{"id":8378,"date":"2016-02-21T20:10:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T01:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8378"},"modified":"2016-02-21T20:10:17","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T01:10:17","slug":"hoops-does-what-it-does-but-we-need-to-talk-softball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8378","title":{"rendered":"Hoops Does What it Does, But We Need to Talk Softball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"softball\"The men’s basketball team sort of had an uneventful weekend, which is just what was needed. Curry is clearly still working his way back from injury, thankfully no one else appeared to suffer an injury, and the team got healthy with a win over a truly atrocious Delaware team (seriously, what the hell is going on in Newark?! it’s like they’ve completely given up).<\/p>\n

The women’s team kept rolling as usual and as of this writing, might even lock up the number one seed in the CAA tourney tonight if other results go their way later. Also, in spring sports news, the ranked lacrosse women continue to justify that preseason respect despite their first road loss 12-10 at UConn.<\/p>\n

But the squad we really need to discuss is Softball<\/a>. This team has come out of the gate on fire and with something to prove. And with no disrespect intended towards other Dukes’ programs of recent vintage, this isn’t a “gaudy record in the CAA but that’s because the CAA sucks” type thing. This team went down south the first couple weeks of the season and has pretty much romped through a loaded early season schedule! The one loss was 2-1 in a nip-and-tuck affair against #5 Alabama. The teams they’ve beaten on the way to a 9-1 start include #17 UCF, #12 Tennessee (who they run-ruled 9-0 in 5 innings), and this weekend #3 Auburn. They also took two from the B1G’s Rutgers and handled the Big 12’s Oklahoma St. That’s to say nothing of the fact they’ve simply outclassed the non power-conference teams they’ve played so far. Needless to say, when they come back to the ‘Burg for a grab-bag of those teams next weekend (Binghamton, Toledo, Robert Morris, and St. Joe’s) we expect they’ll handle their business again then too. Who knows where the #20 Dukes will be ranked when the new poll comes out this week, but let’s just say folks are taking notice and with a one-two punch of sophomore Megan Good and senior Jailyn Ford in the circle, it’s not unrealistic to dream of the Dukes being true national contenders this year. Jump on the bandwagon now!<\/p>\n