{"id":9089,"date":"2016-11-17T07:14:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T12:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9089"},"modified":"2016-11-17T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:02:09","slug":"guest-post-top-10-teams-in-jmu-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9089","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Top 10 Teams in JMU History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Megan

Megan Good<\/p><\/div>\n

Chase won last week’s prediction contest and earned the right to guest post. He wrote a great one. Read all about his Top 10 JMU Sports Teams and let the debate begin.<\/em><\/p>\n

So I had a stupid prepared line about how I\u2019m going to Morgantown this weekend for a top-10 game between Oklahoma and West Virginia, and the whole Top-10 thing got me thinking\u2026 but honestly, that\u2019s not remotely true. The truth is that this is a project I\u2019ve had bubbling around in my purple-toned brainstem for a while now, so I\u2019m excited to finally bring it to fruition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here goes. JMU — the little athletic department that could, in some ways — has put out some really stellar teams over the years. But if you could figure out a way to compare teams across individuals sports, which one is <\/span>actually<\/span><\/i> the best?<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, this is incredibly subjective, and way more people are going to read this and be pissed off about my ordering than actually agree with anything I say. But here was the criteria I came up with for my own particular grading standards, in no particular order:<\/span><\/p>\n

-Tangibles<\/b>: what kinds of weird, crazy, or impressive stats did your team produce? What championships did you win? What was your record?<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>Record vs ranked opponents<\/b>: all of these teams have good records, but were they manufactured against a high level of competition?<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>Performance relative to other Division 1 conferences<\/b>: CAA football and CAA women\u2019s lacrosse are not <\/span>remotely<\/span><\/i> the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>How good\u2019s your good?<\/b> I\u2019ve stolen this from Scott Van Pelt, but I think it\u2019s one of the best qualifiers for measuring a sports team. On your best day, what are you capable of?<\/span><\/p>\n

One last note — for a variety of reasons, I\u2019ve opted not include any sports that are currently played on the club level. That means I\u2019m leaving off the \u201895 Archery national championship. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also leaving off this year\u2019s football team, which could merit some consideration before it\u2019s all said and done. But since the season isn\u2019t over yet, we can\u2019t really rank them accurately.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay. No pressure. This definitely won\u2019t earn me hate mail. Let\u2019s go.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201808 Women\u2019s Soccer (14-7-2)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019ve said this before, and I\u2019ll say it again. Dave Lombardo is my favorite coach at JMU, and he doesn\u2019t get nearly enough love. This particular year, his team made it to the second weekend of the NCAA tourney before losing to Portland, 3-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. 2000 Women\u2019s Lacrosse (13-5)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If you follow the Lax team here at JMU, you know it can be a little difficult to figure out what to do with all the semiotics and fanfare surrounding the team. JMU is almost always ranked, and they\u2019re almost always playing other ranked teams. Part of it is because the program is aggressive in scheduling marquee matchups early and often; part of it is because there\u2019s just not that many Division 1 lacrosse programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Either way, 2000 was a dope year for Lacrosse at JMU. The Dukes opened the season with <\/span>ten consecutive ranked matches<\/span><\/i>, including a 24-15 loss in Harrisonburg to No. 1 Maryland. <\/span><\/p>\n

      JMU played four other top-10 teams during that stretch. The Dukes were 4-0 in those games.<\/span><\/p>\n

      At the end of the season, JMU topped UVA in the NCAA tournament before losing to No. 2 Princeton 15-9 in the second round. JMU beat UVA twice that season.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Men\u2019s Soccer \u201894 (20-3-2)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        JMU has had some memorable moments on the soccer pitch. This particular team won 20 games, beat out William & Mary for the CAA tournament title in Williamsburg, and then knocked off North Carolina <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> Duke in the NCAA tournament. Clearly, 1994 was a good year in the Burg. More on that later.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u00a02013-14 Women\u2019s Basketball (29-6)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Tarik Hislop might end up being my favorite women\u2019s basketball player of all time, but it\u2019s the team that came right after her graduation that might be Kenny Brooks\u2019 magnum opus. Kirby Burkholder, Nikki Newman, Precious Hall, Jazmon Gwathmey, Lauren Okafor, not to mention Toia Giggetts and Angela Mickens, who always seem overlooked. That team was stacked, and they rode the star power to an upset of No. 6 seed Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament. I remember, because I watched the entire game in a corner of Ruby\u2019s Lounge in downtown Harrisonburg, yelling pretty loudly at the TV for two hours, while everyone else in the building wondered, \u201cWho\u2019s the crazy guy that thinks this is a sports bar?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \u00a01981-82 Men\u2019s Basketball (24-6)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Parsing the differences between Campanelli\u2019s Electric Zoo teams from the early 80s is tough, but I elected to choose this one for inclusion here. This particular squad didn\u2019t actually win the CAA tournament, but they did earn an at-large berth, upset Ohio State in the first round, and took Michael Jordan\u2019s Tarheels to the wire in a 52-50 loss. Later on, Jordan and some lesser-known teammates named Sam Perkins and James Worthy won the national championship over Patrick Ewing\u2019s Georgetown team. And JMU lost <\/span>52-50.<\/span><\/i> Oh, what could have been. <\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. \u201804 Football (13-2)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Hot take alert: the \u201804 Football team is overrated. Should we celebrate the hell out of them for winning a national championship? Absolutely. Are they the best team in JMU athletics history? Bro, I\u2019m not even convinced they\u2019re the best <\/span>football<\/span><\/i> team in JMU history.<\/span><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. \u201808 Football (12-2)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Somewhere on Earth 2, which is an alternate universe where JMU is the Alabama of college football and has won 39 national championships dating back to 1887, the 2004 national championship team scrimmaged the 2008 national semifinalist team for Cancer Research. (On Earth 2, JMU has 37,000 enrollment, James Madison is a national treasure who is reanimated every 27 years to provide a State of the Union address, and JMU\u2019s endowment is just north of $40 billion. I.E., a JMU football charity game produces a lot of money.) <\/span><\/p>\n

                Anyway, back to football. Guess what? Rodney Landers outdueled Justin Rascati in that charity game. Do you know why? Because the 2008 team was better. Come @me. <\/span><\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. \u201883 Baseball (37-13)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Only JMU team to ever make the College World Series. Being inducted into JMU\u2019s own Athletics Hall of Fame this year. They were really, really good. Nothing to see here. Move along.<\/span><\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. \u201894 Field Hockey (20-3-1)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Dude, they won a freaking national championship. And, no disrespect to the 2004 football team, but they did it at the highest level of Division 1, too. For those that don\u2019t know the history of this game, JMU beat North Carolina after a scoreless overtime period in penalty strokes. As in, the field hockey equivalent of PKs or a shootout. I\u2019m thankful I was three years old and not a Dukes fan when this happened. My heart would not have survived.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. \u201816 Softball (50-6)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      Call it recency bias if you want, but I sincerely suspect that last spring\u2019s softball run was the single greatest thing that Madison has produced since the damn Bill of Rights, full stop. I mean, some of the stuff that happened with this team was just detached from reality. Did you know that, after the CAA tournament, ex-DNR reporter Matt Jones dug up a stat that Jailyn Ford and Megan Good had generated almost as many extra-base hits between the two of them as they had <\/span>allowed<\/span><\/i> from the circle all season<\/span><\/i>? THAT IS INSANE. Imagine if Max Scherzer, who allowed 31 home runs last season, hit 27 home runs himself. That would almost be analogous to what we\u2019re talking about here.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      Plus, it gave us The Hill. Long live The Hill.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      Yeah, they lost to LSU in the super regional, and it was partially because Jailyn had a bad series. But even in the loss, you got to see Megan go all Madison Bumgarner and practically pitch the entire series by herself.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      This team had two draft picks on it, in a sport with a pretty shallow draft. Yeah, JMU didn\u2019t make the WCWS\u2026 but in a marathon postseason that Field Hockey just doesn\u2019t have, there\u2019s nothing anyone can really say that\u2019ll convince me that this isn\u2019t the best JMU team of all time, even without the big hardware.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      Honorable Mention:<\/b> 2004 WLax, 1982-83 Men\u2019s Basketball, 2015 Softball, 2008 Baseball, 2015-16 Swim & Dive, 2009-10 Women\u2019s Basketball, 2011 WLax.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      On Rob and Todd\u2019s behalf, I will graciously open up the comment section for polite, civil discussion and\/or alternate suggestions. Can\u2019t way to see all of you agree with me and compliment my rational, obvious selections.<\/span><\/p>\n

                      Until next time.<\/span><\/p>\n