The Dukes did what they needed to do and blew out LIU. In the first half it felt like LIU had more turnovers than shot attempts and it got out of hand quickly with JMU’s pressure D getting some extra juice from Strickland’s ball pressure.

One more OOC game against a bad Coppin State team and JMU should finish up 7-3 and looking good heading onto Sun Belt conference play.

This has been a feast or famine schedule leaving much to be desired. 2 great ACC contests against UNC and UVA tested the Dukes, but the rest of the OOC has been brutal. The Dukes best win is against #171 South Dakota State. We’ll learn a little more against a few of the top teams in the Sun Belt that may slide into the 100-150 range at year’s end and then root for 3 straight wins in the Sun Belt Tourney. Barring major injuries I don’t see how the Dukes won’t make the top 4 and get a double bye in the tourney.

I love the job coach has done with the program but these non conference games are pathetic. I truly think we will win the Sun Belt but I hope next year and going forward the non conference scheduling is upgraded

(12-18-2022 03:31 PM)purplesanman Wrote:  We all hope that we keep our players year to year, but i really, really hope striclkand and brown stay. The ball moved better with the two of them playing together than i have seen from jmu in a long time. Granted, not great competition, but the vision, speed, and quick, decisive passes with purpose that the two of them bring is just plain awesome.

100% agree. Assuming they all stick around, it's crazy how much time we've still got with those two, Amadi, Ihenacho, Edwards. Amadi is already putting up Cacok shooting percentages and he's still got two more years of those guys feeding him. Hopefully Blaine and Roberson can develop in to what they're hyped up to be.

I wonder how much of the schedule was uncertainty with the SBC last fall and spring?

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Thoughts: The AUBC is exactly what we needed. I’m not sure I can say much that hasn’t already been said. My first JMU home game in 28 years.

The team is athletic for sure, and fairly deep. It’s the best JMU squad I’ve seen since the Lefty days. No stars like a Steve Hood or a Lou Rowe, but plenty of talent everywhere.

It was a great time.

It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

(12-19-2022 05:22 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

I have a feeling a lot of that was catch-as-catch-can. Also, remember how really bad this team has been for years - LIU would probably have been a competitive game 3 years ago.

(12-19-2022 07:11 PM)94computerguy Wrote:  

(12-19-2022 05:22 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

I have a feeling a lot of that was catch-as-catch-can. Also, remember how really bad this team has been for years - LIU would probably have been a competitive game 3 years ago.

I also think some of our competition has massively underperformed this year. You could reasonably expect a good part of our schedule to be 100 to 150 spots better in net or rpi. One of the D3 teams was also a last minute replacement for another mid major, as well.

(12-19-2022 05:22 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

Thus far, we have a NET rank of 50 this year. Hopefully that will translate to better scheduling opportunities for next year.

Sunbelt is also looking strong this year, far stronger than the CAA. Thats also a good thing for improving future schedules.

UNC is not a top five team

(12-19-2022 09:22 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(12-19-2022 05:22 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

Thus far, we have a NET rank of 50 this year. Hopefully that will translate to better scheduling opportunities for next year.

Sunbelt is also looking strong this year, far stronger than the CAA. Thats also a good thing for improving future schedules.

The problem with the SunBelt is they don’t have any marquee wins. 14 teams is big conference, but combined they have zero quad 1 wins and only two quad 2 wins. On the bright side, there haven’t been too many bad losses. JMU is guilty with a head scratching clunker Vs Valpo.

The best the conference can hope for is that 3 or 4 teams separate from the pack in conference play and finish something like 14-4 or 15-3 or 16-2. Then maybe they can not lose too much ground in the NET over the regular season.
I’ll be interested to learn the teams in the Sun Belt as most of them are so far off the college basketball radar that I haven’t seen them play in many years or ever.

(12-19-2022 10:17 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(12-19-2022 09:22 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(12-19-2022 05:22 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  It has been a strange non-conference schedule this year. Two premiere top 5 teams, 2-3 teams at about our level, and then a bunch of softballs.

Thus far, we have a NET rank of 50 this year. Hopefully that will translate to better scheduling opportunities for next year.

Sunbelt is also looking strong this year, far stronger than the CAA. Thats also a good thing for improving future schedules.

The problem with the SunBelt is they don’t have any marquee wins. 14 teams is big conference, but combined they have zero quad 1 wins and only two quad 2 wins. On the bright side, there haven’t been too many bad losses. JMU is guilty with a head scratching clunker Vs Valpo.

The best the conference can hope for is that 3 or 4 teams separate from the pack in conference play and finish something like 14-4 or 15-3 or 16-2. Then maybe they can not lose too much ground in the NET over the regular season.
I’ll be interested to learn the teams in the Sun Belt as most of them are so far off the college basketball radar that I haven’t seen them play in many years or ever.

Top 7 SBC schools all have a NET rank under 150. USM was something like 24 last I checked.

USM, Marshall, Troy, Louisiana, ODU, USA should all be good games. These schools are performing better than VCU and GMU this year.