JMU Women’s Hoops NCAA Draw: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

After winning the CAA regular season and tournament in dominating fashion, the Dukes received their marching orders for the Big Dance Monday night and their was good and bad news to be had. JMU will take on Gonzaga at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.  You can watch the game on ESPN as part of their “Whip-Around” coverage or in full on WatchESPN.

The Good

CAA Player of the Year Kirby Burkholder

Hard to believe, but getting an 11 seed instead of the projected 8 or 9 seed they expected can be viewed very positively. As any amateur bracketologist knows, the winner of 8/9 matchups advances to play the top seed in the second round. In the men’s game that’s not always terrible (see last year’s Wichita St. team), but in the women’s game, where there is almost always enormous disparity between the 1 seeds and basically everyone else, that fate can be rough on teams who had good enough seasons to warrant an 8 or a 9 seed. On the other hand, the winner of the 6/11 matchup the Dukes find themselves in against Gonzaga advances to take on a much more beatable #3 seed in Texas A&M and they would avoid a top seed all the way till a potential regional final.  For a comparison, GMU was an 11 seed when their men’s team made it’s storied run and didn’t have to face a top seed (in their case UConn) until they made the Elite Eight. Not to say it’s easy, but an 11 seed is certainly nothing to be disappointed about.

Also in the good category, we’re happy to hear that both the Cheerleaders and the Pep Band will be joining the Dukes on the road!

The Bad

College Station, Texas could not have been at the top of either JMU or Gonzaga’s expected destination lists. The women’s tourney, while creating competitive disadvantages by playing games at on-campus sites of tournament teams in the interest of selling more tickets, usually does a somewhat better job of sending non-hosting schools to sites reasonably close to home. Not so for the Dukes this year as they’ll head to the Texas A&M pod, though it’s certainly no easier trip for the Bulldogs from Spokane, Washington. Obviously either team will be up against when they take on the Aggies in the second round, but that would’ve been the case anywhere for the Dukes.

The Ugly

Gonzaga spent 80% of the year atop ESPN’s Mid-Major Women’s Poll and JMU spent equally as much time in the top three of that same poll. To say this is a classless move by the NCAA to force two tough mid-majors to knock each other out in the interest of keeping the better-known schools alive would be an understatement. This is first degree felony mid-on-mid crime. We’ll bet Gonzaga supporters don’t feel any better about it than we do. That said, the teams seem to be mirror images of each other on the floor, averaging within a point of each other in points scored and points allowed, so competitively it should be equivalent to an 8/9 game and the Dukes certainly have to fancy their chances.

Time for Kenny Brooks and the women to earn that signature NCAA win and maybe even a magical ride to the second weekend of beyond. As Kirby Burkholder said after the CAA final, “We goin’ at least a couple rounds!”