OGL Friday Roundup (WBB, MBB, Lax)

Well, it’s been a while for me, but one great way to keep working the kinks out is to go back to our old Old Guys Leave Friday Roundup.

First, a few notes and thoughts on the Women’s CAA Hoops tourney this weekend. Unfortunately for everything but recruiting, the CAA has rented out the dingy VFP Post of tourney sites again, the world-famous ghetto-fabulous Show Place Arena in scenic (actually, it is scenic and the incomparable Rosaryville Mountain Bike trail is just down the road) Upper Marlboro, Maryland. JMU is the heavy, heavy, heavy favorite after rolling through CAA play at 17-1 and sporting a 26-3 overall record. Of course, that “-1” came just a couple weeks back at the hands of 4th seeded Hofstra so this ain’t a sure thing. And as always, WBB is even worse than the men’s side when it comes to national, and selection-committee, disrespect for low-majors so despite the gaudy record and hanging around the fringes of the Top 25 all year, the ladies need to take care of business this weekend in order to feel comfortable on Selection Day. Dukes start the tourney Friday at noon against a Towson team they should mop the floor with, but as we’ve seen in year’s past, sometimes the toughest part about this tourney is being mentally charged in front of twenty-seven fans at an agricultural arena. Thanks goodness for Chad Reep and the JMU Pep Band!!!

CAA POY

Also from the amazing women’s side of the story, Kenny Brooks – best man in the Valley – took home another CAA COY award this week while Precious Hall won CAA POY honors. Lady Okafor won a slot on the 1st team as well as the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award. Point guard Angela Mickens made the second-team, and do-everything badass Jazmon Gwathmey was actually kind of robbed only making the third team. Mickens and Okafor also made the all-defensive team and Okafor made all-academic for good measure! Way to go Dukes and thanks for another great CAA run – now go cut some nets down!

Next, in case you haven’t noticed, and based on the weather and Spring Break we’re guessing you haven’t, the JMU Lacrosse team is currently ranked 15th in the country and just came from way behind to knock off #9 Penn State on the road this week! That runs the Dukes’ record to 6-1, including a 2-1 record against ranked foes, and makes six straight wins since a season-opening and nothing-to-be-ashamed-of 13-9 loss to #2 North Carolina. JMU hosts Rutgers this weekend. Rob is definitely our lacrosse expert, but the one thing I know is teams that get high enough up in the rankings early on tend to stay there, so keep your eyes on what could be an all-timer type season from the women!

Moving on, Softball seems to have shaken off this crazy-weather/cancellation-filled early season and a few tough losses to BCS Conference teams (in addition to a couple wins over those teams too) to run their record out to 12-5 and begin the process of living up to quite a bit of preseason hype surrounding Jailyn Ford and company.

Finally, Rob mentioned he was in favor of accepting the CIT bid earlier this week and I just wanted to note I couldn’t agree more. We’re not in favor of losing money here (or risking scheduling conflicts should the women end up in the NIT – please please please don’t let this be the case), so we don’t even have a problem with traveling either, but whatever your issues with the team or Brady, these kids got better throughout the season, tied for the CAA title, and deserve another chance that the young team can clearly use to learn about tournament play. We’re also squarely in the “Keep Brady” camp, not because we’re homers (though we obviously are), but simply because we do NOT believe anyone can procure a preferable alternative in the poop-fecta that is the CAA/Convo/rudderless administration state of the program AND because we’d like to see him grow with this team that showed flashes. YoYo and Curry make them a clear contender next year and no reason to mess that up just now. Of course, if everyone transfers, we’ll feel differently, but this year feels different in that regard and no reason we’ve heard so far to think any of the starters are leaning that way.