JMU Meets Expectations in CAA Tourney…

…which is to say, goes out without much of a fight.  Truthfully, the overall record was a little worse overall than we would’ve hoped and we had hoped to be as high as a CAA 4 seed at season’s end, but honestly this wasn’t exactly unexpected and not a whole lot worse than we had hoped before the season.  Especially before we even knew Andre Nation would miss over half the season. Team had one 6th year senior who struggled to play up to his own lofty history and no other upperclassmen.  Only two real takeaways from this season headed into the offseason:

1) JMU needs to hope it holds on to the trifecta of Curry/Cooke/Nation.  These kids could be special the next two seasons and you certainly hope they don’t get bad advice to transfer. Not to say it would be wrong individually as we have zippy clue what’s best for each young player, but we just hope they realize what an opportunity they have if they stay together.

2) Those calling for Brady’s head need to pipe down. How quickly do we forget breaking a two-decade drought? And how dismissive are we of hideous JMU athletic administration (imagine that?) leaving Brady with a recruiting black hole this year thanks to his lame-duck status last year and a crummy, crappy schedule with only 10 games this year.  Another class, UR/UVA/etc. at the Convo, and C/C/N all back for their junior season certainly could make Coach Brady look a lot better a year from now.  All three of the big guns improved their scoring averages and Cooke and Curry (the non-suspended guys) both made huge strides assuming leadership roles over last season. Also enjoyed the freshmen.  Most guys are merely rotational, but Dalembert seems capable of a big leap, and despite the naysayers, Kent has the potential to be really, really good.  He’s 18 going on 16 and in case you didn’t notice, appeared to grow about four inches DURING the season while putting on no weight or muscle. Someone needs to chain him and Bessick to a strength and conditioning coach this summer and we may all be pleasantly surprised with what we see come Midnight Madness.

Next, a few notes on Baltimore:

1) Baltimore for the CAA tourney will never be Richmond, especially from a JMU standpoint. Virginia schools (the only dummies left without a chair) will never again enjoy the alumni-rich, easy living of the capital city, but Baltimore was pretty cool and we don’t understand why everyone was so down.  The arena was old as dirt, but certainly no worse than the Mausoleum.  Plus it had bars on either end of the court from which you were actually IN the arena, unlike that basement nonsense where the southern baptists tried to hide the booze in Richmond.  Plus there were bars and restaurants all around, Camden Yards next door, and the Harbor right there.  That said, hope JMU never plays there again.

PAINFUL

2) Great fun meeting our fellow dorks of the CAA and former CAA blog world! BRUTAL, BRUTAL ending tonight for two great Tribe fans @batogato and @gheorghetheblog. Seriously, if you can make it to a conference tourney and you don’t mind actually meeting other people, it’s a great atmosphere and a chance to realize you’re not alone in your mid-major, non-BCS fanaticism. Just hope we get to roll to Cleveland to do so at the Q with a whole new crew next year!