Nation-Less Dukes Fall at Drexel

JMU was defeated by Drexel yesterday in Philadelphia by the score of 78-60. The loss dropped JMU to 8-16 overall and 3-7 in the CAA. Drexel got to 5-5 in CAA play and 13-10 overall. Andre Nation missed the game for personal reasons according to JMU. In his absence, Charles Cooke and Ron Curry paced the Dukes with 18 and 17 points respectively. Andrey Semenov chipped in with 12 points. Chris Fouch was the man for Drexel. He tallied 26 points thanks to hitting 5 of 10 from long range.

The Obvious

As a team, JMU can’t shoot the basketball. We’ve been attempting to either ignore that, or spin it somewhat by saying that the Dukes are struggling. They’re not struggling. Struggling implies that things are temporarily more difficult or that the team has hit a rough spot. They haven’t. They’ve been a poor shooting team for the entire season.

Curry and Cooke went a combined 10 for 18 from the field. That’s good. The rest of the team was a collective 6 for 25. That is not good. And yet, it’s pretty much expected at this point in the season. On any given night you can count on 2 (or maybe 3) of the team’s top players to show up, and for everyone else to shoot poorly. We’re not trying to be negative, but there is no point sugar coating it.

For this team to compete, it needs to shoot better. Maybe that means improving shooting technique or maybe it means focusing on better shot selection. Or maybe it’s just adjusting to the college game and gaining confidence. This is a young team and young teams often struggle to shoot well consistently. College ball is tough and adjustments have to be made. Many of those adjustments are made after players complete their first seasons. Charles Cooke’s shooting percentage is up 4% from last year. Ron Curry’s is up 7%. Andre Nation has played fewer games than those guys, but he’s shooting 53% from the field this year. Last year he was a 39% shooter. The freshmen will improve as they gain confidence. It’s typically what happens. It might not improve overnight, but there will be improvement over time.

Dreaded 8-9 Game Territory

With only 3 wins in CAA play, JMU is currently stuck in 8th place. That means if the season ended today, JMU would play in the dreaded 8-9 “play-in” game against UNCW come CAA tourney time. That’s not where they want to be. But there is hope. Delaware, Towson, and William & Mary are the class of the league and have begun to separate themselves at the top. Things are pretty hectic between 4th and 8th though with a whole bunch of teams bunched together. Hofstra beat CofC last night leaving both teams at 4-6. Which means Monday’s game against Hofstra is a huge one at home for the Dukes. A win pulls JMU even with Hofstra before a tough roadie at Delaware.

In its final six games, JMU has Hofstra twice, a home game against a struggling UNCW, a chance to get back at Drexel, and games against teams looking to peak for Baltimore in Towson and Delaware. There are no gimmies in there. At this stage, even going .500 would be an accomplishment and it would probably come as a result of earning season sweeps over Hofstra (not easy) and UNCW. If JMU somehow managed to close out the final six games at 4-2, things would be looking up for Baltimore.

On Nation, Personal Leave, and Speculation

The official word from JMU is that Andre missed the game for personal reasons. Matt Brady confirmed that. Brady also added that Andre did nothing wrong and this was in no way related to his earlier suspension. It’s probably best to just leave it at that.

We’re not trying to cover it up or brush something under the rug. Because as far as we know there is nothing to cover up. Personal reasons are just that, personal. Which by definition means their reasons that are important to Nation, regardless of what you, I, or anyone else thinks.

Here is what we know. The Dukes are better with him on the court. As Dukes fans, we want him out on the court. There’s really not much more to say on the situation unless something changes or new information emerges. Speculating or even continuing to discuss it crosses into gossip territory. There are plenty of gossip blogs out there if that’s your thing. We’ll avoid it here.