can<\/em> improve. Whether or not that talent is surrounded by the right coaching and resources to succeed is up for debate.<\/p>\nMatt Brady took the JMU program from the pits to respectability. He had a mix of good seasons and bad seasons, but never a great one. Yes, he took a team to the dance, and we loved it. But that same team didn’t even win the regular season title. It was a good team, but far from a great one. And that’s how we’d sum up the Brady era. It was good, but not great.<\/p>\n
We loved Brady and think he was a vastly underrated Xs and Os coach. But things seemed rocky behind the scenes and the program had kind of plateaued at that “good, but not great” level. It made sense for Brady and JMU to go their separate ways. He did a terrific job of rescuing the program from the doldrums of the Dillard and Keener years, but maybe there was someone else better suited to take JMU to that next level. At least that’s what we thought. Then JMU hired a guy with no head coaching experience and hit the “reset” button.<\/p>\n
Was that the right move? We don’t know. Maybe the program had to be blown up completely and rebuilt. But it didn’t seem that way from the outside. It appeared like JMU was in a position to hire a coach who could take the Dukes from a respectable, top half of the CAA team, to one that was regularly competing for NCAA tourney bids. It seemed like the perfect time for JMU to put forth some serious resources and get a coach with tremendous upside. Instead they paid less for a guy who’s best experience was arguably as an assistant for the coach they let go.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to yesterday’s attempt to convince folks (and ourselves if we’re being honest) that things are pointed in the right direction. They’re not. JMU is headed for the Dean Keener round of the CAA Tournament again. But we still think there is reason to believe things can be turned around quickly and get<\/em> pointed in the right direction. In short, we are more optimistic (or less pessimistic) about the future of the program of year two of the Lou Rowe era, than we were in year one. That’s much different than saying the future is bright. And it’s on me that I did such a poor job of explaining that.<\/p>\nHead Coach Lou Rowe was our favorite player back in the day and he’s coaching our Dukes now. So we are all in and rooting like hell for him to succeed. That has made us reluctant to be too critical in public. But behind the scenes we’ve had a lot of doubts.<\/p>\n
It basically comes down to this. Rowe hasn’t shown us that he’s a great (or even good) coach yet. Which isn’t terribly surprising, given that this is his first gig. But he has shown us that he can identify talent and recruit. And he has a passion for JMU. Mosley can score. Lewis looks like a future All CAA player. The other freshmen are getting valuable minutes and showing flashes.<\/p>\n
The CAA is not what it used to be. It’s far from an impossible climb from the bottom to the top though. And we think that Rowe is a good enough recruiter, that he can bring in enough talent to make up for some of his shortcomings in the next year or two. And here’s the big thing. He can improve as a coach! Plenty of successful coaches started slow and were fortunate to have schools and ADs be patient as they developed. We don’t understand why JMU chose to start over, instead of try to leverage Brady’s success. But that’s what happened. The wins haven’t come yet, but the talent has improved. We happen to believe the CAA is a league that can be won almost on talent alone.<\/p>\n
If all this sounds like a desperate attempt to find a silver lining, that’s because it is. We wish the Dukes were battling it out for a CAA title. They’re not though. And with all due respect to some of the players from the recent past, we happen to believe that guys like Mosley, Lewis, Banks, Phillips, Jacobs, and others have a much higher ceiling. The poor late game execution and defensive mishaps point to coaching. They also point to inexperience. As the players and coaches mature, things can get better. We happen to believe they will. That’s all.<\/p>\n
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Stop us if you’d heard this one before, but JMU lost another one possession game. They played tough and had several chances to close it out, but poor offensive execution, sloppy play, and defensive lapses plagued them in crunch time. Good job, good effort, but the Dukes still lost to Drexel by the score of 76-74. The loss moved JMU to 6-18 overall and 2-9 in league play. They’re all alone in last place and barring a few big upsets down the stretch, are very likely to stay there.<\/p>\n