{"id":1401,"date":"2010-09-21T23:27:50","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T03:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1401"},"modified":"2010-09-21T23:27:50","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T03:27:50","slug":"taking-a-look-at-the-jmu-basketball-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1401","title":{"rendered":"Taking a Look at the JMU Basketball Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>JMU officially released the 2010-2011 Men’s basketball schedule.<\/a> The Dukes have a little bit of everything on the out of conference slate. JMU will test itself against athletes from power conferences (Big East, Big 12). They’ll get a chance to play against teams from mid-major conferences (MAC, Conference USA). They’ll even get to go head-to-head against\u00a0privileged\u00a0white kids with high SATs (Princeton). And then they’ll have the always tough CAA competition.<\/p>\n

It’s tough to judge a schedule or make predictions this far out. It’s even harder considering this Dukes team will contain so many faces we didn’t see last year. At first glance though, I like this schedule a lot. The season starts with a real bang, as Matt Brady takes his team to Manhattan, Kansas to play Kansas State. The Wildcats finished second in the Big 12 last year and made it to the Elite 8. Playing them on the road, should be a great experience for a Dukes team looking to integrate many new pieces.<\/p>\n

In November, The Convocation Center will host for the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Dukes will play against Princeton, Bucknell, and Presbyterian in this round-robin event. Bucknell finished second in the Patriot League last year and missed out on a shot at the NCAA’s when they were bounced from their conference tourney by Holy Cross (where my old man went to undergrad). Princeton (where my old man got his PhD…yeah, I’m kind of a disappointment) finished second in the Ivy League to a pretty ridiculous Cornell squad. Both teams should be good tests for the Dukes.<\/p>\n

In addition to the out of conference highlights above, JMU plays a number of mid-majors and smaller conference opponents. Hopefully games against teams like Radford, Longwood, and Marshall should give the Dukes a chance to rack up some wins. The game against South Florida is an intriguing. A victory on the road against this Big East opponent could be huge confidence builder for the Dukes.<\/p>\n

All in all, it’s a decent out of conference schedule. Some tough road games against teams from power conferences and some challenging games against mid-majors. I think it will get the Dukes ready to go for the CAA competition. I like the schedule, but I’m really much more excited to see how Denzel and Julius play with Moore, Semenov, and Coach Brady’s impressive recruiting class.<\/p>\n