Lower Tier Tournaments, Should the Dukes Stay or Should They Go?
[polldaddy poll=8717297]With an NCAA bid out of the picture due to losing in the CAA tourney, the Dukes still have a shot at postseason play. The NIT ain’t gonna happen, but other options still exist. The CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) and College Basketball Invitational both could offer JMU to get in some more time on the court. The CBI has a 16 team bracket with a best of 3 championship series between the finalists. The CIT is open to 32 teams and is geared for mid-majors. We could argue about which tournament is more “prestigious”, but come on. Whichever one was determined to be “best” would still just be a race to determine the 101st place team in the country.
Regardless of tournament status, both the CBI and CIT would provide an opportunity for Brady and the Dukes to continue practicing and playing games. There’s an argument to be made that doing so could pay dividends next year and give players another opportunity to advance. Of course there’s a counter-argument, that the team could be well served by resting and focusing on the off-season program. Matt Brady has said that JMU is considering pursuing a bid for one of the tourneys. What do you think? Should JMU go for it or should they just pack it in and focus on the off-season?
I think the Hofstra game is a terrible one to end the season on. Get into a lower tier tourney, win a few games, and get some momentum going into the offseason. Of course, they could get into a lower tier tourney, play a terrible team…and get blown out again.
I voted yes because any playing experience is good. I will say though that these tournaments are pointless and I certainly hope the school isn’t losing too much money playing in them.
I was really torn on this question, but ultimately voted no.
Football coaches will take the lower tier bowl every time, even if it is in Shreveport or Birmingham, because of the 15-20 extra days of practice they get. Extra reps for line groups and for QBs/receivers are much more valuable to football teams than extra practices are for hoopsters.
I would submit most progress is made by players in their individual workout time with the coaches (footwork, box out techniques, etc) and shooting in their off time. A handful of extra practices isn’t really that beneficial in the long run.
The school has to decide if the on court benefits are greater than $$$ cost to participate (I do not know if the Collegeinsider.com tourney requires bids/guarantees).
If they play, I’ll be rootin’; if not, get thee to the gym, fellas (except when you are rootin’ on the Kenny Brooks Death Star!
Play. The team can use the extra practices, even if just for one game. Plus the image of a school with our athletic budget playing in a high school gym will hopefully embarrass our admin enough to finally upgrade to a FBS conference. Then again we have already played at Elon so that may not work either.