If it’s possible to see a basketball team reach its lowest and highest points of the season in a single game, then that might be what we saw in JMU’s victory over Delaware. The Dukes beat the Blue Hens 77-71 on the road yesterday. JMU was getting blown out and was down by as many as 19 points in the second half, before moving to a full court press and staging a furious rally for the win.
To say the defense was poor in the first half, would be a bit of an undertatement. An understatement like saying that UD football coach KC Keeler is a bit of a whiner. There was no defense at all. Delaware shot, and made, uncontested shot after uncontested shot. It was ugly. The second half was a completely different story however. Coach Brady had the team apply full court pressure, it rattled Delaware, JMU started getting turnovers, and before you knew it a Denzel bucket put the Dukes on top and the Dukes closed it out.
Anyone who was puzzled by this season’s JMU team heading into this game, probably is even more confused after it. I guess you could look at the game and come away with different conclusions. Some might say going down by 19 to a middle of the pack CAA team just shows that JMU is underperforming or simply not that good. Others might say that coming back from 19 down on the road is evidence of this team’s character and a sign that they’re ready to compete. The choice is yours I guess. I’m still stumped, but I’m leaning toward the latter of the two options.
General confusion aside, a few things were pretty clear. Denzel Bowles was the best player on the court. He finished with 26 points and showed he can score from pretty much anywhere inside 17 feet. He banged for buckets down low, hit hook shots, knocked down turnaround jumpers, and slammed home dunks. It was his 5th 20 point effort in the last 6 games. Julius Wells also had a very strong game. Instead of just bombing away from long range like he might have done last year if the Dukes were down big, he took smart shots and drew fouls driving to the basket. And he was a perfect 9 for 9 from the line after he was fouled. I’ve been really impressed with his play lately. He just seems like a smarter, more confident ball player.
JMU is back in action Wednesday night against William & Mary. If the team that showed up in the second half against Delaware comes to play, it could be a laugher. If not, it could be a repeat of the first game against the Tribe. Fingers crossed.
Photo taken from JMUsports.com
Trevon Flores could be a key off the bench.
After ending their 3 game skid and knocking off Drexel, the Dukes are 16-6 overall, 6-4 in the league, and tied with Delaware for 5th place. Virtually every prediction I read in the preseason picked JMU to finish 4th, so they’re right around where we thought they’d be. Plus JMU still plays each of the teams ahead of them in the standings, so finishing in the top 4 is a legitimate possibility. For once the Dukes will be playing to try to secure a bye in the CAA tourney, instead of just hoping to avoid the play-in game. Here are 3 things we’ll be watching for in the second half of the season.
The Way Coach Brady Handles the Bench
Four JMU players, Denzel Bowles, Julius Wells, Devon Moore, and Humpty Hitchens, average over 30 minutes a contest. That could lead to some fatigue down the stretch. It will definitely be a factor if the Dukes advance in the CAA tournament and play games on back to back days. In all likelihood there will be games that require role players to not only spell the starters, but help win ball games. I’m curious to see how Brady handles things. He’d been using a rotation of 7 or 8 guys most nights, but opened things up and gave a bunch of guys minutes against Drexel. Trevon Flores took advantage of the opportunity and played really well. It will be interesting to see if Brady was just exploiting a match-up against Drexel, or if he’s really ready to go 9 or 10 deep.
The Play of Andrey Semenov
This is obviously closely linked to the point above, but it’s worth watching on its own. Lots of fans have been killing Semenov for his play against Hofstra and ODU. He made some unfortunate mistakes and showed questionable decision making in each game, but I think fans are giving him a raw deal. He should have given the ball to Denzel instead of taking the last shot against Hofstra and the lane violation just sucked. JMU did not lose that game because of Andrey though. He went 8 for 8 from the line, so you could actualy argue that he helped keep them in it. He had a couple obvious mistakes in recent losses, but he’s been a huge spark of the bench and the consummate energy guy all season. Brady seemed to send him a message by limiting his playing time against Drexel. I’ll be paying attention to see if Andrey gets the message and improves his late game decision making, without sacrificing his aggressiveness that makes him so valuable.
Team Defense
Last season JMU football was all defense and questionable offense. Flip that around and you’ve got JMU basketball. The Dukes are tied with Mason for the highest scoring offense in the CAA. JMU is in 9th place for scoring defense, and 8th in 3-point percentage defense though. The Dukes showed they could win an ugly, defensive battle, on a relatively poor shooting night against Drexel. I think part of the reason was because Trevon Flores saw the floor and could slide over to provide help D when the Dragons penetrated. That help D was missing late against ODU, Mason, and Hofstra because Denzel was in foul trouble and had to avoid contact. I’m going to be watching to see if Trevon gets more minutes and enables the perimeter defenders to provide more pressure knowing they’ve got help.
Good to have the root canal that was the last three games over with. Dukes beat Drexel 60-52 in front of a very sparse Convo crowd due to today’s crazy weather. On that note, Rob is still at work and a tree just went down through my neighbor’s living room, so I’m gonna be brief tonight.
Dukes started out strong by feeding the post and getting both Bowles and Goins off on the right track early on. But credit Drexel, and their excrutiating style of play thanks to Coach Bruiser Flint for slowing the game down, getting physical and taking a lead for most of the second half. Thankfully, Coach Brady used the bench early and often tonight, and Chad Jackson and Ben Louis gave great energy off the bench, and along with feeding Bowles in the post and setting up some serious Denzel dunks on the break late, lead to a solid finishing stretch by the Dukes to polish off the tough Dragons.
Another good point was the reinsertion of Trevon Flores into the rotation whose length and activity were helpful against the smaller, but stronger and more physical Dragons. Also appears Andrey Semenov’s misguided play late in the last couple of games has forced him into the doghouse formerly occupied by Trevon.
Pay attention, fellas!
One bad point was the stagnation on offense once Denzel got the ball in the post. For his part, Denzel hit lots of great shots of the 10-foot turnaround variety, but sometimes appeared to be settling for these after an early charge call. Would like to see him get to the rim. And the rest of the team needs to keep moving to give him targets to pass out of the inevitable double-teams instead of standing around watching Elle Bunn revving the crowd.
Hope everyone is home safe and staying warm if you have no power.
Unstoppable, so give him the ball!
Tonight’s game was one of those that makes you question your belief in the basketball gods. I don’t even know where to begin. The game has been over for hours, but I still am at a total loss. I have no clue what I can say about this one, so let’s just start with the basics. JMU lost to Hofstra in overtime 92-90.
If you missed the game it basically went like this. JMU started slow. Hofstra couldn’t stop Denzel. JMU went on a run. JMU built up a 17 point lead. Hofstra couldn’t stop Denzel. JMU calmly held the lead. Hofstra stormed back to take the lead, but still couldn’t stop Denzel. JMU almost fell apart, but Hofstra couldn’t stop Denzel. JMU regained its composure on offense, but played no defense. None. JMU had an inexplicable lane violation! Hofstra somehow still put JMU in position to win it on the last possession. JMU neglected to give Denzel the ball on that last possession. Hofstra won it in OT.
I’m leaving out the part about Charles Jenkins picking up where Cam Long left off, but the point is JMU gave this one away. And they did it because as talented as the Dukes are, they still play without any identity. It’s something the announcer said tonight and it’s absolutely correct. This team is still finding itself and learning how to win. As a result, they don’t know what to do, or who to go to when the game is on the line. It seems pretty obvious to me that you give the ball to Denzel down low in those situations, but apparently not everyone agrees with me. And thus, when the Dukes are in position to beat the top team in the CAA on the road simply by scoring one bucket on the final possession, they decline to let Denzel take a shot.
So now the Dukes have lost 3 in a row by a combined 10 points. Each of the 3 losses has been progressively more depressing. The loss to ODU didn’t really bother me much. It was just a road loss to a tough rival. The loss to Mason was frustrating because it could have been a breakthrough win. Tonight’s loss had me screaming at the television. It was just painful. And the worst part is that there were moments that had me thrilled. Moments where it looked like this team was ready to turn the corner. Julius stepping up and hitting a mid-range jumper to stop a Hofstra run. Devon taking the ball to the hole agressively. The bizarre Denzel-Semenov 4 point play combo. Chad Jackson coming off the bench to stop Jenkins on a key OT possession. Then the bad stuff happened. A lane violation that took a point off the board. A forced shot from the wrong guy. Stupid fouls. Did I mention the lane violation?
The Dukes dropped their second game in a row today, falling to George Mason 75-73. Taking a step back and trying to view things objectively, it was an awesome ball game. There was a great crowd, an ESPNU audience, and two rivals going back and forth for 40 minutes. Viewing things from my perspective as a JMU fan and it was sort of miserable. JMU was in command with an 8 point lead in the second half, then let GMU storm back and take the game. It’s not really a surprise considering that the Patriots have won 14 of the last 15 against the JMU.
We’ve now watched the Dukes drop 2 close ones to CAA contenders. JMU has shown it can play with the league’s big boys, but has yet to figure out how to win these close ballgames. Right now, it appears that the difference between JMU and the other top CAA teams is defense. JMU has been particularly weak on the perimeter guarding against the three. The Patriots hit 50% from behind the arc today. You can say they just got hot, but if you watched the game you’d know that wasn’t it. JMU just gave them too many open looks.
Denzel Bowles had another big game, finishing with 21 points, 14 boards, 6 blocks, and 4 assists. Unfortunately he got into foul trouble which limited him down the stretch. The real player of the game was Mason’s Cam Long though. He took only 9 shots from the field, but scored 30 points. Long is a nice player, but he was absolutely ridiculous this game. He hit from long range and seemed to be able to get to the basket at will all game.
Things don’t get much easier for the Dukes. They head up to Long Island to face Hofstra, another top CAA team on Monday. If the Dukes don’t step up defensively, I don’t even want to think about what Charles Jenkins might do to them. Cam Long is good and has a shot at making All CAA. Jenkins is sick and has a shot at making All America. Shutting him down and snagging a road victory would be a nice way for JMU to right the ship.
So the loss to ODU last night has been hashed and rehashed by now, so we’ll leave it with only a few comments from our glass half full perspective. The Dukes got 0 points from Julius Wells, Semonov played hurt, they faced a 29-8 free throw discrepancy on the road in Nawf*ck, and they didn’t realize the offense needed to go threw Denzel Bowles until midway through the 2nd half. And yet they had the ball down two with under a minute to go against the CAA favorite. Needless to say, despite the disappointment, we’re more bullish than ever on the Dukes outlook this season! Time for Mason at home on ESPNU at 11 a.m. Saturday! Need we say more? Well actually, yes. The geniuses in the marketing department have declared the 11 a.m. start to be Pajama Day at the Convo. Just gonna let that hang there.
Going to get a Zoorific welcome for the first time in years!
Old Guys Leave Weekly Roundup:
Great story from The Breeze, yeah that Breeze, on Arthur Moats.
Even better story in USA Today, yeah that USA Today, on Dawn Evans. A must read for any Dukes fan!
Story on tonight’s Women’s victory over the Tribe/Griffin/Pugs from JM UWish you had a Duke Dog.
No link yet, but word is a NY Judge has vacated original judgment against JMU in the Matt Brady Marist case and they’ll have a chance to argue. More as I can figure it out.
We’ve been lovin’ the caa hoops blog at http://www.caahoops.com and you should check it out for preview’s of all this weekend’s action including a mention of the “rebirth of the Electric Zoo.”
Lastly, we’d provide you stories to how JMU may get bought out by UNC so UNC can dump their game against the Dukes next fall (football) in favor of a less dangerous opponent (Louisville) to the sweet tune of 600k, but The Daily News Record thinks it’s important enough to charge folks for an online subscription and all the TarHeels blogs I checked seem to deny the existence of football.
Oh yeah, we really did link to another JMU blog, one of at least others we’re aware of in the JMU Athletics Blog Universe and a CAA basketball-specific blog. Read that sentence again and just let that wash over you.
The JMU Dukes are 15-3, tied for first in the CAA, and actually receiving votes in the polls. I am even allowing myself to dream about JMU returning to the Big Dance for the first time since the 1993-1994 season. It’s safe to say that Wednesday night’s game against ODU is the most JMU anticipated basketball game in recent memory. And why not? It’s easily going to be JMU’s biggest and most important game of the year…until Saturday.
The fact is that JMU has taken a huge step forward this season and in position to compete for the CAA crown. That just means that games like Wednesday’s against ODU are more meaningfull than in years past. And so are games like this Saturday’s against George Mason. Or next week’s match-ups against Hoftstra.
Take a look at the schedule, you can see that the Dukes have their work cut out for them. JMU is 5-1 in the CAA and tied for first place with VCU and Hofstra, and George Mason and ODU are only a game back at 4-2. Of the Dukes’ remaining 12 league games, 7 will be played against teams from that group. The other contenders have already played some tough games or catch breaks with the unbalanced schedule. VCU has 6 games against these top opponents, George Mason and ODU have 5 each, while Hofstra only has 3.
So while it’s not going to be easy for JMU, this schedule might actually be a good thing. We all knew JMU could score with the best of them, but thankfully the team seems to be putting a lot more effort into defense and rebounding lately. JMU has improved enough that they really can beat every team left on the schedule and win the CAA. I’m not sure I would have said that earlier this season. This game against ODU is far from a must win, but it’s still huge. And I can’t wait.
Take a close look at the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll that came out today. Your eyes are not deceiving you, JMU actually received votes. I’m not kidding. Wow.
UPDATE: And as our reader Ben points out below, the Dukes also received 4 votes in the latest AP Poll. Admittedly this is a probably more a way of voters pointing out the high quality of play in the CAA in general, rather than a statement about the Dukes specifically. It’s still pretty damn cool though.
If you happen to be a Skins fan around my age, then you’re one of the few people on the planet who understand how an old, bald, bitter, condescending, and orange man like Tony Kornheiser became a national sports pundit despite obviously not having watched an actual game he wasn’t paid to cover in the last decade: The Bandwagon! This weekly column served as one of the true highlights of the magical 1991 Season when the Skins ruled the world and Chainsaw Dan Snyder was nowhere in sight and was definitely the first sports “column” I followed religiously.
All Aboard!!
Just wanted to give credit where it’s due as after tonight’s beatdown of fellow CAA “hot” team UNCWilmington despite losing Andrey Semenov to injury (we’ll update on Twitter @jmusportsblog when we hear more), the Dukes Bandwagon is now not only rolling, but absolutely smoking! Time for all you alums who have been wishin’ this would happen to start believin’ and climb on board The Dream Express!
The picture on the left says it all and the biggest week of JMU Men’s Basketball since Lefty left the ‘Burg is upon us. And the Dukes enter this week’s massive tilts @ Old Dominion and then hosting George Mason in FIRST PLACE IN THE CAA! We’ll update viewing party info for the ODU game as soon as we have it and we encourage everyone who can to make an effort to find your way to the Convo next Saturday morning. GMU game is now a rare 11 a.m. tipoff so that it can be broadcast nationally on ESPNU and it’s time to spread the word and bring back the Electric Zoo! Seriously, if nothing else, start spreading the word to climb aboard the bandwagon!
If we learned anything from the 2010 Football season (other than that the Dukes’ version of The Pistol is more of a supersoaker), it’s that you have to enjoy the good times when they come and not spend all your time betting on bigger things down the road. With that in mind, it’s officially been a banner week in JMU Athletics this week! 2011 has arrived with an almost unimaginable sports explosion of Dukes highlight moments and, as student’s returned to the ‘Burg, this week quietly became one of the sneaky-best in JMU Sports History! This week has actually been so solid it’s hard to know which story is the lead.
Charles Haley a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame – The former Dukes D-Linemen and 5-time Super Bowl Champ has again made it into the final 18 for this year’s class. Would be an interesting year for the HOF ceremony given the likelihood there won’t be a HOF Preseason Game due to the looming NFL work stoppage. For the record, ex-Duke and Redskin WR Gary Clark did not make the finals, but was among the preliminary nominees for this year’s class! Now that’s the one I’d attend for!
CJ Sapong selected 10th Overall in the MLS Draft by Sporting Kansas City. The former Kansas City Wizards, one of MLS’ more storied clubs and an original league member, is attempting to reenergize it’s supporters by rebranding the Club “Sporting KC”, playing in a new stadium, and selecting the offensive dynamo from JMU who was the darling of the league’s scouting camp/combine. He’s literally all over the KC website with videos, a new twitter account, and lots of mugging for the camera!
Teresa Rynier selected 24th Overall by Philadelphia Independence! Sticking with the footie, JMU Women’s Soccer standout Teresa Rynier was also selected in the WPS draft this week. Huge congrats to Both CJ and Teresa! They’re going to be exciting reps for all of us in JMU Nation.
CJ Sapong with his new Manager for Sporting KC of the MLS
Finally, and most importantly, it’s officially time to sing and shout and go a little nuts about Men’s Basketball! I know, I know, you haven’t heard those words since Lefty was pretending to Coach the team and Kent Culucko was delighting fans and ruining the social lives of coeds everywhere. But I really can’t say anything else except this line from the official JMU Sports storyabout yesterday’s victory of Georgia State which avenged the second of JMU’s three losses this year (also split with Marshall and we can only hope we get another shot at Kansas St.): JMU improved to 14-3 overall and 4-1 in the CAA. The Dukes maintained a tie with the 1981-82 team for the best start in school history and registered their longest winning streak since eight in a row in the 1992-93 campaign. JMU also improved to 8-0 at home for the fourth time.
Rumor is the Convo was rocking and a few JMUSB friends began to dream of headier days, zoocages, upsets of Big Dog, and maybe, just maybe avoiding Day One of the CAA Tourney, the Dukes long-time home. But again, no need to get ahead of ourselves and let’s celebrate like it’s 1995. Since Ga. St. was stuck in Atlanta’s ice storm, the game had been postponed to Thursday which allowed for the first women’s/men’s doubleheader since 1988, bumped up the crowd, and injected some real excitement into this season. Also didn’t hurt the women kicked off the night with a thrilling overtime victory over Drexel.
The Men host Northeastern tomorrow (Women travel to Mason on Sunday) night at 7 and we can only hope the student’s realize the opportunity this season is presenting them to enjoy some nearly forgotten hoops mania at ye’ ole’ Convo!
p.s. Nearly lost in all the excitement a couple of other items we’ll try and get back to postgame tomorrow or Sunday. 1) NoVa/DC Viewing party for the ODU game next week is tentatively being hooked up at Bailey’s! 2) Football got a potentially big-time QB transfer from Kansas St. this week, and 3) YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THE BRIDGEFORTH WEBCAM DURING THE DAY!!! Trust us, just do it. Words cannot adequately describe the excitement here! Hopefully the replica arrives soon!
