Dukes Finish in CAA’s First-ever Four-Way Championship Tie
Guess who quietly finished 2nd in the CAA in 3Pt. FG%?
As unbelievable as it seemed at certain points this season, the Dukes Men’s hoops team managed to work their way back to hanging one of the strangest, most asterisk-affixed banners you’ll ever see in college sports. After downing Hofstra to sweep the season series from the Flying Dutchpeople (it’s ok to slur the Dutch so long as its not gender-biased. we kid, we kid) on Saturday, the Dukes managed to finish the season in the CAA’s first ever four-way tie for a championship. Seriously, before we get into the reasons this will go down as one of the strangest seasons and records you’ll ever see, we think it deserves an unqualified congratulations up front. If you had this squad joining the dominant women at the top of the conference standings before the season, or ever mid-season-post-Nation-suspension, you’re lying. A 12-6 conference mark in a weak CAA may not be the sign anyone’s ready to challenge Kentucky just yet, but this team worked their butts off in all but about three games, weathered a stormy early season on and off the court, gained confidence and cohesiveness as the season went along and absolutely earned every bit of that four-way tie. Congrats to Coach Brady and the whole program!
That they finished with the four-seed by virtue of a winless record against the other three co-champs takes zero away from the title in our opinion. JMU had the all-time classic “no bad losses, no good wins” resume by finishing 12-0 against the six teams that finished beneath them. And we’d much rather them get to the shared title this way than be in William & Mary or UNCW’s position where you squandered opportunities against lesser foes throughout the season. The Tribe in particular stand out as disappointments and potential upset fodder next weekend with a worse record against Elon, Charleston, and Towson than they have against the three they split the title with. And of course that 1 seed comes with a quarters matchup against none other than the winner of that Elon/Towson game.
The Dukes on the other hand will run it right back with Hofstra in the 4/5 matchup at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. A win there would lead to a 2:30 game again Sunday vs. the WM/Elon/TsU survivor, but we can worry about tourney previewing later this week. For now, CONGRATULATIONS CAA CHAMPS!
Congratulations Dukes!
JMU has not hung that many banners over the years. Celebrate this one. Hey, the way the CAA is this year, they could win the tournament without having to play any of the other 3 co-champions. But, one game at a time. Need to try and put Hofstra down for a 3rd time this year.
Go Dukes!
What a wild and well-deserved finish for the Dukes. That late-season run is worthy of getting excited about. Having seen the way they’ve played these last few games, I think JMU can reasonably take on any of the tournament teams.
Regardless, I’m just psyched for the Dukes. Can’t wait to watch some bball on Saturday!
I drove my kids the 3 hours to and from the Gloucester area Saturday to attend the game and was not disappointed. Very entertaining game with lots of scoring and dunks, pep band antics and a large crowd.
The only drawback to in-person games is the lack of some explanations with some of the fouls. Can anyone who watched on TV tell me why Cabarkapa was called for a technical foul? Was he ejected? I don’t recall seeing him play after that.
He wasn’t ejected; just assessed a conduct technical for what was deemed a punch to the abdomen of a Hofstra player. I believe, in this case, it was classic “2nd guy gets caught” scenario. At the end of a scrum for a loose ball under the JMU basket, the Hofstra player planted a forearm/elbow around his upper chest and moved it upward across his throat and face. It happened at around the 14:30 – 14:00 minute mark of the 2nd half. He played briefly a little later, but sat the final 10 minutes of the game.
Thanks Ken. The refs were definitely letting them bang for a while then got a tighter in the second half.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ882QYzr-M