{"id":3533,"date":"2012-01-27T07:34:18","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T12:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2012-01-27T07:34:18","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T12:34:18","slug":"fun-with-john-feinstein-and-jmu-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3533","title":{"rendered":"Fun With John Feinstein and JMU Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>JMU ended a 7 game CAA home losing streak with a 59-47 win over the William & Mary Tribe last night. For the first time in a long time, Todd and I actually had a lot of fun watching a JMU game. That was primarily due to the fact that JMU controlled a game for the first time in ages. It also had a lot to do with the fact that John Feinstein was doing color. Yes, the man can namedrop like nobody else on earth. He also has some great stories and is a tireless advocate for mid-major programs.<\/p>\n

Here are 3 quick thoughts on last night’s action.<\/p>\n

The Most Semenov-ish Game Ever<\/strong><\/p>\n

JMU’s tattooed combo guard\/forward had an outstanding game last night. He led all scorers with 15 points and pulled down 8 boards. It was classic Semenov, diving for loose balls, mixing it up with Beasthoven, and pissing off the opposition so much that a player in street clothes got a tech for calling him a punk. Just your typical Andrey Semenov performance. I think the guy might be the most hated player in the CAA, but I love him. Anyone who can get opposing fans that riled up is OK in my book. In fact I think he’s now one of my favorite Russians ever. Ovi is still tops on the list, but Andrey has clearly passed Yakov Smirnoff at this point.<\/p>\n

7 Man Rotation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dukes lack of depth due to injuries and other things, was supposed to be a problem last night. Matt Brady told reporters after the Hofstra game that walk-on Christian Pierce might even start seeing serious minutes. Last night however, Brady settled in with a 7 man rotation. The Dukes went with what has become their standard starting 5, Moore, Humpty, Davis, Hood, and Semenov. Arman Marks and Alione Diouf came off the bench. The result was a very well rounded effort in which everyone contributed. A.J. Davis looked ready to take over the game with his athleticism at several points, but never did. Instead the team seemed to always have a different player hit a jumper, get to the line, or pull down a rebound when they needed it. It wasn’t always pretty and it wasn’t against the best of the CAA, but it was encouraging nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Fun With Feinstein<\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned above, John Feinstein did color for the television broadcast. His seemingly countless Dean Smith references had Twitter abuzz (at least our feed which is chock full of CAA die-hards) which kept us laughing throughout the game. I’ve got to say though, I loved it. I wish he did color for every CAA game. I really do. He’s been beating the drum for mid-majors for years and was the guy who gave \u00a0JMU a vote in last year’s AP poll. And the man has some great stories. Last night he brought us inside the huddle before “the shot” in 1994 to explain that Kent Culuko pulled a Jimmy Chitwood by looking the coaches in the eye and telling them he’d make it. He even told us that Chuck Driesel claimed to have called the play the picket fence. And the nugget he dropped about Lou Rowe getting hurt so badly that he couldn’t fly home from a game in Florida, so he had to drive 18 hours back, was awesome. Seriously. Who else gives you that sort of stuff during a CAA broadcast? Most color commentators for CAA games are lucky to get the players’ names right. So if a few Dean Smith name-drops is the price we have to pay for funny anecdotes and a guy who actually seems to be happy to calling a game between two CAA bottom dwellers, I’ll gladly pay it. And for the record, if I had the network that Feinstein did I would name-drop worse than anyone could imagine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n