Reasons to be Excited for JMU Hoops

Many of you might be saying to yourself “Is that guy in the picture the dude who used to come to Rob & Todd’s fraternity house, pick up their boy Porter, and pop his head through the ceiling tiles repeatedly while everyone drank Beast Lite and laughed?” And I would say to you, “Yes, that is a picture of former JMU basketball player Fred Boyd getting married at a tailgate party last Saturday.”

But Fred’s wedding isn’t the only JMU basketball item to be excited about. CAA Media day took place yesterday and there are big expectations for both the men’s and woman’s programs. First of all, Kenny Brooks and the woman are picked to repeat as CAA Champs and Dawn Evans is the CAA preseason co-player of the year. We’re by no means experts on the women’s game, but Coach Brooks is building a program we can all be proud of. Plus, how can not root for a player like Dawn Evans, a young woman who was one of the country’s leading scorers last season despite battling kidney disease?

We’ve been saying for months that this year’s men’s team has a chance to make some noise. It appears that others agree with us. JMU was picked to finish fourth in the CAA this season. That might not sound like much unless you consider two things: 1.) JMU finished 11th last year and no CAA team has ever been picked to finish 7 spots higher than they did the previous year and 2.) The program sucked before Coach Brady arrived. Seriously. Dillard and Keener took JMU to new lows. Brady is ready to make them contenders again. In addition to the improved expectations for the team, folks also have high hopes for some JMU players. Denzel Bowles and Julius Wells were tapped as preseason All CAA honorees, first team and second team respectively. Sounds like we can finally be excited about hoops again.