JMU put the blowout loss to Kent State behind them and cruised to 67-49 win over the Citadel tonight. The Dukes were aided by the return of Devon Moore, who played his first game of the season after being declared academically ineligible for the first semester. The Dukes were also aided by the fact that the Citadel Bulldogs are not very good at playing basketball. A win is a win though and it was great to see the Dukes put the Kent State debacle behind them. Here are 3 quick thoughts on the win.
Guess Who’s Back
The story of the night was clearly the return of junior point guard Devon Moore. Everyone expected this to be Devon’s team this year, so it was great to finally get him out on the floor. He came off the bench, but played a team high 33 minutes, largely due to the fact that Humpty Hitchens got into foul trouble. In those 33 minutes he had the sort of all around game that makes him so valuable to JMU. He finished with 8 points on 4 of 7 shooting, 4 assists, 3 boards, and 2 steals. It could take a few games for him to get into full season mode, but this team will definitely be better with Moore running the show.
Balanced Attack
The Dukes worked their way to a 4-3 record without Devon Moore largely due to the outstanding play of Humpty Hitchens and AJ Davis. The duo were carrying over 50% of the scoring load for JMU heading into this game. Tonight JMU had a much more balanced attack with 8 players scoring. Julius Wells and Humpty lead the way with 12 each. The Dukes assisted on 17 of their 27 field goals. It’s tough to read too much into one game, especially one against an overmatched opponent. However, I think this is more in line with what we’ll see the rest of the way. Yes, we’re going to see big scoring nights from Humpty, AJ, and probably even a couple from Julius Wells. With Moore back running the point though, we can look forward to a more dynamic offense with more players contributing on offense.
Meet Us at the GW Game
I really don’t have much else to say about tonight’s game, so I figured I’d throw in another plug for DC metro area Dukes to join us at this Thursday’s game at George Washington. The Duke Club has organized a pre-game happy hour at Tonic. There will be $4 drink specials and plenty of Dukes fans in attendance. Tickets are only $6 and they can be purchased online here. We’ll be posted up at the bar at Tonic with our Old Guys Leave shirts on. Come on over and introduce yourself and maybe we’ll buy you a drink. Maybe.
Finally, JMU announced that Trevon Flores has left the team and returned home to be with his family. Trevon’s mother passed away last summer and he apparently decided that he needs to get back to be with his family. That’s a tough situation and we wish Trevon and his family well.
Todd and I typically try to keep from reporting on any verbal commitments the Dukes get. Instead we try to be patient and wait for the signed offer letters to come in. However, when a talented running back who rushed for 2.532 yards and 39 touchdowns withdraws his commitment to a CAA rival in order to become a Duke, we can’t resist. Stacey Bedell announced this week that he is headed to JMU to play football. The 3 star recruit had originally given Villanova a verbal commitment in July. Thankfully, the Dukes kept pursuing him and he changed his mind. Bedell is a great get for Mickey and the staff. He was timed running a 4.48 40-yard dash…with a sprained ankle. So we know the kid is fast. From the highlights above, we also know that he hits the hole and makes his cut quick. And he comes to play in big games, rushing 412 yards and 4 touchdowns in the Long Island Class 1 Championship game.
Well, Maryland and everyone ever associated with the Terps may hate Kevin Anderson and Randy Edsall, but FCS teams sure don’t. Rob and I usually leave Dukes recruiting stories and rumors to the message boards and more “connected” blogs out there, but some recent news out of PG County really caught our attention. The exodus of Terps out of College Park in the midst of the utter disfunction that is UM athletics combined with the “no waiting if you transfer down” rule are beginning to look like a windfall of talent for local FCS programs. Thankfully JMU joined the party in picking up Safety Titus Till, who on his way out the door, said essentially: “Yeah I’m leaving to go help a great Defense and I’m trying to bring friends with me.” His ‘friends’ allegedly include DT David Mackall and RB Jeremiah Wilson, both of whom are rumored to have other plans. Let’s hope young Mr. Till is a good salesman and a great player!
Hoops in DC Next Week – Help us Purple Out GW’s Smith Center
Next Thursday the Dukes come to DC to take on GW. 7 p.m. tip and huge holiday happy hour starting at 4:30 at Tonic. Look for Old Guys Leave shirts and come say hi. With GW students out on break this has a chance to be a JMU home game (like FedEx next year – I know I know, but let’s dream big).
For Info, check out the DC Nova Duke Club and Metro Dukes Facebook pages or follow @DCNovaDukeClub. Tickets are cheap and of course drink specials to kick off your Christmas weekend!
JMU Baseball Player Makes Preseason All-American
Congrats to JMU Senior LHP Sean Tierney on being named a preseason second team All-American. Hopefully he can lead the Dukes to another CAA Title!
Last week we were fortunate to be invited to vote in the CAA Bloggers Poll. The poll ranks the CAA basketball teams from 1 to 12 with the results posted to VCURamNation.com each week. The voting panel is made up of a number of CAA hoops experts and well respected bloggers from around the league. And us apparently. You can view this week’s poll results here. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, VCU earned the top spot in large part due to an impressive blowout victory over Richmond. Our Dukes ended up in the 4 slot.
The NCAA released its final attendance figures for the 2011 college football season last Saturday. Like most things associated with NCAA bookkeeping, the numbers are a little suspect. Actually, they are flat out inflated. Accounting hijinks aside, JMU had the second highest official average attendance in FCS, finishing just behind Appalachian State. In fact, JMU’s average attendance of 25,002 was good enough to outdraw 46 FBS teams, including such traditional powers such as Duke, UNLV, Rice, and SMU. Of course by traditional powers, I actually mean recognizable schools that have terrible fan support.
Other fun facts and miscellaneous notes:
- JMU had a higher average attendance than all but one MAC school.
- MAC football sucks
- JMU drew 102% of capacity and App State drew 130%. Me thinks capacity is a made up number.
- Eastern Kentucky finished a mere 71 spots behind JMU.
- There seem to be a lot of directional universities on the FCS list.
- The MAC is the exception to the above. That conference is a directional school hotbed.
- 3 of the 4 remaining schools in the FCS playoffs finished in the top 11 for attendance.
- JMU and Yale were the only schools in the top 10 with fewer than 6 home games. Montana had 8.
I have no real point I’m trying to make other than showing that the inauguaral season in the new Bridgeforth Stadium was a great success attendance wise. Well, and to show that the MAC and other lower level FBS conferences might be a classification above FCS, they probably can’t be called a higher level. Give me the CAA and FCS playoffs over them any day.
As hard as it is to believe, today is our second anniversary here at JMUSB. And of course we’re celebrating by drinking ourselves silly (which these days only takes three beers and a glass of wine) and slinging darts at a picture of Taylor Heinicke.
But we also wanted to take a look back at one of our initial posts. Here’s are 2009 Christmas List. The incredible thing is how many items remain the same. With a few minor tweaks, we simply ask again for the following:
A CAA Tourney Run for Men’s Hoops
Readers of the blog are aware of our developing man crush on AJ Davis. We might be a little bit overwhelmed by the start to his JMU career, but we honestly think Coach Brady has a squad that is capable of making a little run in the conference tourney. We’re just sick of setting our sights on “hopefully avoiding the play-in game”. Please give us at least a trip to the CAA semis.
For Justin Thorpe to Grow Up
Let’s clarify this one before anyone freaks out. We think JT kind of gets a raw deal from Dukes fans. He’s not Rodney Landers. We get it. Everyone seems to ignore the fact that he was CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year , that he led the team to 4 straight wins to close the season his freshman year, and the Dukes have won nearly every game he’s started against FCS competition. With that being said, he’s STILL got great potential and we’re ready to see him show some maturity both on and off the football field.
PleaseSanta!
98 Ornament
It’s Christmas time, so we at JMU Sports Blog headquarters put our heads together and came up with our wish list for Santa Claus. Here are some of things we’re asking for in the coming year.
Even Santa is a Dukes fan
A CAA Tourney Run for Men’s Hoops
Readers of the blog are aware of our developing man crush on Denzel Bowles. We might be a little bit overwhelmed by the big guy’s start to his JMU career, but we honestly think Coach Brady has a squad that is capable of making a little run in the conference tourney. We’re just sick of setting our sights on “hopefully avoiding the play-in game”. Please give us at least a trip to the CAA semis.
Bridgeforth reseating for 2010 to be the same seats as 2009
Confession time: This was the first year that Todd and I bit the bullet and actually got our own season tickets, after years of leaching off friends. We sat in different sections, but both hit the jackpot and would love if we had comparable seats in the new and improved Bridgeforth. Todd has front row seats right next to Coach Lucas of the Field Hockey team, which is a real thrill for him. The jury is still out on how she feels about it.
A CAA Championship and a Sweet Sixteen Appearance for the Lady Dukes
Last weekend I found myself doing something I’ve never, ever done before. Checking the score for a woman’s hoops game to see how the JMU ladies were doing against Duke. You know what? I’m not even embarrassed about it (kidding, of course I’m embarrassed). Dawn Evans is legit and I’ll gladly jump on the bandwagon. We all should. Kenny Brooks is building one heck of a program in the ‘Burg.
95 Ornament
For Justin Thorpe to Grow Up
Let’s clarify this one before anyone freaks out. We think JT kind of gets a raw deal from Dukes fans. He’s not Rodney Landers. We get it. Everyone seems to ignore the fact that he was CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year and that he led the team to 4 straight wins to close the season. With that being said, he’s got great potential and we’re ready to see him show some maturity both on and off the football field. Even if Drew earns back the starting job next season, JMU is going to need Thorpe to contribute and to be the man the following two seasons.
If Cincy, Rutgers, or the ‘Cuse go Big Ten, We Wish to at Least be a Nationally Rumored Replacement for the Big East (crazy how much this one has changed and that’s why I didn’t update it from the ’09 post, but our thoughts on JMU have not!)
We’re definitely not in the camp that believes JMU has to go D-1 as soon as possible. We’d much prefer to stay at the FCS level than to make the leap to a bad conference or at a time that isn’t right. It would be great though for JMU to at least get some recognition for all the resources it’s putting behind football and the caliber of the program it’s built. It’s never to early to star the chatter. (We’re on board with the East Coast Conference “if and when” and cautiously optimistic about the long-term direction of the program; have to wait and see on President Alger)
For Charles Haley to Make the Pro Football Hall of Fame
We attended JMU long after Haley was gone. Plus, Todd is a Skins fan and I’m a Giants fan (which made for a tense week here at JMU Sports Blog), so we’d both be lying if we said we were huge Haley fans in the NFL. Also, as readers of Jeff Pearlman’s book will attest, Haley might have had, um, let’s just say the worst locker room presence of all time at best, or some deep rooted psychological issues at worst. We’ll ignore that. Put a Duke in the Hall!
A Girls of Madison Calendar
Yeah. We don’t see anyway this can end badly for these young ladies. We’re sure the tens of dollars they each stand to make from this little venture, will outweigh the blowback from the highly unlikely scenario in which potential employers do something crazy like, oh, I don’t know, Google their names. That would never happen. Bravo ladies. We applaud your decision to put our interests of random guys everywhere above your own. In all seriousness, if you got it, flaunt it and it’s very cool that the calendar is raising money for Madison for Keeps. I think that’s why I’m going to buy one.
For Dave’s Taverna to Launch a Pizza Peddlers-esque Tailgate Delivery System
Admit it. This is friggin brilliant! Someone get on this ASAP. Daves on Demand at all JMU Sports Blog tailgates!
For the ESPN Gameday Crew to Broadcast from an FCS Playoff Site
Calm down. We know that due to stadium construction, JMU won’t be hosting a playoff game next year. However, we still want Fowler, Corso, and Herbstreet to lose their FCS playoffs virgnity next season. That way they can work out the kinks and have things running on all cylinders for the first playoff game in the new Bridgeforth stadium’s history in 2011.
A QUIET Offseason for Football, please!
We’ve all heard MM is staying and has control of staff decisions so we don’t expect much turnover there for better or worse, but after last year’s Jailblazers-esque offseason, we could all really go for a quiet offseason from the current Dukes. Oh yeah, and a great recruiting year wouldn’t hurt either.
For Taylor Heinicke to declare early for the NFL Draft
Hey, this is a “wish” list after all, right?!
A Final Four Run for Field Hockey
When they get Taylor West back next year, look out!
These Kids to grow into stud Dukes athletes (or at least big donors!)
In 2009 Gene Swindle injured his knee less than 1 minute into the only basketball game he ever played in for the VA Tech Hokies. The injury was believe to be career ending. After spending a few years as a undergraduate assistant, the 6’11” 260 lbs center transferred to JMU with dreams of returning to the court. We’re less than one month into the season and Swindle has already overtaken Trevon Flores’ role in the starting lineup. It’s a pretty nice story, so we figured we should learn a little about the guy. Well when we checked out his bio on JMUsports.com we found the following little nugget in his Q&A:
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?
Saved a family of 7 from a burning building.
Hold on. What? Yes, he’s only averaging 2 points and 2 boards a game, but he SAVED 7 PEOPLE FROM A BURNING BUILDING. Surely that’s worth publicizing a little bit, don’t you think? I mean at least put it at the top of the Q&A instead of dropping in between talk of Gene’s goals for the season and best place he’s been on a holiday. Not only does the guy have a name that sounds like he’s a bully from The Wonder Years, but he’s also an honest to God lifesaver. I’m not sure if that makes up for JMU not making one NCAA tourney appearance in almost 18 years, but it helps a little bit.
h/t to @richpriz
JMU lost to Kent State in the Convo tonight by the score of 71-51. It was, to put it mildly, a God-awful shooting night for the Dukes. JMU struggled from the opening tip and finished 21-63 from the field. Amazingly, the Dukes were able to overcome the poor shooting in the first half and somehow managed to take a 29-26 lead into halftime. This was largely due to Kent State’s sloppy play and inability to hold onto the ball. The Golden Flashes had 15 turnovers before the break. After the half Kent State held onto the ball better and shot 60% from the field. Put that up against JMU’s 33% shooting effort and it all adds up to a 20 point blowout. Here are 3 quick thoughts on the game.
When It Rains, It Pours
As we mentioned it was a very bad shooting night for the Dukes. Heading into tonight’s match-up, JMU had been shooting particularly well. As a team, JMU was shooting 43% from the field and an outstanding 41% from behind the arc, equating to an effective field goal percentage (eFG) of 51%. A.J. Davis, a guy who hit 5-50 3 pointers in his 2 years at Wyoming, came into the game 18-35 from 3 as a Duke. Humpty Hitchens added a mid-range jumper to his game, and had an eFG of 55%. Well tonight, a couple of the Dukes cooled off and came back down to earth a bit. And by a couple, I mean everyone who saw the floor. JMU set a season low for points, field goal percentage, three pointers made, three point percentage, and free throws.
Advanced Metrics
In case you missed it while paying attention to football, Julius Wells’ game has shown signs of maturity this year. No longer is he one of the top options on offense and he seems to be comfortable in that role. He’s rebounding the ball much better and taking better shots. Tonight unfortunately, he had a terrible shooting night. He went 0 for 11 for the game, including 0-3 from long range. That’s good enough for a 0.o FG percentage. And if we dive in a little deeper, we see that he also had a 0.0 3-pt FG percentage. And if we carry it all the way forward, that’s a perfect 0.0 eFG. So yeah, it was a tough night for Julius and the Dukes.
No Need to Panic
This win moved the Golden Flashes to 6-1 on the season. They’re a solid team and were probably JMU’s toughest opponent of the young season. It’s never good to have a 20 point loss at home, but this isn’t the end of the world. There was a lid on the basket for Wells tonight, but he’s been a much better player this year. He could be a valuable “glue guy” once he truly gets comfortable with his role on this team. Humpty has arguable been the most improved player in the CAA and A.J. Davis is an explosive scored. Tonight was an ugly loss. No doubt about it. JMU has plenty of room for improvement, but Devon Moore will be eligible next game and the Dukes managed to go 4-3 (1-0) in his absence. The CAA is wide open this year and the Dukes could be right in the mix after Devon returns.
Before we move on to a promising start to hoops and tomorrow night’s big home game against a very strong Kent St. team (see their drubbing of WVU last week), here’s our season wrapup on the gridiron.
The NDSU Game
Rob said it very well postgame, but it’s worth reiterating. While a 2nd round exit didn’t meet my expectations coming into the season, it felt about right given everything that’s happened since the 2010 season ended. In the end, the Dukes just got beat by a better team on Saturday. Two big botches on the kickoffs out of bounds gave NDSU opportunities and they made two huge plays (a 53 yard FG and the beast McNorton run that was probably aided by the Pat Williams and Tavieon Cuffee injuries earlier in the game). That was really the difference. In some ways it felt refreshing to walk away from a frustrating Dukes “result” without actually being particularly frustrated at anything specifically self-inflicted. The playcalling and coaching were aggressive, pass-happy, and clearly showed the staff understood what they were up against. Thorpe missed one throw in the 2nd half horribly, but depsite message-board ranting about his play, I didn’t find any way to put this one on JT. He even made some mature decisions to get rid of the ball a few times in a defensive struggle that was closer than the final score and idiot ESPN commentator Jay Harris made it out to be throughout. Defense held them in as usual and played their hearts out, but as has been the case all season, the Dukes could never find the huge turnover or special teams play to change the game. Again, the kickoffs were killer, but tough to heap too much blame on Cam Starke, who only one two games for the the Dukes this year.
The Season
The truth is this 2nd round loss started a long, long time ago. Yes, these are excuses but we need to acknowledge them so as to not lose sight of the actual accomplishments of the group in pads when the whistle blew Saturday. This loss really started with Jon Williams and the Rose brothers offseason shenanigans last summer. In the end, the biggest blow to the Dukes season was probably losing Emmons and O’Neill at the two defensive tackle spots early in the season. This turned the defense from dominant to very good, reduced QB pressure against the pass and dominance against the run and put huge pressure on the back seven. Wonder if all those short passes we all hated giving up might’ve been a different story with those two in the lineup more often? Moving on, we can obviously thank our QB for missing five games of which the Dukes lost two very tight ones he might’ve contributed in. One more win, and certainly two, and the Dukes definitely wouldn’t have beent playing the seeded Bison Saturday. And finally, a big shoutout to our AD and co. for putting us on long road trips the last three straight weeks. The DLine injuries can’t be accounted for and it always takes some breaks to go deep, but many of those others are preventable and let’s all hope JMU can avoid the same fate in 2012.
Having said all that, it’s really hard not to be proud of the effort the team turned in the last five weeks and the way they hung in there through all of that the last year. HUGE credit to the seniors on this team too for their leadership throughout, particularly Vidal Nelson, Pat Williams, and Roane Babington. Oh yeah, and of course we’re gonna miss JMUSB favorite DJ Bryant even if he couldn’t depart the field without one last personal foul.
The biggest thing to remember about the 2011 season is that the Dukes accomplished their two most important goals, if not their most audacious. JMU averaged 25,000 fans at Bridgeforth and the Dukes made the playoffs (where they even won a game). Those were the most important things to ensuring long-term success and no matter your position on offensive creativity (or lack thereof), the need for an OC, stale coaching jobs, or weed-smoking QB’s, you cannot deny those two accomplishments and what they mean to next year and beyond.
Next Season
Can’t remember exactly when it was, but much-maligned AD Jeff Bourne once said his expectation was that JMU is in contention for the playoffs every year and that they make a DEEP run at least once every four years. If two 6-5 seasons and a second-round 8-5 playoff team are the in between, with 25k and a VT win thrown in for good measure, those of us whining may need to reexamine our priorities. Next year is 2012 and I don’t need to remind you how the Dukes performed in ’04 and ’08.
If we’ve learned anything during our “rebuilding” the last couple of years, it’s that you can’t project the future roster (Corwin Acker, Jon Williams, Nick Emmons where are you??). But one thing’s for sure, next year’s team “should” be even better if they can find some true leaders in the locker room. The offense ONLY loses Long and Babington and this O-Line/TE/RB group could be special next season. Of course a transfer D-Linemen or playmaker (WR/KR type) sure wouldn’t hurt either. Personally, I think this team can win with Thorpe, but we’ve got eight months for that debate.
And last but not least, Mickey has two years left on his deal, so barring fisticuffs between he and President Alger during their initial meeting or his taking driving lessons from a Richmond coach, you can go ahead and set the over/under on the first visor toss for about six minutes into the season opener next season. Needless to say, however, next year will be determinative on the future of this staff.
Oh yeah, and we get to rent the Keg Bus for a trip to FedEx to play the real Mountaineers! (and don’t tell us about the Big 12/WVU might cancel stuff unless it actually happens – the buyout they’d owe Danny Snyder makes it much more likely poor cross-state “rival” Marshall will be the one left out in the cold if necessary).
Now, let’s all turn our attention the Humpty Dance!
The Dukes lost to the North Dakota State Bison today by the score of 26-14. We’ll take a day or two to let this sink in, and then we’ll post some serious thoughts about the game and the 2011 season. For now though, we just wanted to get a quick post up with some gut reactions to the loss.
In the preview, I said that JMU had to control the line of scrimmage and take care of the ball to win. Well, they didn’t control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball unfortunately. NDSU’s defense shut the Dukes rushing attack down, limiting them to just 76 yards on the ground. That’s over 150 yards fewer than the Dukes’ per game average. JMU had some success throwing the ball, but without a strong rushing attack, they never really got clicking on offense. On defense, the Dukes made the supposedly efficient NDSU QB look pretty average to be honest. Running back DJ McNorton looked anything but average though. He torched the JMU defense for 154 yards, including a dagger of a 60 yard TD run to ice the game. That was pretty much the story. The Bison were a better team today. It might not be easy to admit it, but it’s true.
I’m not really sure what else to say. A few weeks ago, I thought the Dukes were dead in the water and headed for a 5-6 season. Instead they went on a run, finally made it back to the playoffs, won a playoff game, and then lost to the #2 overall seed on the road. I’m definitely not satisfied with a second round playoff defeat. I have much higher expectations for the JMU program. Realistically speaking though, it was a nice accomplishment and something that made me proud as a fan. I’ve been saying all year that this was a down year for the CAA. Today’s results proved that unfortunately, with ODU, UNH, and Towson also losing. So the Dukes were a 5th place team in a good, but not great, conference this year. They won a playoff game, but lost in the second round to a better team. Again, I’m definitely not satisfied, but I can live with that.
