Sources say CAA wants Stony Brook for full membership and Albany just for football but Stony Brook will decline offer. Very happy in AEC.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 22, 2012
I have no clue how connected Jon Rothstein is, or if there is any truth to his reporting. If his sources are accurate though, this would be a bit of a kick in the nuts. With all due respect to the school, what the heck does it say about the CAA if Stony Brook won’t even accept an invitation to join the league? I mean, it’s friggin Stony Brook! They play in a 1-bid hoops league that just lost one if it’s strongest teams to the Patriot League. They play in a football league that quite frankly, sort of sucks. Maybe the administration is just “monitoring the situation” and foolishly letting a good opportunity pass it by. Or maybe the administration views the CAA as unstable and really does believe that the America East Conference is a better fit.
And Albany, oh Albany. I’d heard rumors that Albany was under consideration for a bid, but for some reason I didn’t think it was a real possibility. Consequently, I haven’t made myself too familiar with the program. Based on the name, I’m guessing that school is located in Albany. And that’s about where my interest ends.
First, a few Friday items of note:
Former Dukes hoopster Denzel Bowles (and frequent target of derision here for his defense-last style of play – what might be called Blatcheian) seems to have earned himself a solid look for the Hornets summer league team. Anthony Davis getting called up to the Olympic team also helped to create more minutes for the big guy and while he hasn’t qute matched his stunning opening night performance since then, he has certainly put himself back on the NBA radar and even drawn a seemingly apt comparison from NBATV’s Chris Webber to none other than JMUSB childhood favorite Le JMdell Eackles! I mean, if you want a guy to fill up a stat page for a bad team, this could definitely be your man. Again, we’ve been hard on Denzel, but to his credit, the road through the Phillipines league seems to have taught him a thing or two about valuing his opportunity and it would be amazing to seem him succeed.
The men of JMU showed up in the top five as expected in Glamour Magazine’s Smitten Blog’s “Colleges with Hottest Guys.” Unexpectedly however they failed to properly credit old guys blogging about JMU which surely would have garnered the Dukes the top spot. That said, I think we can all safely assume this list is retroactive to at least the late nineties. (thanks to @richpriz and @WilkesonWarpath for the link and the jokes!)
And at long last, JMU finally managed to announce the gametimes (well, most of them anyhow except for a couple of t.v. tossups) for the upcoming football season. Still frustrated by the lack of announcement from WVU and FedEx about the time of the big game, but high marks go to JMU for the second consecutive year for the later start times for most home games and the notable absence of any noon starts, which generally suck (possible exception for W&M game to accomodate tv, but that’s fine). Only Towson at 1 p.m. on Parent’s Weekend is scheduled before 3:30 (does kind of suck that one of the biggest games of the year is on PW, but at least it will be full and should be a great show for those footing tuition bills) and the back-to-back 6 p.m. starts to open the season is great use of normally primo weather. Needless to say, the 7 p.m. finale with ODU is a tailgate legend in the making!
JMU’s 2012 Regular Season Football Schedule
Sat., Sept. 1 – Saint Francis (Pa.) – 6 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 8 – Alcorn State – 6 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 15 – vs. West Virginia (FedEx Field, Washington D.C.) – TBA
Sat., Sept. 22 – at Rhode Island* – 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 6 – Towson* (NBC Sports Network)- 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 13 – William & Mary* (Comcast SportsNet Regional) – TBA
Sat., Oct. 20 – at Richmond* (Comcast SportsNet Regional) – 3:30 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 27 – Georgia State* – 3:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 3 – at Maine* (Comcast SportsNet Regional) – 3:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 10 – at Villanova* – TBA
Sat., Nov. 17 – Old Dominion* (NBC Sports Network)- 7 p.m.
Oh yeah, seven weeks till Bridgeforth reopens and we forget all the yakking!!
Former Duke, Denzel Bowles, is two games into his NBA summer league debut. He’s had one really good game, one sort of off game, and drawn one comparison to an all time NBA superstar former Washington Bullet. Sunday night when Bowles’ New Orleans Hornets faced off against the Portland Trailblazers, he came off the bench and immediately made an impact with his offensive game.
Since I was apparently the one guy on earth who watched the summer league game instead of Breaking Bad (well I watched 3 quarters of it, it’s just summer league), I can tell you that Denzel looked pretty much exactly the way he did while at JMU. That is to say he displayed a real nice touch inside 15 feet and hit a variety of turnarounds and short to mid-range jumpers. He finished the game with 18 points and 12 rebounds. His strong play led to Chris Webber comparing him to Ledell Eackles. As two long suffering Bullets/Wizards fans, Todd and I are 100% certain that nobody on earth derived more joy from that comparison that we did. The comparison did seem to resonate with Denzel’s teammates who, just like the old Bullets, blew a late lead and lost. After the game SBNation even listed Bowles as one of the best unsigned free agents at Vegas summer league. They refer to Denzel as a player out of Texas A&M though, so they’re either slipping or Coach Brady’s relationship with Denzel is so dis-functional that his association with JMU has officially been dissolved (that’s a joke people…hopefully).
Denzel earned the start in his second game, but was less effective. Going up against his old rival Larry Sanders (the VCU one, not Gary Shandling) he was far less effective. He struggled to get going and ended up only scoring 5 points on 1 of 5 shooting. It was just one of those nights where things weren’t going his way and he was unable to get into a groove on the offensive end. Despite the poor shooting night, he did lead the team with 7 rebounds. He’ll get a chance to bounce back and show his scoring ability tonight when New Orleans plays the Phoenix Suns.
I am by no means a NBA summer league expert, but it seems fair to say that players like Denzel aren’t playing summer league to make an NBA roster. They’re playing summer league to try to earn a NBA preseason training camp invite. And not necessarily from the team they’re suiting up for in summer league. At that point they really are in a position to make a roster. Denzel’s game might have a few holes on the defensive end, but he’s got pure scoring ability. That’s a valuable skill in the NBA. If he throws together a few more games like the one he had on Sunday, he could find himself in an NBA camp in a few months with a legit shot to make a team.
JMU was hit with flash flooding Saturday and as a result, Bridgeforth was briefly turned into the largest pool (or worst lake depending on your perspective) in the Valley. Amazingly enough, the water receded and things were in good enough shape that they were even able to hold a football camp in the stadium today. Hard to believe if you check out this video of campus taken yesterday during the flood.
Photo via practically everyone on Twitter
Former JMU big man Denzel Bowles is set to make his NBA summer league debut this weekend. He will be suiting up as a member of the New Orleans Hornets summer team when they face off against the Portland Trail Blazers on July 15 in Las Vegas. The number one overall pick in the NBA draft, Anthony Davis, was also named to the New Orleans roster. Austin Rivers, the 10th pick of the draft, is also on the team.
Davis’ summer league participation is in doubt now however. USA Basketball asked him to rejoin the Olympic team to fill in for an injured Blake Griffin. Not only is that a potential break for Davis, but it could open the door for Bowles. In addition to Bowles and Davis, the Hornets named 4 other players 6’10” or taller to the summer league roster. There are only so many minutes to go around, so with Davis out of the picture, Denzel could get some more minutes to show his stuff.
Bowles should enter summer league with plenty of confidence. Since leaving JMU, he’s played very well overseas. He started out at BC Siauliai in Lithunia, where he used his 208 cm, 116 kg frame to average 19 points and 7 boards a game. I have a firmer grasp of the Higgs boson than I do of European basketball, but Denzel earned a bunch or honors despite apparently only playing 12 games. Eurobasket.com named him the Baltic League’s Center of the Year and Import Player of the Year, and selected him to the all league first team. Or maybe they didn’t. He’s listed as a first teamer, but Mantas Kalnietis is pictured with the first team instead of him. Whatever. It’s the Baltic League. Some team just up and quit after one game in the playoffs to focus on something else. The NBA it is not apparently. The point is that Denzel led the league in scoring and then moved on to the Philippines.
In the Philippines, Denzel played for B-MEG Llamados of the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA). Again, he proved himself as a scorer, averaging over 26 points a game. He also grabbed 12 rebounds a game. Plus he earned some cool nicknames like “The Bomber” and “Invinci-Bowles” while leading his team to a PBA Championship. In game 7 of the championship series against the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters (I hate that team), Denzel nailed 2 free throws to send the game into OT. He scored 10 of his game high 39 points in the extra session and pulled down 21 rebounds in the 90-84 win.
Denzel was a tremendous scorer at JMU and he’s continued to thrive offensively overseas. B-MEG and BC Siauliai aren’t household names in the states, but Bowles took advantage of the opportunity each provided him. He led one team in scoring and led another to a championship. It’s a long way from summer league to “the league”. However, if Denzel keeps progressing like this, he’s at least got a shot of eventually finding his way onto an NBA roster.
The Sports Network released its 2012 FCS Preseason All-America teams and 3 members of the JMU Dukes were selected. Senior offensive guard, Earl Watford was named to the first team, while Stephon Robertson and Dae’Quan Scott earned third team honors.
Watford is expected to anchor an offensive line for a Dukes offense that will probably run the ball a little bit. And then they’ll run some more. And every once in a while they’ll throw a pass to set up some more running. And Scott, who is appropriately selected as an All Purpose player, will be one of the primary beneficiaries of Watford’s efforts. Last year he showed that he can be a featured back in the CAA and a gamebreaker. Fortunately for the Dukes, Scott’s partner in the backfield Jordan Anderson, showed the exact same thing. QB Justin Thorpe has yet to play a full season, but if he stays healthy (and avoids any “sabbaticals”), the Dukes could have a very entertaining and effective offense.
Stephon Robertson is well deserving of his Preseason All America honors. You could even make the argument that as a third teamer, he’s being under-rated. He’ll be entering his 3rd year as a starter and has firmly established himself as one of the leaders of the defense. A defense that looks poised to be every bit as good, or perhaps even better, than last year’s stellar squad.
This post really spe
aksfor itself, but we’re very excited to present JMUSB’s first “long read.” At least the first one that’s really worth printing out and taking with you to lunch or the can. After all, it’s All Star week in baseball and there’s not squat else going on right now. JMU won’t even release gametimes for football. Fellow Duke Matt Bondurant has gone on to a successful writing career. His second book, The Wettest County in the World, is based on his actual grandfather and his involvement, along with his brothers, in the moonshine business in Franklin County, Virginia during Prohibition. The book has been turned into a movie coming out next month called “Lawless” (IMBD Link with trailers) and featuring a serious cast of Hollywood heavyweights – Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, Shia LeBoeuf, Mia Wasikowski, and Gary Oldman. Screenplay written by all-around badass Nick Cave. Needless to say, this isn’t your average JMU story. The book is great, and we can’t encourage you enough to read it before the movie and to check out Matt’s newest book, The Night Swimmer. Lastly, a huge thanks to Matt for taking the time!
You went to JMU for both undergrad and your masters. How did your experiences at JMU (in and out of the classroom) help you develop as a writer? Did you have any particular professors that made a significant impact on your developmentas a writer?
I took classes from many excellent professors at JMU. At least I think I did. In truth, I just wasn’t what you would call attentive. Of course there are exceptions, and it is to these moments and the professors who facilitated them that I likely owe much of the life I have now. Here are two, from my undergraduate career that affected me in very different ways.
The first was during a Survey of Poetry course in my junior year. At least I think it was a survey of poetry, all I know is we were reading a lot of poems, using that fat Norton Anthology of poetry. We were in one of those small, sharply raked classroom in Keezel Hall that always felt like a block of stadium seats in an elevator shaft. The instructor was a kindly, soft-hearted woman, middle-aged, prone to wearing loose cotton tunics, carved amulets on leather thongs around her neck, Stevie Nicks hairstyle. I think she was an adjunct or part-time, the teacher who is listed on the class schedules as “staff.” I do not remember this woman’s name, which is a shameful thing. She liked to stand at the small podium and read poems to us, often with great earnestness and emotion. On this day she was reading us some Sylvia Plath – that great pied piper of the college aged wandering soul – and as she read one poem, I do not remember which, probably “Daddy,” her voice began to crack and she reached that neat intersection of an emotive reading and full-on weeping, which in the reading of a poem can be so wonderfully devastating. And on this day, for the first time, I remember suddenly being struck with the thought: Wait, what is it that she is feeling there? What is happening to her? Why don’t I feel that way when I read it? Why can’t I? And then, wait, I want to feel that way, I want to know what that feels like.
And from that moment on it wasn’t just pretty words and good stories anymore. Things got suddenly serious in my world. Endless afternoons of beer and volleyball and the tantalizing prospect of throwing someone into the lake began to seem…trivial.
read more…
Remember, on Monday we’re going to have an actual interview with someone who’s soon-to-be one of the more notable JMU alums out there, author Matt Bondurant, whose book Wettest County in the World is coming out as the movie Lawless later this summer. But we’ve both been lost in the powerless dark ages for huge swaths of this week and although we wanted to give you a little Friday roundup of Old Guys Leave links to tide you over, there’s really NOTHIN’ going on at all right now.
We were tempted to waste your time with a 2013 Football STH Reparking in-depth analysis or a little bitching about the lack of announcement from JMU about football gametimes this year, or even to celebrate the removal of the VCU logo from the CAA Zone website, but instead we’ll just say don’t miss out on Monday and…
…57 days (that’s just seven weeks from Saturday) till kickoff at Bridgeforth!
Four days ago if you told me a derecho was a new item on the Taco Bell menu, I would have believed you. It turns out a derecho is a bit of nuisance, huh? My power just came back a few hours ago and unfortunately Todd is still waiting for electricity and water. Luckily, we both were able to shack up with relatives and escape the heat. All in all, it was a bit of pain in the ass (and still is in Todd’s case), but we’re all safe and sound. Hopefully you and yours are as well.
Todd and I have been working behind the scenes to put together a Q&A with Matt Bondurant. We were planning on posting it this morning. Unfortunately, the storm sort of derailed things, so we’re going to post it next Monday. For those that don’t know, Matt is a JMU alum and accomplished author. Despite what you might think after reading our rants and ramblings, Todd and I actually both love to read and have tremendous appreciation for great writing. And Matt is definitely a great writer. His most recent novel, The Night Swimmer, was published in January to some outstanding reviews and his first novel, The Third Translation, was an international best seller. And Todd and I both consider his second novel, The Wettest County in the World, as one of our favorite books. It a work of fiction based on the true story of Matt’s real life grandfather and granduncles, who were some of the most notorious moonshiners during and after Prohibition. It is also being made into the major motion picture, Lawless, which was shown at Cannes and is due to be released this year. So we thought it would be a good time to reach out to Matt for a Q&A. Thankfully, he agreed to do it and we’re beyond excited about it. And we hope you will be to.
We’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future to speculate about conference re-alignment, ponder Matt Brady’s future, and make fun of ODU. The opportunity to do a Q&A with a JMU alum who has drawn comparisons to Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner doesn’t come along every day though. So let’s not waste it. Consider it your homework assignment to read The Wettest County in the World if you haven’t done so already. And then be sure to check out the blog on Monday for the Q&A with the author, Matt Bondurant.
On Monday there wasn’t a Dukes fan to be found anywhere near Michael Phelps and he came up short in the 400-meter IM against Ryan Lochte. Earlier tonight Phelps drew support from a Dukes fan looking over his shoulder and he beat Lochte in the 200-meter freestyle. Do the math people.
h/t to reader @MShackapopolis for sending us the photo
