{"id":4719,"date":"2012-11-29T20:31:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T01:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4719"},"modified":"2012-11-29T20:38:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T01:38:18","slug":"in-which-we-attempt-to-convince-oursleves-things-are-alright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4719","title":{"rendered":"In Which We Attempt To Convince Oursleves Things Are Alright"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In what has become somewhat of annual ritual for me this time of year, I’ve been slow to transition from college football to college hoops. Instead of jumping in with both feet, I’ve sort of watched this year’s JMU team from the fringes so that I could convince myself their was reason for optimism. Of course this strategy went out the window on Wednesday night when the Dukes played against the George Washington Colonials in a nationally televised game that I felt I had to watch. And I’m assuming that by now you know that JMU lost. And they lost to a, hmm, not very impressive GW team. And they lost in a fashion that was brilliantly described on Twitter as “just so outstandingly JMU-ey<\/a>“. Yes, JMU-ey. Given the past two decades or so of relative futility in hoops, JMU-ey is the perfect word to describe a loss in which JMU couldn’t even attempt a shot to tie because two seniors (5th year seniors by the way) failed to connect on an inbounds pass. And while we’re at it, the fact that many fans appeared to be legitimately cheering a meaningless buzzer beating three pointer that resulted in the Dukes still losing by one, should probably be described as JMU-ey as well. But all is not lost. In fact I’m here to tell you that it’s way too early to throw in the towel for your 2012-2013 JMU Dukes. And it’s too early because JMU has a least a couple things going for it. And here are two of those things.<\/p>\n

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1. The CAA is Bad<\/strong>
\nI’m not trying to be funny here or join the legions of VCU fans claiming that the league is in shambles since they left. It’s not in shambles. Thus far though, it’s not really a threat to be a multi-bid league. The league lacks any high-profile upsets. Sure Delaware and Mason both beating UVA (technically a real ACC team) was at least encouraging. Two wins over the same middle of the road team from a BCS conference that isn’t nearly as good as it used to be, probably won’t do much to improve the CAA’s standing come selection Sunday though. The season is still in its infancy, but the CAA has an overall winning percentage of .428. And there are only two teams (Mason & Northeastern) with winning records. It’s a small sample size, but it sure doesn’t look this is the strongest the CAA has ever been. Mason, Northeastern, Drexel, and Delaware might be solid. There are whole bunch of teams that on any given night could end up playing anywhere from really bad to marginally mediocre. Which means a whole lot of games will be toss-ups.<\/p>\n

Further diluting the quality of the CAA is the fact that Drexel, the consensus preseason favorite, lost Chris Fouch to a season-ending ankle injury. Fouch was the Dragons leading scorer before he went down. His injury brought Drexel back to the pack and created an opportunity for another team to step up and win the league. And with only seven teams eligible for the conference tournament, there is no reason to pack the bags and give up on JMU’s chances now. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is one of those years where a team just flat out steals the tournament. All a team needs to do is get hot for a game or two and boom, the bid is theirs. It doesn’t even look like a team would need to upset a particularly strong team to do that. So despite the fact that JMU hasn’t looked great, the league is still very winnable simply because it ain’t that strong.<\/p>\n

2. The Freshman Have Upside<\/strong>
\nAll summer Coach Brady was telling folks that this year’s freshman class was the most talented he’s had in his tenure. We’re only 6 games into the season, but it sure seems like Brady was right. Andre Nation introduced himself to a nationally televised audience by scoring a game high 19 points against GW. He also had 4 boards, 3 assists, 5 blocks, and 4 steals. That’s not a bad stat line, but more importantly Nation played with a ton of energy and effort and seemed to inspire his teammates to do the same. If you’ve watched JMU basketball over the past few years, you’ll know that energy and effort were sorely lacking at times. Nation’s classmate, Charles Cooke has displayed some great potential up to this point. And it’s clear that fellow freshman Ron Curry and Tyler Bessick have the talent to push for major minutes and make real contributions. In short, Brady has assembled a young nucleus of talent that could help JMU contend for CAA Championships in years to come. Or they might even be athletic enough to peak at the right time and surprise everyone this year. Whatever their ceiling is, at least they hustle and appear to give a damn. Unfortunately, you can’t say that for a few of the seniors who’s minutes they’re taking.<\/p>\n

And Now the Caveats<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Many of you probably think I’m writing this just to try to convince myself to keep the faith, and well, you’re 100% correct. I realize how sad it is that JMU has one of the most experienced rosters in the CAA and I’m pinning my hopes to Andre Nation and the other young guys before conference play even starts. There a number of things JMU does not do well. And a few of those things like playing defense and rebounding the basketball, are shall we say, rather critical. There is obviously also trouble in A.J. Davis land, but I’m OK with Brady benching him. I don’t know Davis, so it wouldn’t be fair to judge him personally. From the outside looking in however, he appears to have a very Javale McGee-esque attitude and aloofness. If he focused and actually bought into a team game, I really think he’s got All-CAA potential. He’s never done that though. Brady is either going to turn this around with guys who play team basketball and elevate their games, or he’s going to be a dead man walking. I’d rather he try to send a message to A.J. now in hopes that he gets it before CAA play, than let him do his own thing and destroy the team concept in the process.<\/p>\n

Yes, things haven’t looked too bright for the Dukes thus far. But CAA play hasn’t even started yet. Let’s wait a few months before we’re writing the obituary and firing up the coaching search. The point is that Brady has some young guys who seem ready to play for him and appear to have more upside than some of the upperclassman. We’re only six games into the season. I’d just rather cheer for the guys and hope they improve enough to surprise us, then throw in the towel and spend the next 4 months blogging about Justin Thorpe and Mickey Matthews’ shortcomings.<\/p>\n