(07-20-2022 07:20 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  

(07-19-2022 08:42 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(07-19-2022 03:51 PM)Newduke Wrote:  

(06-30-2022 08:13 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  I think a big key will be if Friedel can effectively replace Falden. Big shot Chuck was an excellent player and won several games for the Dukes. I know coach won’t say it publicly, but any coach would be wondering how Friedel is going to pan out. Will he mature and fight through adversity or will he be a basket case? Mental toughness is one of the hallmarks of sport and he essentially quit on his team last year in the middle of the season. That has me concerned. I’m hoping he has learned and grown and becomes the offensive weapon JMU needs. Hodge and Falden were both 40%+ 3pt shooters and both are gone. Friedel needs to be 40%+

Hopefully some more big OOC games are announced soon. UVA and UNC are great gets so far.

This is flat out untrue.

Give us the scoop newDuke. We need some Jackrabbit insight. Did he quit last year and get benched the year before or vice-versa? Whatever happened, we need to see an improved Friedel in purple. Without a 3pt threat this team will be much easier for opponents to defend

Does it matter what another person is/was going through? He's here now; let's make it awesome

Exactly. We have no idea what he was going through. Perhaps it just wasn't the right fit for him. Maybe he needed a change of scenery. Maybe he had a family issue. Maybe it was personal.
Regardless, I don't think it's fair to make an assessment of the guy without knowing the full story. Give him a chance here to prove himself.

It could be interesting especially if there was a rift with the coach. SD State finished undefeated in their conference and 30-5 for the year and made the NCAA tourney even with him missing a lot of games. There is always a reason for everything, but we are not fully aware of the reasons for what happened.

We need a great shooter to replace the Falden/Hodge duo that have departed. Hopefully Freidel is it and he plays a lot. I’m sure Byington had some good conversations and had a lot to consider before offering him to determine how much risk there is.

It sounds like newDuke may know something, but hasn’t shared yet.

I'm really interested to see if any of our returning players made a leap.

Does it all come together for Vado like it did for Matt? He has the moxie and the skills. Does he develop the feel for when to sit back and when to turn it up, solidifying his leadership role?

Does Tak return all the way from the injury?

Does Wooden get tough underneath on offense and does he stay focused 100% of the time? He'll never be the old school big man some want him to be (nor should he), but if he can turn into an inside/outside threat who is also willing to do the dirty work, he will be hard to guard.

Does Amadi get stronger as he gets older?

Most interesting, do Strickland and/or Edwards figure out how to slow down on offense while still going a billion miles per hour on defense? I've said since day one that Strickland's shot is too pretty for him to have these 3 point percentages. Both are so good defensively, that they have to get minutes, regardless. Both of them show flashes of being able to run an offense and both can get to the rim, but both just go too fast. If they can make the leap, it adds a whole other dimension to this team.

Quotes from the transfers and Coach

https://www.dnronline.com/sports/dukes-h...d1a99.html

Any idea when men's basketball tickets will be sent out to season ticket holders?

I called the ticket office this afternoon and they said that the tickets should be sent out sometime this week.

Brian

As Brian reported in the WBB thread, tickets and parking were sent last night. Check your mailbox!

The team had its intro event tonight at the AUBC. Nothing much to report as they didn’t even have a skills competition or layup/dunk line.
6 days away from the vaunted Valley Forge Pigeons.

Good grief.

I hope we manage to pull this one out. Valley Forge was a helluva struggle…

(06-30-2022 08:13 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The team should be better and the team needs to be better. We are in year 3 of the AUBC and the new car smell only lasts so long. Time to get it done.

I’m glad there is a little more size on the squad, but it remains to be seen if Roberson can make an impact inside or if he we get sparse playing time. Offrum should help inside, but at whose expense? Amadi, Sule, and Wooden will be fighting for the minutes Offrum wants too. Offrum only averaged 5 boards a game at Mt St Mary’s last year so I don’t know if we can expect him to be a big man savior.

It feels like the roster is improved, but still missing a man inside. The Dukes were throttled on the boards last year, struggled to defend the paint against effective bigs, and had a minimal post game on offense. We’ll see. Maybe Byington turns it into a higher pace team with relentless full court pressure and reduces halfcourt possessions to hide the weak spots.

The Sun Belt is weak and I think the Dukes can win the conference even with a perimeter based team. There are a handful of bigs in the conference who will be a problem for JMU, but most teams are in a similar position as JMU with the focus on perimeter play.

I think a big key will be if Friedel can effectively replace Falden. Big shot Chuck was an excellent player and won several games for the Dukes. I know coach won’t say it publicly, but any coach would be wondering how Friedel is going to pan out. Will he mature and fight through adversity or will he be a basket case? Mental toughness is one of the hallmarks of sport and he essentially quit on his team last year in the middle of the season. That has me concerned. I’m hoping he has learned and grown and becomes the offensive weapon JMU needs. Hodge and Falden were both 40%+ 3pt shooters and both are gone. Friedel needs to be 40%+

Hopefully some more big OOC games are announced soon. UVA and UNC are great gets so far.

You have no idea what happened last year. Freidel never ever quit on his team. If that was your information, it was wrong.

(06-30-2022 08:13 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The team should be better and the team needs to be better. We are in year 3 of the AUBC and the new car smell only lasts so long. Time to get it done.

I’m glad there is a little more size on the squad, but it remains to be seen if Roberson can make an impact inside or if he we get sparse playing time. Offrum should help inside, but at whose expense? Amadi, Sule, and Wooden will be fighting for the minutes Offrum wants too. Offrum only averaged 5 boards a game at Mt St Mary’s last year so I don’t know if we can expect him to be a big man savior.

It feels like the roster is improved, but still missing a man inside. The Dukes were throttled on the boards last year, struggled to defend the paint against effective bigs, and had a minimal post game on offense. We’ll see. Maybe Byington turns it into a higher pace team with relentless full court pressure and reduces halfcourt possessions to hide the weak spots.

The Sun Belt is weak and I think the Dukes can win the conference even with a perimeter based team. There are a handful of bigs in the conference who will be a problem for JMU, but most teams are in a similar position as JMU with the focus on perimeter play.

I think a big key will be if Friedel can effectively replace Falden. Big shot Chuck was an excellent player and won several games for the Dukes. I know coach won’t say it publicly, but any coach would be wondering how Friedel is going to pan out. Will he mature and fight through adversity or will he be a basket case? Mental toughness is one of the hallmarks of sport and he essentially quit on his team last year in the middle of the season. That has me concerned. I’m hoping he has learned and grown and becomes the offensive weapon JMU needs. Hodge and Falden were both 40%+ 3pt shooters and both are gone. Friedel needs to be 40%+

Hopefully some more big OOC games are announced soon. UVA and UNC are great gets so far.

You have no idea what happened last year. Freidel never ever quit on his team. If that’s was your information, it was wrong.

(12-09-2022 01:19 AM)BlueDuke Wrote:  

(06-30-2022 08:13 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The team should be better and the team needs to be better. We are in year 3 of the AUBC and the new car smell only lasts so long. Time to get it done.

I’m glad there is a little more size on the squad, but it remains to be seen if Roberson can make an impact inside or if he we get sparse playing time. Offrum should help inside, but at whose expense? Amadi, Sule, and Wooden will be fighting for the minutes Offrum wants too. Offrum only averaged 5 boards a game at Mt St Mary’s last year so I don’t know if we can expect him to be a big man savior.

It feels like the roster is improved, but still missing a man inside. The Dukes were throttled on the boards last year, struggled to defend the paint against effective bigs, and had a minimal post game on offense. We’ll see. Maybe Byington turns it into a higher pace team with relentless full court pressure and reduces halfcourt possessions to hide the weak spots.

The Sun Belt is weak and I think the Dukes can win the conference even with a perimeter based team. There are a handful of bigs in the conference who will be a problem for JMU, but most teams are in a similar position as JMU with the focus on perimeter play.

I think a big key will be if Friedel can effectively replace Falden. Big shot Chuck was an excellent player and won several games for the Dukes. I know coach won’t say it publicly, but any coach would be wondering how Friedel is going to pan out. Will he mature and fight through adversity or will he be a basket case? Mental toughness is one of the hallmarks of sport and he essentially quit on his team last year in the middle of the season. That has me concerned. I’m hoping he has learned and grown and becomes the offensive weapon JMU needs. Hodge and Falden were both 40%+ 3pt shooters and both are gone. Friedel needs to be 40%+

Hopefully some more big OOC games are announced soon. UVA and UNC are great gets so far.

JMU doesn’t need Roberson’s size this year. Next year, yes, this year no. Let him grow and learn.

Offrum, the improved play of Wooden, and the other interior players are more than sufficient to JMU’s needs this season. The team is playing exciting and winning basketball, which isn’t an accident. Minutes can be divided between the four main big guys based on whichever of the four earn them. Coach B has a plan, and I agree that the team should compete for the SBC championship, and hopefully that NCAAT auto bid.

(12-09-2022 01:21 AM)BlueDuke Wrote:  You have no idea what happened last year. Freidel never ever quit on his team. If that was your information, it was wrong.

Welcome to the JMU Board

Since there has been a lot of complaints that Byington schedules too many non-D1 opponents, here is the count of such opponents by SBC school for this year:

GASo - 3
GAST - 3
ARST - 3
ULL - 3
ULM - 3
CCU - 3
App - 3
USM - 3
Troy - 3
TXST - 3
JMU - 3* (2 + Coastal Georgia was a last second fill-in for a D1 at the Savannah tourney)
USA - 2
Marshall - 1
ODU - 1

This is just Sun Belt life in 2022-23 and if you look at a lot of these schedules - many were just as undesirable as ours (if not more undesirable). It could be a feature of being in one of the historically worst conferences or it could be post-Covid cancellation life (which I'd guess that those cancellations will disproportionately burden the bottom conferences). Here's to the SBC hopefully raising the tide in basketball over the next few years.

Another factor is that non-D1 games don't affect NET. So when you're a low NET team/conference and have a hard time scheduling OOC opponents with a decent NET ranking then it can end up being better to just play Gallaudet and have zero effect than to play some bottom 20 team and have them drag your SOS down.

OOC performance this year definitely helped some, hopefully that leads to better matchups next year and we can take advantage and keep building.