The Diamond Dukes took the CAA regular season crown by winning every conference series it played in. Unfortunately for the Dukes, their bats went cold and they lost 2 straight to be eliminated from the conference tourney. After a thrilling victory over UNCW to open the tournament, the top seeded Dukes fell to VCU in their next game. In the 6-3 loss to the Rams, JMU had opportunities for big innings, but couldn’t come up with the hits when it mattered. They twice left the bases loaded and failed to take control of the game.
After the loss to VCU, JMU moved on to rematch against UNCW. Each team entered the game with one loss. The winner would move to play VCU in the CAA Championship Game and the loser would find its season finished. Again, the Dukes struggled at the plate managing only 4 hits in the 3-1 loss to the Seahawks. Despite the few number hits, JMU had chances to score, leaving runners in scoring position multiple times in the early innings. After failing to take advantage of those chances, the JMU bats went ice cold and only one batter reaching base after the 6th inning.
VCU went on to defeat UNCW in the tournament final and secured the automatic bid in the process. Even with the regular season CAA crown, JMU isn’t going to have the resume to secure an at large bid. A better start to the season coupled with wins against some of the stronger opponents the Dukes played, particularly UVA and Coastal Carolina, would have really helped. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way. The Diamond Dukes season is now we need to wait to see if Kevin Munson and Trevor Knight get drafted, or if they come back to make another run. It also means that this blog is officially out of spring sports to write about. Bring on the speculative football posts!
JMU defeated UNCW 8-7 in the opening round of the 2010 CAA baseball tournament last night. It was a back and forth game that had the Dukes forced to come from behind multiple times. The Seahawks jumped to an early 2-0 lead before JMU took advantage of an error to score 3 unearned runs and go on top 3-2. UNCW then staged an improbable rally off off of JMU pitching sensation Kevin Munson, who had come on in relief. After falling behind 7-4, the Dukes bats came alive to help them take the lead for good and hold on for the 8-7 victory.
Despite giving up the lead in the 6th, Munson hung around to close out the game and was credited with the win. DH Brett Gardner and second baseman Mike Fabiaschi each picked up 2 hits and knocked in 2. The Dukes now move on to face VCU in a winner’s bracket game, while UNCW and Georgia State will play in an elimination game. The championship game is tomorrow afternoon with the champ securing the coveted NCAA tournament bid.
First of all, we must issue our first official correction. CAA football is currently down to 10 schools, not 12 as previously reported, due to Hofstra and Northeastern’s decisions to drop football this past summer. This year the conference will be one superdivision instead of the previous North/South alignment. That is all the actual journalism (and informed piece of news presented with integrity) you’ll get today from JMUSB. Now on to the rampant speculation.
(holes)
The Basics: First up is former North Division member UMass, a team that we think may be considerably stronger in person than they appear on paper. The Minutemen finished a disappointing 5-6, 3-5 CAA last year after a strong 4-2 start that included a win over New Hampshire and a tight loss at FBS Kansas St. in the opener. A dreadful 0-5 road record doomed this team, though it was their only home loss, to the Dukes on Senior Night, that sealed their fate and crushed their playoff chances. UMass has been a consistently strong CAA program the last decade. This will be Head Coach Kevin Morris’ second year.
What you don’t know: UMass landed one of the top prizes in the HU/NU transfer lottery in Running Back John Griffin. Griffin ran for over 1000 yards, was 1st Team All CAA last year, and NU’s MVP. Although there are other good backs in the Conference, Griffin unarguably did more with less than any skill position player in the CAA last year for the Huskies and should team up with Jonathan Hernandez to form one of the strongest backfields in 2010.
JMU Question: Returning 2nd Team all CAA LB Tyler Holmes is from Blacksburg HS in Blacksburg, VA. How is he not playing for the Dukes?!
2010 Outlook: UMass returns only four starters on each side of the ball, but those low numbers are deceiving, at least on offense. They return QB Kyle Havens and three linemen to protect him. Although they lost badass OL Ducasse to the NFL Draft, with Griffin in the mix at RB, if they can find anyone to catch a few balls, they could be dangerous on offense. The question marks with this team are 1) defense, where they have to replace their entire line, and 2) leadership. That 0-5 road record and disastrous finish to the season (including an ugly home loss to the Dukes on Senior Night in Amherst and an uglier loss on the road in the finale in what turned out to be the last game for the Flying Dutchmen) seem to suggest a lack of leadership, and Coach Morris will have to hope a few guys step up in that regard.
Long-term Outlook: UMass is a big state school (27,016) with decent history, a decent home following (never had less than 12k until the finale against JMU on Thanksgiving week when they were falling apart), and proud tradition in other sports (think Marcus Camby). The Minutemen play in the A-10 in other sports, but if the dominoes start falling in College Football the next few years, you’d have to think they’d have some serious decisions to make about the direction of their football program. Falling back into a lower-level FCS conference in the Northeast, trying to go back to a reformed A-10, and considering a jump to the next level would all seem to be realistic options for this program.
Prediction: 6-5, 4-4 CAA. This is a team that could really surprise someone (think W&M in the opener at home on Labor Day Weekend) and could easily lose to someone traditionally beneath them (think at RhodeI to close the season in what could also be the Rams last game ever), but if they can survive a tough start to the season (home for W&M and always tough Holy Cross, then at the Big House to play the Wolverines), they could hang around all season.
The 2010 JMU football season is just around the corner and Todd and I have decided it’s time to get down to business. This week we’ll be kicking off the first Official JMUSB CAA Football Preview Extravaganza. I know, I know, it’s still 101 days until the season opener against Morehead State. That seems like a long way off, but it’s not. It actually equates to about 14 weeks and the CAA is a 12 team league, so we’ll preview one team a week, sprinkle in a few extra special posts, and before you know it, we’ll be tailgating and getting ready to open the new half-stadium.
Although the coverage has improved tremendously in recent years, it’s still tough for most fans to get good info on the FCS landscape in the preseason. That’s where the Official JMUSB CAA Football Preview comes in. We’re going to hit the road and visit teams, tap into our extensive network of inside-sources and scouts, and spend countless hours at JMUSB Headquarters breaking down game film. Either that or we’re going to summarize what we find on each program’s website and make the rest up.
We’re not sure what form the previews will take, but we will hit every team in the CAA. The series might not make you an expert on CAA football, but it should have you prepared to hold your own breaking the conference down at tailgate parties in the Fall. And if you already happen to be a legit expert on all things CAA football, then send us your thoughts and we’ll plagiarize the hell out of them. Check back later this week for the first team preview.
The JMU women’s lacrosse team entered the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the country, riding a ten game winning streak. Unfortunately, both the winning steak and the season came to end on Saturday. The Dukes lost a hard fought battle to Syracuse 7-3 in a NCAA Quarterfinal match-up in Harrisonburg.
Falling one win short of the Final Four (for any of you that didn’t know what Quarterfinals meant) is brutal, but it doesn’t diminish the team’s accomplishments. They won the CAA regular season and tournament championships, were ranked as high as #5 in the nation, beat cross-state rival UVA, and finished 17-3. The program appears to be in a solid enough state that the woman will have plenty of chances in the future to make runs at a championship.
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This is the gateway screenshot when you try to enter www.jmusports.com right now. In my opinion, I think this alone qualifies as a solid Friday post. Relevant information conveyed and outstanding, if unintentional, humor achieved. As we learned last weekend, SportsTap doesn’t seem to pick up these scores and the CAA Tracker is a disaster, but JMU’s very own MadiZone (yes, this university needs some major help with naming things) is carrying the audio. Or just check back here for the Final Four pairings and our plans to ride the bandwagon to that game; after all, with the Goins signing in MBB it must not be the blog jinxing things.
JMU signee, Rayshawn Goins.
We told you not to panic. Just when things appeared to be getting dicey, Coach Brady comes through and signs 6’6″ 250 lbs power forward Rayshawn Goins. The Goins recruitment has been a bit of a never-ending saga, but I’m thrilled that he’s going to joining the Dukes. He’s coming to JMU from junior college Cincinnati State, where he put up 22 and 14 a game.
Goins’ Cincinnatti State teammate, James Millen, has already signed with JMU. Rayshawn adds to the growing number of Ohio based recruits that will suit up for the Dukes. Goins played AAU ball with Devon Moore, Trevon Flores, and fellow recruit A.J. Davis and their team matched up against Julius Wells’.
Coach Brady projects that Goins will play down low in the 4 spot, giving the Dukes a pretty tough front line when he and Denzel play together. The DNR piece quotes Brady as saying Goins will be “one of the top seven or eight guys” in the Dukes’ rotation. That’s a pretty telling quote, considering that at times JMU only suited up nine guys last year. Next season JMU should have a healthy Devon Moore (I think that’s the biggest “get” of the offseason), a healthy Semenov, Wells, Bowles, and a pretty solid recruiting class. Plus a couple of great energy guys in Ben Louis and Trevon Flores. I really think JMU could be ready to challenge for the CAA title this season. We told you. Basketball is an unpredictable pirate game of give and take. No need to panic.
A health Devon Moore could be JMU's top "recruit".
Years ago I was on an airplane when some old guy behind me started wheezing. Badly. It got ugly, they did the whole “Is there a doctor on the plane?” thing, one thing led to another, and before I knew it I had a doctor squeezed into the row behind me, feeling around the old guy’s throat while yelling at the flight attendant to find him a ball point pen immediately. That was the exact moment it hit me that I was about to witness some bloody and disgusting ball point pen tracheotomy at 35,000 feet by Dr. MacGyver behind me. So I did what anyone would do. I leaned WAY back in my seat to avoid the pending blood splatter and braced myself for the awful mess I was about to witness. I remember this next part like it was yesterday. The doctor took the pen from the flight attendant, slowly removed his other hand from the man’s neck, took a deep breath and…calmly wrote down some instructions for the flight attendant who strutted to the back of the plane and returned with a first aid kit and some medicine. True story.
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Fans of JMU Woman’s Basketball can rest easy tonight after Coach Kenny Brooks cleared the air with this tweet:
Let me put the rumors to rest…Me and Lebron are not going as a “package deal”. I will be coaching at JMU next year. Lol
So, all kidding aside, JMU is lucky to have a Coach as successful and committed as Kenny. I think I speak for Todd, when I say that Brooks was very impressive when he spoke at the Coaches Caravan. He’s clearly a guy who has set his sights on building a championship program and isn’t going to settle for second best. And by setting the bar so high for the women, he’s raised expectations for the men. As Steve Buchantz pointed out at the Coaches Caravan, Matt Brady was the only coach in attendance without a conference championship.
So we know Brooks can recruit. JMU superstar Dawn Evans is evidence of that. We also know that he willingly takes his team into hostile territory to prepare for CAA play. Playing Duke at Duke is evidence of that.
Well, Matt Brady can recruit to. Denzel Bowles, Julius Wells, and Devon Moore are evidence of that. If Brady’s comments at the Coaches Caravan are any indication, he also believes in taking his team into hostile territory to prepare for CAA play. While carefully noting that nothing is official at this point, Brady told the crowd that he’s looking to schedule some big road games next year for the Dukes. Real big road games. Kansas State in Manhattan and Duke in Durham big. Again, nothing is set in stone yet, but it’s nice to see that Brady is at least working to get his team to play against the very best that college basketball has to offer. He’s already got solid mid-majors Marshall, Kent State, and Princeton set to come to the ‘burg. Let’s see if he can finalize these games against the elites.
The JMU woman’s lacrosse team took care of business with a 9-8 victory over Stanford in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. I’d be lying if I told you that I had watched a single woman’s lacrosse game since graduating, but I did attempt to follow Saturday’s game online. The NCAA online tracker for woman’s lacrosse isn’t exactly the slickest tool available though (Ed. note – It sucks. Really sucks. I would have been better off having someone mail me letters from the stands.), so my attempts to recap the game might leave you lacking. As best I could tell, Stanford scored early and carried a 7-4 lead into the half. JMU stormed back to pull within 1, before time apparently stopped for 23 minutes. The next update the nifty little online tracker provided showed me JMU had won 9-8. So Boo NCAA Woman’s Lax Online Tracker! Yay Lady Dukes! JMU moves on and will play Syracuse in the NCAA quarterfinals this weekend in Harrisonburg.
It was also a big weekend for the Diamond Dukes, who faced a critical late season series against Hofstra. JMU took the series opener 17-9 on Friday night and dropped a 6-4 decision on Saturday, before storming back for a 12-7 win on Sunday. The win moved them to 26-20 overall and 16-5 in the CAA. Freshman Matt Tenaglia had an outstanding weekend at the plate. He was 4 for 5 on Sunday, capping a series in which he went 8-12. Senior Matt Browning also was getting it done, with 8 hits in 13 at bats, including 3 doubles, a triple, and a homer. The Dukes have yet to lose a series in CAA play (7-0) and are the favorites to win the conference title. They’re going to need to if they want to move onto the NCAA tournament, because the CAA is a likely a one-bid league. An early season upset of Coastal Carolina or UVA would have helped the resume. Now the Dukes are in position where they’re going to need to win their way in. I think they can and will.
