Our buddy Bio picked every game of the CAA tournament correctly. So did one other contestant. But one of the tie-breakers, “which guy actually responds to our email about winning the contest?” went Bio’s way. Here’s his take on why the Dukes can pull off an upset. Follow him here and enjoy the tourney.
JMU is a 16 seed. Excluding the play-in game, a 16-seed has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament. In 1996, Western Carolina came close missed a three-pointer to win in the final seconds, losing 73-71 to Purdue. If JMU can survive against LIU-Brooklyn, they will face Indiana. Indiana has 2 likely lottery picks and offensive and defensive efficiency ratings in the top 20. IU is not a bad pick to take the title. It will be tough sledding.
In the NCAA tournament, there is a common formula for success. Take care of the ball, play good defense and rebound. JMU takes care of the ball. They averaged only 11 turnovers per game, which is good enough for #22 in the NCAA. Their turnover margin ranked #32. Guard play is a strength of this team. The Dukes started 3 different players at point guard this season. They can handle the ball and break a press.
The Dukes are excellent defenders. Don’t believe me? Ask Brian Mull of the Star News (Wilmington, NC) He knows more about CAA basketball than anyone. JMU has quick, players with long wingspans. They get theirs hands in the passing lanes and disrupt offenses. They average 8 steals a game.
JMU is undersized. Apologies to Rayshawn Goins, they are not particularly good rebounders. If you have every played basketball at a competitive level, you know that rebounding often comes down to hustle, effort and “who wants it more”. JMU can control how well they rebound. If they focus on it, they can improve greatly in a short time.
The wild card in the tourney is senior leadership. Battle tested, senior led squads often outperform ultra-talented groups of youngster. The tournament rewards experience. It rewards character. The seniors, Devon Moore, AJ Davis and Rayshawn Goins stepped up throughout the CAA tournament. Whenever the game was on the line, they made plays.
Why can JMU advance in the tournament? Because Valpo. Because Bucknell. Because Lehigh. Because Norfolk State. Because Santa Clara….Because its March.
Photo courtesy of jmusports.com
JMU officially announced that Mike O’Cain has been hired as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach today. You could be forgiven for not noticing since the announcement was sort of thrown out there after the school issued an official statement on Rayshawn Goins’ suspension. For Hal Mumme, they planned a press conference. For Mike O’Cain they bury it after addressing the fact that a starter on the basketball team has been suspended just days before the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly two decades. Seems about right.
O’Cain is coming off a job as the QB Coach and play-caller for the not exactly dazzling Virginia Tech Hokie offense. Oh boy. He does bring 35 years of D1 coaching experience though. He definitely had his detractors among Hokie fans, but others seem to think he’s a good, but not great coach, and a very good guy. So there’s that.
Update – Goins has been suspended for the first half of Wednesday’s game against LIU-Brooklyn.
That’s not what we wanted to hear. Just hours after the announcement was made the the Dukes are headed to Dayton for a Wednesday night play-in game against LIU Brooklyn, Rayshawn Goins was arrested by the Harrisonburg Police Department. Not many details are known at this point, but Goins’ arrest is supposedly related to an incident at a team party last night at 865 East that “got out of hand.” Goins was cooperative and released on his own recognizance with a $2500 unsecured bond according to the DNR’s Mark Selig.
There’s not really much we can say at this point. Goins was the Dukes’ leading scorer this year, but struggled down the stretch before a huge game in the championship against Northeastern. Hopefully this is much ado about nothing, but it definitely throws a wrinkle in things and could be an unwelcome distraction at the worst possible time. Or it could be a rallying cry. We’ll see.
Well, at least we’re dancing right? That seems to be the general sentiment after the announcement that JMU was selected to face LIU Brooklyn in the play-in game for the right to face #1 seed Indiana. The game will take place on Wednesday, March 20 in Dayton, Ohio. Tip time is 7:00 and the game will be broadcast on Trutv. read more…
This pic was taken on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the JMU men’s basketball team brought the school it’s first CAA Conference Championship in nearly two decades. And yes, it’s a shot of several players just hanging out, standing on a wall, wearing some brand new CAA Champs hats. And it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s pretty much exactly what we would all do if we were in their shoes. Plus, it’s got a certain playful innocence that distinguishes it from other “Who sex Dikembe?” moments that have taken place elsewhere, no?
h/t to @paulmontana for the photo
Coach Brady has been working round the clock doing the media routine after leading the Dukes to the CAA title Monday night. And he’s doing a pretty terrific job. I’ve been accused by many of being a Brady apologist and well, that’s probably true. It’s tough not to be if you’ve ever spent any time with him. I’ve been fortunate to have several long conversations with Brady and he’s always come across as smart, gracious, and exceedingly honest. And as a result he’s doing a great job making himself (and JMU) look pretty great in all these interviews. read more…
Rob and I have spent three plus years somehow trying to get up three posts a week, having a great time becoming better fans, meeting a lot of fellow Dukes, and often being mocked by our wives and close friends for this little hobby. We’re not pros by any stretch and this is absolutely a pure labor of love. So it goes without saying that this week, with the Dukes breaching the perimeter of relevance on the national college sports landscape, is one of the happiest, and to some extent, validating, periods since we started JMUSB. We could easily spend the whole week writing sanctimonious stories and thanking those that have helped us along. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t use a little bit of this window of opportunity, when we may have the attention of a few in the JMU community, to highlight a few concerns. No frills, no links, no pictures, just a few thoughts we hope some of our newer or casual readers will join us in pondering, maybe even advocating, about. While this seems certain to provoke a few of our regulars into rising to the defense of the bigwigs they get to hobnob with, we have no such relationships and someone has to hold the administration accountable for some of the failings of leadership in the Athletics Department. We’ll get back to all the fun of constant Agent Steinzz coverage in the Washington Post, having the ability to spark memes in minutes like #lasttimeJMUwentdancing, and smugly making jokes at the expense of other CAA schools.
But when we’re all purpling out, and especially as we inaugurate President Alger today, keep in mind the following items: read more…
One of the downsides to having a blog when your team ends a 19 year NCAA tournament drought is that people sort of expect you to write about it. And when you can’t stop smiling or giggling to yourself, it’s kind of hard to write. It’s even harder when you’re not a particularly talented writer to begin with. But we know all too well that bids to the dance don’t come around every day, so we figured we better come up with something. Last night we decided that if we still couldn’t get it together to write tonight, we’d just post a whole bunch of cool pics from the game and call it a day. But Agent Steinz beat us to it and quite frankly did it much better than we would have anyway. And for the record, we have the weirdest passion about our dog mascot because Duke Dog is awesome. He just is.
Again though, it’s been 19 years since JMU went dancing. Thousands of current students weren’t even alive back when Kent Culuko hit “the shot” and won JMU’s last CAA Championship. 19 years is a long time. College girls wore Keds and flannel shirts to parties and didn’t find me old and creepy (well, not old at least) back then. It was a different world. And now we’re here and the drought is over. JMU is going dancing. And with five more days until the bracket is released we can take our time to let it sink in. Or even milk it a little bit. And that’s what we’re gonna do.
Last night we had a very smooth trip back up 95 from Richmond to NOVA. It was a quick drive, but I’m sure it would have felt like another 19 years on its own had the game turned out differently. Instead we spent the whole trip speculating on the Dukes’ draw and recapping the game, less to relive it and more to convince ourselves it actually happened. Todd and I followed that up by each settling in at home to promptly watch (and re-watch) highlights of the very game we just attended. And yeah, we were texting back and forth the entire time like a couple of teenage girls who ran into Biebs at the mall.
Just about 24 hours later and the game is still fresh in my mind. I can still see Big Ray coming flying out of the gate and making it clear his pre-tourney “championship or bust” statements weren’t just talk. I can still hear the pep band playing “Start Wearing Purple” to the delight of the JMU dominated crowd. A.J. Davis is still doing A.J. Davis things on a continuous loop in my head. I can also remember how my sister and I started fiddling with our phones to distract ourselves as Northeastern chipped away at the lead. And I recall the feeling of complete dread overtaking me when the 22 point lead shrunk all the way to 8. But most of all, I remember how that feeling left my body not when Andre Nation swatted a Huskie attempt into the seats, but immediately afterward when I noticed the smiles return to his teammates’ faces as if they realized at that very moment that they were going to close it out. And they did. And now we’re going dancing.
photo courtesy of jmusports.com
This happened tonight:
Start Wearing Purple!
And for once, we have no words to describe our feelings about a JMU sporting event. We’ve all got over a week to cover all the angles and you can find a zillion game stories all over the place, but after a second DC to Richmond run in as many days and a little celebratory Copper Fox Single Malt, we’re kind of cooked.
Oddly, a night like tonight leaves us with nothing but gratitude for everyone that has supported our little project here at JMUSB over the last three plus years. So we hope all of you will use the comments to write this post from all those aforementioned angles! For now, congrats to everyone associated with JMU Men’s Hoops, the Pep Band, and all the loyal members of JMU Nation that have hung in there with dorks like us through the last 19 years.
Back tomorrow with thoughts on the serious stuff and accolades all around, but for tonight, just enjoy this thought as you unwind: Selection Sunday really takes on a whole new meaning this weekend doesn’t it?!
Forty. Minutes. Away! From an elusive NCAA bid! JMU knocked off Delaware in thrilling fashion today and will take on top-seeded Northeastern for the bid to the big dance and the CAA title at 7:00 at the Richmond Coliseum tomorrow night. Game will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network and the Buy One Get One Free deal is still available if you print the coupon under “Discounted Tickets” on the CAA website.
We’ve been tweeting like crazy all weekend, just got home, and need to get some sleep so we can get back on the road early tomorrow afternoon so we’ll keep this short and sweet. One quick note to students though. Rob was lucky enough to be in school the last time the Dukes won one of these, but by the time I got their the long winter of men’s hoops had begun. Since I got into JMU way back when, this opportunity has NEVER ONCE presented itself. If you’re just getting back from Spring Break, there’s simply no excuse for not hopping in your car at 4 tomorrow with a few buddies and making the run. You’ll regret it if 15 years from now you never have another chance. There’s nothing so important on campus on the first day back from break that you can pass this up.
The Good
JMU’s resilience and belief. AJ Davis’ run of highlight real ridiculousness.
Andre Nation’s huge-rocks game today! Nation set the tone from the very first possession when he blocked Devon Saddler and then proceeded to absolutely lock him down all night. Oh yeah, and then drained an enormous trey to cut a six-point Blue Chicken lead in half in the last couple minutes. Yes, he was blocked on the drive, but he is electric and led a freshmen resurgence after they collectively played tight in their first tourney action Saturday night.
Matt Brady coached his ass off today and we were pleased. We’ve been up and often down in our coaching appraisal’s throughout Brady’s tenure, but I’ve been particularly critical of his handling of the starts and finishes to games. The last two days he’s been on his game. Starting AJ again has definitely helped avoid the slow starts and seems to have buoyed the team’s confidence early. He’s been unquestionably the best player in the tourney so far and added another highlight real dunk today. And then Brady did a great job alternating offense/defense with Diouf and Davis when AJ was getting manhandled on the block by that dumptruck that plays the opposite post from Hagins in the second half.
The Bad
Dukes’ free throw shooting. Somehow they’ve gotten away with it for two games, but they HAVE to make foul shots to upset Northeastern. Was a big factor in the only meeting in Boston a few weeks ago and likely will be tomorrow.
The Ugly
Officiating. Both ways. We should keep in mind the dirty secret that us college hoops junkies know – officiating is horrendous in college ball the last couple years, not just the CAA – but seriously, this is more embarrassing than the fact the tourney is sponsored by Jani King. Today their were horrible calls both ways and at times it seemed the refs would realize they were leaning heavily one way and then run off a series of terrible calls the other way to make up for it.
Delaware’s shameful coaching and support staff. The hoops crew must have been studying hard at the KC Keeler and UD football school of whining and making an ass of yourself. Coach Ross engaged in a three-minute timeout staredown contest with an official at one point and then angrily followed the officials off the court and up the tunnel at the endgame. Gotta think Yeager was sitting down there somewhere and didn’t miss this, but it is the CAA after all so probably didn’t even know the event’s taking place. Apparently the cameras on NBCSN caught us giving our homage-to-Dikembe with a long wave off the court to the Blue Chickens coaching staff. Screen shot credit to Ms. Jones!
Buh-Bye Blue Chicks
And yes, I must confess that is a green wristband from the “CAA Sports Zone Bar” even on a Sunday afternoon. Hope they’re still open tomorrow night and the keg of Devil’s Backbone 8 Point IPA hasn’t kicked.
