{"id":2067,"date":"2011-02-05T20:42:15","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T01:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2067"},"modified":"2011-02-05T20:58:02","modified_gmt":"2011-02-06T01:58:02","slug":"jmu-comes-up-short-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2067","title":{"rendered":"JMU Comes Up Short Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What could have been the play of the year.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Dukes gave first place VCU everything they could handle today, but still came up short in the end. VCU defeated JMU 70-66<\/a>. Despite the unfortunate result, it was a really fun game to watch. The crowd was great, both teams went at each other for the full 40 minutes, and there were plenty of highlight reel plays. Of course the first half had all the defensive intensity of the NBA all star game, but both squads stepped it up in the second half and made up for it.<\/p>\n

After watching the Dukes sleep walk through their loss to W&M, it was encouraging to see them play with some energy and fight against VCU. Devon Moore had an awful first half, but played like the leader JMU needs him to be after the break. The second half defense was awesome and seemed to only get better as the pressure increased in crunch time. I was actually starting to believe that JMU was finally going to break through and get a win against a top CAA team. Down 68-66 with 16.5 seconds left, Chad Jackson stole the inbounds pass and made what appeared to be JMU’s top play of the season. Only it wasn’t. The refs claimed that Jackson’s momentum carried the ball over the line before JMU called timeout. It was a bang bang play and a tough call for the ref, but after rewinding it and watching it about a million times, he looked in to me. Take a look at the picture above and decide for yourself. JMU didn’t lose because of the call. I’m not even positive the call was wrong. It\u00a0just made the loss hurt a little more.<\/p>\n

What We Liked<\/strong><\/p>\n

Denzel\u00a0 Bowles’ All Around Effort<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He came to play and finished with 22 points and\u00a09 boards. He also had 3 blocks, only 1 turnover, and managed to stay out of foul trouble, something he’s struggled to do lately.\u00a0He had the convo rocking after some\u00a0thunderous dunks, including an alley oop from Devon the likes of which hadn’t been seen in Harrisonburg in years.<\/p>\n

Devon Moore’s Second Half<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Devon didn’t play well at all in the first half. He couldn’t buy a bucket and was held scoreless. He played at an All-CAA type level in the second half though. He was aggressive, got to the basket, and helped control the tempo for the Dukes. It was exactly the sort of play we expect from Devon.<\/p>\n

Chad Jackson Playing His Role Perfectly<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JMU needs Jackson to play good defense, be smart with the basketball, and do enough offensively to keep the defense honest. He’s been steadily improving for weeks now, but it all came together today. He hit 4 of 5 from the field, but his impact was most felt on defense. He seems to understand his role about as well as anyone on the team and didn’t try to do too much. What he did was awesome though. Just a solid game from a maturing freshman. Had the out of bounds call gone the other way, and this might have been known as the “Chad Jackson Game”. Oh, and that block of Skeen. WOW!<\/p>\n

VCU Fans Traveling<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was\u00a0cool to see so many VCU fans at the Convo and it made for a more exciting atmosphere. Not because I have any affinity for VCU fans. More because\u00a0it just\u00a0nice to know the JMU is finally playing well enough that other fans give a crap.<\/p>\n

What We Didn’t Like<\/strong><\/p>\n

That Trey Attempt from Rayshawn<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s not just the poor shot selection,\u00a0but more what\u00a0it\u00a0represents. It’s not even just Goins. Unlike Chad Jackson, Rayshawn and others appear to\u00a0 completely misunderstand\u00a0their roles and try to do too much. I like it when\u00a0Goins plants himself near the basket, throws his weight around, crashes the boards, and gets garbage buckets. The game he has is good enough to put JMU over the top. The game he thinks he has is not.<\/p>\n

Bad Breaks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JMU had a number of lay-ups rattle out, loose balls go off their finger tips, and rebounds barely elude them. It was painful to watch them be so close, yet consistently come up short. It’s all in how you look at it though. Sure sometimes the ball does bounce funny. Other times, players look at the defender instead of the bucket and miss the layup, get excited and travel after scooping a loose ball, or get caught flat footed while an opponent swoops in for a rebound.\u00a0I think it’s what people mean when the say a team hasn’t yet “learned how to win.”\u00a0\u00a0Right now\u00a0the Dukes are\u00a0not putting themselves in position to get those breaks. Once they start to do that, they’ll be able to beat anyone.<\/p>\n