The 2010 Pre-season CAA All Conference teams were announced yesterday. Dukes’ seniors Ronnell Brown and Theo Sherman found themselves on the defensive and offense teams respectively. Sherman is 300 pounder who will anchor an offensive line that in typical Dukes’ fashion, heads into the season ready to clear holes for a running back by committee offense. The coaching staff is looking for Brown to produce on the defensive side of the ball after spending time with the Dukes offense as a fullback. He’ll be leading a defensive line that has to make up for the loss of stars Sam Daniels and Arthur Moats.
While this is great news for Brown and Sherman, should we be worried that they’re the only two Dukes who were selected? I say no. This is pre-season, so while it’s a nice honor, it means nothing. Absolutely zilch. You might recall that the aforementioned Moats didn’t rack up the pre-season honors, but raked them in after a dominating season on the field.
The rest of the selections read like a page out of the Villanova and Richmond media guides. I can’t really argue with that. Villanova is the defending national champion and the team returns many of its key pieces, including the electric Matt Szczur who is the odds on pick for CAA player of the year and a legit Payton Award candidate. I really want to hate the guy, but he makes that nearly impossible to do. Therefore I will direct my hatred toward the Chicago Cubs who drafted him and worked out a deal allowing him to play football again. If they had just been less flexible, he might have just focused on baseball and passed up his senior year. Damn Cubs. Curse of the Billy Goat meat Curse of JMUSB!
Defending National Champs
The Villanova Wildcats are the defending national champs, defending CAA champs, and clear-cut favorite again in 2010. We could go on and on about them, but since I’m married to a Vanillanova alum myself, I’m going to move swiftly from serious coverage of the Wildcats to the more entertaining fodder our readers really expect.
We are incredibly fortunate to have another fan interview (like the Rhode Island preview), this time with Nova alum, Main Line native, and incredible food blogger Amy Sep. Amy and her husband Jonny write the food blog WeAreNeverFull. Seriously, if you love pork, enjoy time in the kitchen with a glass of wine, or generally agree that doubling the butter never hurts, you have to check out what we think is one of the best-written and visually stunning blogs online today. Now back to the football.
The Basics: With the news that Duke-killer Matt Szczur (pronouned Caesar) is returning for his senior season despite being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the fifth round and spending this summer in the minors, the Cats are loaded again. Including the multi-talented Szczur, they have FOUR All-American candidates of the highest order including potential NFL draft pick, Outland Trophy watch-list candidate (rare for an FCS player), and all-around badass Ben Ijalana on the Offensive Line. Nova also returns Senior QB and classic Trent Dilferesque game manager Chris Whitney, and senior LB and leading tackler Terence Thomas.
The Wildcats also have a fantastic coach in Andy Talley. He’s quietly toiled in the massive shadow of Rollie Massimo, Jay Wright, and the gorilla that is the Nova basketball program without complaint and built a perennial FCS contender and a program that seems to be developing some staying power on the otherwise staid suburban campus. And with 15 starters back including most of his skill position guys on offense and an oddly identical schedule to last year, Coach Talley should have them primed for another run at the CAA title. Not that it can really be called an upset, but starting the year with a second-straight win over FBS Temple in the rivalry game at the Linc would really help again as Lehigh and Penn should be no competition in their other out-of-conference games.
2010 Prediction: 8-3, 6-2 CAA
Interview with Amy
1) Do you consider football an actual sport at Villanova: YEAH!
2) Number of games you went to the “field” party pregame? Number of games you went to the actual game: (note: Villanova’s “field” is the equivalent to our Godwin field for pregame) You mean throughout college or last year? Probably went to 10 games in college, one last year. Drinking at the field was only allowed during big events – usually only homecoming or something like that… it is a dry campus and a catholic school – only the priests are allowed to drink there!
3) Describe “Public Safety’s” impact on regular, non-field tailgating at Villanofun? (note: Public Saftety is the Nova equivalent of Campus Cadets/JMU police) They SUCKED – [JMUSB spouse] Shannon and I called them Pubic Safety for a reason. I think at Villanova drinking was looked at worse than premarital sex.
4) How would you describe community support for Villanova football and/or the likelihood they would support Nova becoming a full-fledged D1 program in the Big East? I think if they go D1 the surrounding villanova community (meaning those who live in the town and don’t attend the school) will be HUGE… i think the team will gain many more fans. It would be awesome for the students and would definitely create the same type of excitement our basketball team does – they would prob. have to build a new stadium.
5) Did you know Nova won the National Championship game last year? If so, did you watch any games on tv? YEAH and YEAH. (“yeah” is said between sips of a “wooter” ice apparently – probably Rita’s).
6) Best bar in Bryn Marw for watching the game in the event of a hurricane? Not sure if Mallory’s (or whatever the hell it’s called now) would win. Maybe the new Kelly’s?
7) Could you name more potential basketball recruits yet to finish high school than current football players? NO!
#8) Favorite players during your time at Nova? Football or basketball? We were in the Finneran boys class so, i guess them. Kerry Kittles hooked up w a few of my friends but i was obsessed w/ eric ebertz (well, really shannon’s roomie melissa was) and we’d call his dorm room just to listen to his message. Oh, and “lefty” (he was another of the few white guys but almost only played the bench – but we were friends w/ him. LOL!! !oh the memories.
9) Best Villanova player ever? A) Brian Westbrook, B) Howie Long, C) Brian Finneran, D) Matt Szczur Since I’m also an Eagles fan I’m going with A) Westbrook COME BAAACK!
Final thought: Hopefully this year ends up like THIS again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrotoFmp8wc
This is better than Robins Stadium.
Many of you might not know who Jim Miller is (I didn’t). He’s the AD for the University of Richmond. The Spiders won the 2008 FCS National Championionship and can count themselves amongst the true elites of FCS football on the field. Notice I said on the field. In the stands, well not so much.
Richmond has called City Stadium its home and the friendly confines have actually been quite friendly to the visiting fans. Whenever the Dukes play at Richmond there is so much purple & gold in the stands you’d swear you were in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Albeit a much smaller, quieter version with tailgating that can’t hold a candle to the Cajun delights you get in Baton Rouge. On second thought you’d have to be practically brain-dead to think you were in Tiger Stadium, but there would be a lot of Dukes fans there.
Last season Richmond played in City Stadium for the final time. The school decided to invest in new facilities in an attempt to gain an advantage both in recruiting and on game-days. Of course they took the unorthodox approach of building the 8,700 seat Robins Stadium to replace the 21,319 seat City Stadium. It looks nice. It’s got a brick facade and nice scoreboard and oh yeah, only 8,700 seats! So forgive me if I laugh when in today’s Richmond Times Dispatch Jim Miller says “I challenge anybody to find a better facility for FCS football in the country.”
Well Mr. Miller, JMUSB accepts your challenge. And at the risk of sounding like a total jackass, I’ve got to tell you it’s really not much of a challenge at all. In fact, we’re already done. And sorry, but we didn’t even need to scour the country. We just did a quick scan of teams in Virginia and it turns out that our very own JMU has a facility that is better than Richmond’s. And you know what, it’s going to get even better. Way, way better.
Mr. Miller, I know you were probably eagerly anticipating the coast to coast search your challenge might inspire. Don’t despair though. Just because we found a facility a mere 124 miles from your campus doesn’t mean the challenge needs to end. I’m sure there are plenty of people willing to point out the dozens and dozens of FCS facilities better than Richmond’s.
JMUSB reader Jari finished on top of the table in the first ever JMUSB World Cup Pick ‘Em. I’m not sure how many readers we have named Jari, but in this case our winner is the very same Jari who won the first JMUSB contest to predict when Arthur Moats would be drafted. He correctly predicted the winners for 40 matches during the tournament. For his efforts, he’ll get another JMUSB t-shirt, which gives him control of exactly 50% of the world market for said product.
What does this teach us? First of all, I loved James Surowiecki’s book, but the wisdom of crowds < Jari guesses. All I’m saying is this. If we hold another contest to predict how the Dukes will do in football season, and Jari says they’re going all the way, I’m booking my trip to Frisco right then. Second of all, if you ever happen to see anyone wearing a JMUSB t-shirt just walk right up and say “Hi Jari” because chances are better than average that it will be him.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest and we hope you enjoyed the World Cup.
It’s still a little too early for the Dukes to start practicing, but it’s never too early for us to try to work our way back into peak condition. My lovely wife purchased me the JMU corn-hole set pictured above over the weekend. Todd and I seized the opportunity to gather with some friends and family, toss a few bean bags, drink a few beers, and start working our way back into game-day shape. The first workout is always the hardest, but I’m confident we’ll be hitting on all cylinders come September 4.
What a Towson Fan Might Say: Head Coach Rob Ambrose took over the Towson Tigers prior to last season with hopes of elevating the program to the level of the CAA’s elites. Rather than looking for a quick fix, Ambrose focused his efforts on building a program of his liking from the ground up. It might not be obvious from the final won-loss record, but Towson is headed in the right direction. The administration appears to fully support Towson football, as does the state of Maryland. Johnny Unitas Stadium is a great FCS facility, which has benefited from over $32 million of renovations recently and has an awesome high-def LED video display. The school is also nicely situated in the lovely Baltimore metropolitan area. On paper, these advantages have Towson well positioned to build a winner in the future.
The Cold Hard Facts: Towson sucked last year. I mean, the Tigers were just a terrible football team. The program might have some good things going for it, but the Tigers finished 2-9 last year and went 1-7 in the CAA. They lost by 50 points to UNH, by 20 to Northeastern, by 28 to Delaware and Richmond, by 31 to William & Mary, by 42 to Villanova, and by 31 to the Dukes. And those games weren’t “closer than they looked on paper”. They were blowouts. Week in and week out, at home and on the road, in day games and night games, the Tigers showed up, played football, and got absolutely crushed. I’ve never met Coach Ambrose, but he’d have to be one hell of an inspirational leader to convince a team that things are headed in the right direction after a season like that. Oh, and the “lovely Baltimore metropolitan area” I mentioned above? It’s awful. Absolutely awful.
What They Lose: The Tigers will need to make due without 8 starters from last year’s team, 4 on offense, 2 on defense, plus their kicker and punter. It’s worth pointing out that by definition all the players Towson loses were actually on last year’s horrific team. Therefore the Tigers are just replacing a bunch of guys who got blown out every week. That’s probably an easier mountain to climb than having to replace a bunch of All-CAA players. Heck, it’s probably easier than having to replace even marginally competent players.
What They Bring Back: Towson returns most of its leading skill players on offense. Skill players that helped the Tigers finish dead last in the CAA in total offense. Senior WR Hakeem Moore tied for the team lead with 28 receptions last year. He’s actually well rounded player who racked up the 3rd most all-purpose yards in the CAA last year with the talent to be a legit difference maker. Last season’s leading rusher, Tremayne Dameron is back and ready to build on the 8 TDs he scored last year. Towson’s defense was its strength last year. Relatively speaking of course, as it finished 3rd to last in the CAA in total defense. So, I guess it’s good that they bring back 9 guys on that side of the ball.
What It All Means: Until Towson starts winning some football games, the program will pretty much be known for its video board. (Ed. note – But what a video board it is!) I’d sincerely love it if they could capitalize on some of the positives in place and build a competitive program. I’ve enjoyed road games at Towson in the past and look forward to attending more JMU games there in the future. The stadium is nice and it’s got convenient tailgating set-up. Plus, I’ve found Towson fans to be welcoming to visitors and legitimately nice folks. They’re mostly from Baltimore, so they talk funny and have an odd affinity for camouflage pants, but they’re nice folks none the less.
JMUSB Prediction: If you’ve read this far, then it’s obvious I wasn’t too impressed with Towson’s play in 2009. I expect more of the same in 2010. Just for kicks though let’s say they follow up last season’s win over Coastal Carolina with another win against them this year, they win a road game at Columbia, and they manage to steal 1 or 2 CAA games. Just like that Tiger fans can crack open a Natty Boh and celebrate the 4-7 finish!
JMU recruit, A.J. Davis
It’s been tough to keep track of Coach Brady’s recruiting this offseason. As fans we were forced to sift through rumors on Twitter and do our best to read the crystal ball. However, it appears that Brady has finally wrapped things up and has finalized a class of five recruits.
This isn’t exactly breaking news, but I was on vacation when it was announced. The short version of the story is that this class appears to be worth the wait. Yes, it’s a bit unusual to still be recruiting in the summertime, but I’d rather have a coach like Brady who continued to fight for the guys he wants, instead of settling for guys who’ll sign early.
Chad Jackson is the only high school recruit in the class. He’s was a finalist for Mr. Basketball in Kentuck and sounds like a great prospect. Lucky for him, with fellow recruits coming in the form of transfers and JUCO players, he’ll likely get a chance to develop without being thrown into the middle of things too quickly. Plus, he can dunk like this.
6’6″ guard A.J. Davis will sit out this season after transferring from Wyoming, but have 2 years of eligibility for the Dukes. He played his high school ball in Columbus, Ohio. Rayshawn Goins and James Millen played JUCO ball at Cincinnati State, where their team finished as NJCAA-Division II runner-up. Prior to Cincinnati State, both guys played their high school ball in Ohio. Completing the recruiting class is Anthony Hitchens. Hitchens comes to the Dukes from University of Akron, where he played guard on the 2009 NCAA tournament team. He’ll also sit out this season, but have 2 years of eligibility. Hitchens played his high school ball in, you guessed it, Ohio.
Why is Coach Brady recruiting so successfully in Ohio? Todd and I actually asked him that the last time we talked to him (Ed. Note – Yeah, same old joke. It was technically the only time we’ve ever talked to him.) He told us that a lot of the reason is because Devon Moore and Julius Wells are both from Ohio and they have a strong ties to a number of players through high school, AAU tournaments, etc. That works for me. If these recruits help JMU make it back to March Madness, then I say we lock Julius and Devon up as head recruiters the day they graduate.
Dirty Woodpeckers
The Basics: Delaware returns 8 starters on both offense and defense including standout (some might say overhyped) Penn St. transfer QB Pat Devlin. They are also sure to trot out their usual stable of shady transfers who made their way to “beautiful” Newark after failing in the classroom or having ego/playing time disagreements with their former coaches at FBS schools. These factors combined with a strong following, seven home games, a creampuff non-conference schedule devoid of an FBS game, and assuming they can produce in spite of being coached by K.C. Keeler should lead to a real return to prominence for the Blue Hens in 2010 CAA Football.
How hot is that seat? Coach KC Keeler is entering his 9th season running this tradition-rich (Rich Gannon, Joe Flacco, etc.) program and despite a ton of early success, the last few years have left Delaware’s enormous (by FCS standards) fanbase wondering what the hell is going on. The rise of the Virginia CAA programs (JMU, W&M, UR) has begun to stand in stark contrast to the mediocre product in Newark and watching long-time and most hated rival Villanova hoist the Championship trophy had to be especially painful in the Toll Booth State. This year Keeler has a ton of talent returning and only four road games (although they travel to the Commonwealth for all three of those games including October 2nd in the ‘Burg) so it could be make-or-break time for the HC.
Blue Hens, really? According to that bastion of accuracy and reliability, Wikipedia, the Blue Hen is actually a variety of chicken that was adopted as the official state bird of Delaware in 1939. Thankfully, UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources maintains a breeding group of the Blue Hen Chickens on the campus farm. JMUSB tee to anyone that brings a live Blue Hen to the official JMUSB D2 tailgate on October 2nd.
Early omen: Despite not playing an FBS game this year, the Blue Hens are bringing in South Dakota State on September 11th. Not exactly the measuring stick the Dukes will be dealing with in Lane Stadium in Blacksburg that day, but the Jackrabbits are a real up-and-coming FCS program and this should be a solid indicator of whether UD is really back. This is the only non-conference game that will count at all when the playoff committee gets together and a loss here is probably more damaging than a win would be helpful. HUGE game for Delaware.
Things ruined by Delaware students and alumni: The Preakness – every year these are the idiots winging full cheap domestic beers across the infield and ruining the day for your WAGS (wives and girlfriends), who were previously letting you crush beers, bet on port-a-potty races and actually enjoying themselves in the sunshine and now are one slip in the mud away from leaving early. Seriously, it may be the Maryland Terps and Towson Tigers taking heat for questionable behavior, but at the core of any malfeasance you’ll always find a Blue Hen.
Your trip anywhere on 95 – This state exists for only one reason: making money by taking advantage of normal people. They accomplish this noble goal through only two means: 1) Turning their little 10 mile stretch of I-95 into a giant toll booth and raping you coming and going to the tune of around ten bucks and 2) Creating tax loopholes and favorable status for U.S. corporations. Stay classy Delaware!
Parting Shot: Delaware’s stadium has always seemed massive in my mind for an FCS school. They’ve been consistently drawing 20,000 a game for a while now and travel decently. Stadium holds 22,000 and is very outdated from a facilities standpoint. Now take a look at THIS!
2010 JMUSB Prediction: 8-3, 5-3 CAA – with no FBS game, they could end up the very definition of a bubble team. No more divisioins in the CAA should help though because they might be fourth overall and might have been fourth in the old CAA South.
Apparently Frank’s time breaking down last week’s NBA draft for this blog was well spent. Now he’ll be prepared for covering the 2011 NBA Draft which might be much more relevant to JMUSB, since at least one prognosticator has Denzel Bowles slated to be drafted (h/t to Jamie at Mister Irrelevant for the link).
That’s right, Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com published his 2011 NBA Mock Draft today and is projecting Denzel to be the first pick of the second round. I believe that is the first time I’ve seen a JMU hoopster listed in a mock draft since, well, ever. This is obviously terrific news for Denzel and the entire basketball program. And from a selfish perspective, it’s great new for us because football season seems like it’s never going to get here and we need content. Badly.
JMUSB readers know how much we loved Denzel’s game. At times he was just downright dominating. However, many folks, including Coach Brady, questioned his effort at times. Now it seems like Brady’s talks and Denzel’s trip to Amare Stoudemire’s Camp have caused him to realize that he needs to pick up his intensity on the court. With the prospect of getting drafted adding a little extra motivation, I really think we could see some amazing things from Denzel this year. 40 point games. Triple-doubles. And most importantly a CAA championship. I wouldn’t put anything past him if he’s committed and playing his hardest on both ends of the floor.
Our buddy Frank, JMUSB’s special CAA Basketball Tournament correspondent, was glued to the t.v. for last week’s NBA draft. Yeah, for the 19th consecutive year, not a single JMU Duke was selected (how Vladimur Cuk slipped below the radar is beyond me). VCU’s Larry Sanders was drafted however and Denzel kind of dominated him last season, so we’re gonna blog about it. Also this no Dukes in the draft thing has gotta end sooner or later and when it does, Frank is gonna be the guy we rely on to break it down for us. Here’s his take on last week’s draft.
Only 3 of the 275 non-BCS schools had ever had back-to-back first round NBA draft picks entering the 2010 NBA draft. The CAA’s own Virginia Commonwealth University joined Memphis, Utah and UNLV when Larry Sanders was taken with the 15th pick of the 2010 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Sanders joins Ram great Eric Maynor, who was selected in the first round last year by the Utah Jazz. VCU is the only school in the Commonwealth of Virginia to have back-to-back first round choices (Take that UVA, Virginia Tech and er, ah….JMU).
Sanders will likely join the Bucks rotation immediately replacing Dan Gadzuric. Coach Scott Skiles desperately needed to add a big man and improve the defense. Sanders fills both needs.
Eric Maynor currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He backs up one of the best all-around young point guards in the league, Russell Westbrook. Maynor was not a major contributor but he did average over 15 mins a game. It is fairly impressive when you consider the level and depth of perimeter talent on the Thunder.
All of this helps VCU recruiting tremendously. (Ed. Note: It’s gotta help CAA recruiting in general, and therefore JMU’s, right? I mean if Brady can tell recruits that Denzel dominated a NBA draft pick last season it certainly can’t hurt? Please!) The bar has been set. Some other brief takes on the draft after the jump:
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