{"id":2111,"date":"2011-02-13T20:44:37","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T01:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2111"},"modified":"2011-02-13T20:44:37","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T01:44:37","slug":"ughhhh-attention-back-to-womens-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2111","title":{"rendered":"Ughhhh! Attention back to Women’s Basketball?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, gotta admit two things:\u00a0 First, this post sucks ass to write and second, it really has crossed my mind\u00a0it might be time to focus on a winning Dukes team, in this case Kenny Brooks, Dawn Evans and the red-hot women’s team<\/a>.\u00a0 The women won their 10th straight and 15th out of their last 16 by actually doin’ work against George Mason even without center Courtney Hamner.\u00a0 The women are now 12-1, in first place in the CAA, and looking for a strong finish leading up to the CAA tourney in Upper Marlboro, MD this year (hopefully to be well-attended by local Dukes fans!) and maybe beyond to the Big Dance again this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Come on man!<\/p><\/div>\n

That said, I guess I’ll try and say a few words about yesterday’s bizarro Men’s game.\u00a0 Bizarro because usually the Dukes haven’t noticed when warmups are over and first half begins and manage to dig themselves a sizable hole that they then furiously work their way out of in the second half.\u00a0 Yesterday, on the other hand, the team came out on fire, built a twelve point first half lead and then promptly collapsed like a Dollar Store lawn chair (or the Football team post-VT upset).\u00a0 Hard to even pinpoint specifics other than to say the effort and basketball intelligence (shot-selection, undisciplined chaerrging fouls, and forgetting that Denzel is the best big man in the conference specifically) seemed to revert back to last season’s miserable lows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It looked for a while like W&M might at least help out by upsetting Drexel. Alas, the Dragons came back and the Dukes now find themselves in the dreaded sixth spot with one likely win (Towson) and two toughies (ODU and VCU) to close out the CAA schedule.\u00a0 As discussed before, the Dukes only shot at the NCAA Tourney is to win the CAA tourney, something we still believe is not impossible talent-wise, though it would take some incredibly smarter play.\u00a0 And the five seed and a likely first round matchup with Towson that is equivalent to a bye followed by a second round game with an overperforming and underwhelming Hofstra team would certainly be a more manageable road than whoever the 11 seed is and then likely ODU (still the CAA’s best in my opinion, despite\u00a0what fans from George Mason Community College think)\u00a0in the second round.<\/p>\n

On a positive note despite the outcome, it was great to see a ton of Dukes fans in the Patriot Center yesterday including a number of old friends we were lucky enough to go with (SP, CDL\u00a0that’s you!).\u00a0 Even some skeptical Dukes fans made the trek to suburbia and I daresay had a good afternoon (JH, RG, KM\u00a0that’s you).\u00a0 Thanks again to JMUMagoo for setting up an old-fashioned, hard-charging JMU pregame at Fat Tuesday’s (even if us Old Guys had to head upstairs to more kid-friendly confines).<\/p>\n