{"id":5223,"date":"2013-03-20T23:02:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T03:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=5223"},"modified":"2013-03-21T07:44:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T11:44:00","slug":"dukes-defeat-liu-brooklyn-in-opening-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=5223","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Defeat LIU Brooklyn In Opening Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>That was fun wasn’t it? Our beloved Dukes just defeated the LIU Brooklyn by the score of 68-55. And I know this is true because you can read about it everywhere, considering it was the first round of the NCAA tournament and all. Play in game, First Four, or whatever you want to call it, it was pretty damn awesome. It was JMU’s first victory in the Big Dance since a 1983 upset of West Virginia. The Dukes now advance to play the Indiana Hoosiers. Perhaps you’ve heard of them.<\/p>\n

The national media was pushing Rayshawn Goins’ suspension as the game’s main subplot, but Coach Brady was more concerned with JMU being able to slow down LIU’s fast paced attack. And rightly so since the Blackbirds scored over 90 points in each of their NEC tournament games. The Dukes meanwhile limited each of their CAA tournament opponents to 57 points. Many of us were worried about JMU’s ability to slow down LIU and control the pace. They were able to and they did, limiting LIU to only 55 points. And A.J. Davis picked up right where he left off in Richmond, opening the game with a huge 3 on his way to 20 points. And another huge alley-oop of course. And Big Ray made the most of his second half minutes, pulling down 8 boards. Freshmen Andre Nation and Charles Cooke stepped up big time on the national stage scoring 14 and 15 points respectively. If I had to guess, I’d say that if anyone tuned in to watch the Dukes for the first time tonight, they probably came away rather impressed with Mr. Nation. We’ve watched him progress all year, and he’s developing into something really special before our eyes. He had 5 blocks tonight and was a major force around the rim. At our viewing party he was described as an “athletic and talented Jared Jeffries”, so take that Hoosier fans.<\/p>\n

Now of course comes the real challenge. On Friday the Dukes will attempt to become the first 16 seed to defeat a 1 seed when they face off against Indiana. And that’s pretty spectacular, because if you’re going to take a shot at a 1 seed, you want it to be a hands down, title contender, iconic program of a 1 seed. Indiana fits the bill. It’s long shot, but the Dukes are playing with house money at this point. I could spend the rest of the post rattling off David & Goliath sports cliches, or we could all go back to smiling and looking forward to Friday’s game. Because the Dukes are still dancing.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of jmusports.com<\/em><\/p>\n