JMU Ladies, and the Pep Band, Cut Down the Nets at CAA Tourney
As expected, Kenny Brooks and the JMU women’s basketball team went a perfect 3-0 in the CAA Tournament and took home the league championship. It was the Dukes second straight CAA title for the Dukes and 4th overall for Brooks. JMU was pushed to its limits in the final against Hofstra, but managed to grind out a 62-56 win. The victory moved JMU to 29-3 on the season. The Dukes will find out where they’re headed in the tourney when the women’s bracket is revealed on Monday.
Hofstra was the one CAA team to defeat the Dukes all season and almost beat them again with the NCAA tourney bid on the line. JMU struggled from the field, hitting only 23 of 68 in the final. CAA Player of the Year, Precious Hall had a rough day making only 1 of 20 shots. Fortunately, the team was pretty much lights out from the charity stripe, knocking down 15 of 17, which helped the close out the game. Junior Jazmon Gwathmey led the way with 17 points, 11 boards, 3 blocks, and 2 assists and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Toia Giggetts was the only other Duke in double figures, with 14 points. JMU now moves on to the NCAA tourney with a chance to make some noise.
Keeping with tradition, the coaches and players cut down the nets after winning the championship. Kenny Brooks had a little something up his sleeve though. After all of the players and staff had taken a piece of the net, Brooks invited Chad Reep, the Director of the JMU Pep Band, to make the final cuts. It was completely unexpected. It was also completely awesome. Reep and the entire Pep Band have really stepped up their game the past few seasons. They’ve helped make the convo an incredibly tough place for opponents to play. And they’re tireless supporters of both the men’s and women’s teams. So it was great to see Brooks give Reep and the Pep Band a place in the spotlight. And it added a little something extra on an already exciting day.
Very proud of the Lady Dukes. Hopefully the close calls down the stretch will not impact the Duke’s seed in the tournament. I do think they will help make the team battle tested and ready for the tournament.
Here is to a long run in the tourney.
Go Dukes!
Another classy act by Kenny Brooks to allow Chad to cut the nets. Hopefully the Lady Dukes will play harder and get some NCAA wins. Will be at the Convo for the announcement tonight.
The Pep Band is awesome! Well deserved and a classy move by Kenny.
Good result yesterday, though brutal to watch at times. Can’t stress enough how big Gwathmey, Giggets and Jones played to overcome the lack of backcourt scoring, Hall’s futility and Okafor’s foul trouble. Mickens played her typical distribute the rock and take 1 or 2 or 3 charges for the team.
The Superdome has nothing on the Lower Dundalk/Upper Indian Head/East Upper Marlboro Horse Show Barn — both can lose power in the middle of a championship game in just a blink of an eye…..how many more years in this purgatory of tourney site? Why not go to the Palestra in Philly?
I’ll take underseeding at 10 or 11 — 8/9 is a horrible place to be in women’s basketball with the Pacific-sized gulf between the top 3-5 programs and everybody else. I’m not sure the committee is up to giving us a 7. Looking forward to the matchups coming out tonight.
So this blog actually does cover WBB. They just have to win the CAA tournament and the men’s team has to be out of it. (college insider does not count btw = a joke).
12 seed while poking around the AP and the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 all year? Princeton an 8 and paired against another mid-major. Seeding and matchups by the committiee are the only areas where the women’s game aligns with the men’s game.