced about JMU athletics.  We had zero idea where this came from, but it’s just ridiculously good and best of all, as our friend Scott said, it made the team and JMU look really good…and provided more hope for tomorrow!

Agent Steinzz from the Washington Post is also back on the case with a great Bog piece on JMU sophomore superfan (and frequent JMUSB twitter commenter) Brian Reese.  Love the shot of Brian with Alger and Rose.

And lest we forget, Kenny Brooks’ women’s team came from behind to pull away from NC A&T 77-62 at the Convo tonight in the first round of the WNIT!  The ladies will HOST NC St. at 2 p.m. on Sunday (though hopefully they’ll have to win a second straight game w/out the help of the Pep Band who will still be playing in Ohio).

Fan Guide

Tip is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. on TBS (though when this one is tight down the stretch you can bet it will be on all the tourney channels!)  Go to JMU Sports to find out where all the watch parties are in your area.  For Wednesday’s game they were in cities nationwide and it’s a good bet you can find another near you tomorrow.

Or hop in the car and head to Dayton!  I’m headed to Dayton tomorrow with frequent JMUSB contributor CoachPriz and plan to have some updates from the road over @JMUsportsblog Rob will be manning the fort and handling blog duties for the celebration, but I’ll try to keep some good stuff coming.  (Full disclosure, this is another thing where I realize how old I am – I cannot livetweet during events, just doesn’t sit well with my childish desire to just be a fan)

Beer of the Week

Great Lakes Brewing’s The Wright Pils.  Hey, it’s Dayton, Ohio after all and hopefully it will be a long weekend that requires a decent session beer!

The Game

Oh yeah, the game itself.  Here’s what we know.  Indiana is good, maybe great.  They’ve been in the top five all year and were the preseason #1 team in the nation.  They have two NBA lottery picks in big man Cody Zeller and freak athlete Victor Oladipo.  They have a deadly little shooting guard in Jordan Hulls that JMU will have to try to remember not to leave open the way they’ve often slept on shooters this season.  Indiana’s front line of Zeller, Oladipo, and Christian Watford is bigger, better and more athletic than any the Dukes have seen all year.  But Indiana is not invincible and the matchup is not all terrorizing.  Though we have no idea how we’re going to stop those three if they catch the ball down low, Indiana’s two guards are both smallish. In fact, the Moore/Nation/Curry/Cooke crew will have a significant size, and possibly even athletic, advantage in the back court similar to last night.  Indiana is also has a very thin bench and any foul trouble for their starters is really tough on them.  As deep and athletic as JMU is, if the Dukes can hang in there into the second half, they really could give IU major problems.  Lastly, there’s even another reason that hipster college hoops junkies will whisper about to question IU – let’s just say there are those, even some Hoosiers, who are less than thrilled with Tom Crean’s in-game coaching.

Of course, on the JMU side, the team needs to keep up this unbelievably hot shooting and keep playing their own game.  While the Dukes need to remain aggressive, they’ll need to trim down a few of the unauthorized shots that were launched last night.  Shot selection had really improved in the CAA tourney, and despite the result last night, was back to being a tad more questionable on occasion.  That said, all of our guards need to look to take it right at the smaller Yogi Ferrell and Hulls.  And maybe most of all, just take it one media timeout at a time and don’t get too excited if things are going well or too down if things are tough for a stretch.

JMUSB Official Prediction

We’ve convinced ourselves, and tomorrow the Dukes can convince the nation. And judging by texts from fellow Dukes when Southern was putting a scare into Gonzaga today, we were all thinking the same thing and actually rooting for the Zags.  We want JMU to be the team to make history as the first-ever 16 to take down a 1!  Three final things to keep in mind: Statistics say this already should’ve happened, Jim Nantz said today it’s his and Clark Kellogg’s opinion that JMU is the best #16 they’ve ever seen, and Louisville coach and long-time hoops sage Rick Pitino’s been saying for weeks that this is the year of the 16/1.  Now it’s just time to pull off the ultimate Hoosiers moment against the real Hoosiers.  Run the picket fence at ’em boys! JMU 74, Indiana 73

Also, that shot of the amazing Student Duke Club shirt on the right reminds us that ODuh has completely ripped this design off for their new helmets.