CSNbbs

The Dukes now visit Boston, New York, and Philly for 3 road games in 6 days. I’m guessing they stay in the Northeast the whole time which is a great trip to tighten the ranks, figure out what this team’s legacy is going to be, and perhaps have a chance to do a little sight seeing in the big cities. Hey, maybe win a few games too. How do you cure home losses? With road wins. Less likely, of course, but not impossible.

It very well could be the last time JMU ever plays Northeastern, Hofstra, and Drexel. We’ll see if coach Byington sets an OOC schedule next year that includes some former CAA mates. Boston may be too far to make sense. New York and Philly should be in the mix even if the opponent is not Hofstra or Drexel. Perhaps we see the Palestra game against Penn that was cancelled due to COVID.

This got me thinking about future Sun Belt schedules and the lack of allure for the hoops conference schedule. Coach will really have to significantly amp up the OOC schedule to help offset some of the blues in Sun Belt play. For most games the players won’t be excited about the Sun Belt opponent or the locale they are traveling to.
Jonesboro, Statesboro, San Marcos, Hattiesburg, Monroe, Lafayette, Mobile, Troy, Conway, Boone, Huntington. These are not the cities of Hoop Dreams.

The Dukes will get a taste of Atlanta every year and may have a smattering of fans that can get to that game to go along with Ga State’s smattering of fans for their home games. It is where coach Byington seems to have more recruiting ties as well. Get rid of Boston in the Winter, hello Atlanta.

The Dukes will get a trip to Norfolk annually as well. It is a dumpy city but will be Deja Vu for the many games that JMU and ODU have played over the years in the ECAC South and in the CAA. This is an upgrade Over the current Hampton Roads opponent W&M and is the obvious and only rivalry game for JMU in the Sun Belt.

Maybe Mettlen can write an article before next year’s season to get Byington’s take on returning to the Sun Belt.
He probably thought he got upgraded out of there 2 years ago, then suddenly finds himself back due to a necessary and overdue football move to FBS. I’m sure he will enjoy rekindling some old relationships though

Hard to see JMU doing better than 1-2 on this road trip.....but that is why they play the games.

Really is the CAA any better than the Sunbelt.....hard to see it.....i call it a wash.

Does Williamsburg, Wilmington Del, Wilmington NC, Towson Md, Elon Nc, and Charleston SC scream hoop dreams either.

Hoop dreams big NE venues/cities....that is what the old Big East was.

(02-02-2022 12:03 PM)ShadyP Wrote: [ -> ]Hard to see JMU doing better than 1-2 on this road trip.....but that is why they play the games.

Really is the CAA any better than the Sunbelt.....hard to see it.....i call it a wash.

Does Williamsburg, Wilmington Del, Wilmington NC, Towson Md, Elon Nc, and Charleston SC scream hoop dreams either.

Hoop dreams big NE venues/cities....that is what the old Big East was.

In regards to basketball, the CAA is a better conference. But in regards to football, softball, baseball... the Sun Belt is a much better conference.
This is more than just what conference is better.
What media deal is better? Sun Belt with ESPN or CAA with Flo? Is there any debate?? The exposure alone that JMU will get is a massive improvement.
The Sun Belt has been on a climb and the CAA has not. The Sun Belt is making moves to try to improve its status. CAA has not improved.
And you don't have to look much further than JB's comment about the SB's efforts to help JMU. He called it a "breath of fresh air".
And in regards to the old Big East..... we aren't deserving to be there anyway. We have a long way to go before complaining about the strength of the conference we are in. Because let's face it: we have been a liability, not an asset.
When we are blowing our opponents out of the water day in and day out and not getting a good tournament placement because the rest of our conference is holding us back.... then we can complain.

The current CAA is better than the current Sun Belt. With JMU improving and then with adding JMU/ODU/Marshall to the Sun Belt there's definitely potential for that to change. Hopefully adding those three motivates an overall bump in the conference's commitment to the sport. Being arguably the best G5 in football while also making noise in March would be huge.

One positive even if that doesn't happen though, I think the Sun Belt will still be more appealing to JMU fans in basketball even if it's not necessarily better. Even if Northeastern is the better basketball program I still think fans will get more excited to watch JMU play App State than Northeastern.

(02-02-2022 03:15 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote: [ -> ]The current CAA is better than the current Sun Belt. With JMU improving and then with adding JMU/ODU/Marshall to the Sun Belt there's definitely potential for that to change. Hopefully adding those three motivates an overall bump in the conference's commitment to the sport. Being arguably the best G5 in football while also making noise in March would be huge.

One positive even if that doesn't happen though, I think the Sun Belt will still be more appealing to JMU fans in basketball even if it's not necessarily better. Even if Northeastern is the better basketball program I still think fans will get more excited to watch JMU play App State than Northeastern.

Another way to look at it is if it is that much easier, that should mean an easier path to the NCAA tournament.
A conference's at large is what should be important. And to be honest, neither the Sun Belt or CAA are perennial multi bid leagues right now.
I think the Sun Belt has the better option with the additions they have made. Hopefully we can add to the strength of the conference.
The Sun Belt is actually trying to work together to become stronger.
The CAA right now is like a bucket of crabs.

The conference's auto bid I think you mean, but yeah that's definitely one way to look at it. Especially short term. It would be nice for the conference as a whole to improve to where the auto bid generally gets a decent seed and an at large isn't impossible... But in the meantime, and even long term if that doesn't pan out, it becomes more likely for us to grab that auto bid and we can look to schedule a good slate of OOC games to help boost our seed for when we do get it. All while we get quite a few games against rival schools that the fans care about.

(02-02-2022 03:35 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote: [ -> ]The conference's auto bid I think you mean, but yeah that's definitely one way to look at it. Especially short term. It would be nice for the conference as a whole to improve to where the auto bid generally gets a decent seed and an at large isn't impossible... But in the meantime, and even long term if that doesn't pan out, it becomes more likely for us to grab that auto bid and we can look to schedule a good slate of OOC games to help boost our seed for when we do get it. All while we get quite a few games against rival schools that the fans care about.

I wasn't referring to the auto bid, but that's an issue as well. I would be curious to find out the seeds numbers between the Sun Belt and the CAA. I would imagine that the CAA is 1-2 numbers higher. The strength of the conference in that regard is important, but I don't know how much of a difference it truly is.
I was talking about at-large's. The CAA and SB are only 1 bid leagues right now. I don't think the CAA was ever more than a 2 bid league. Perhaps one year in its prime the CAA got three in?
The point I was trying to make was that it takes more than doing well out of conference to get an at large. If the conference is truly bad, sweeping the in- conference schedule won't help. The stronger the conference is, the more credit a team will get for it's success (or struggles) in conference play. The ACC is a prime example. A team can struggle in conference play, but still get an at large. If that happens in CAA, we would be done.

Gotcha, I misread it and thought you meant to continue on about the autobid with it being an easier path to the tournament, my bad.

Yeah, being in the CAA I was always hoping improving JMU basketball could be a piece of getting the CAA back to where we could hope for an at large in good years. Now I'm hoping the same for the Sun Belt.

Definitely agree that you can't depend on OOC to get you an at large. You'd have to absolutely dominate the conference slate since even one or two losses will drag you down too much. We can look to improve our seeding for if we win the tournament by picking up some strong OOC wins, but for an at large to be possible we'll need the conference as a whole to improve.

Short term I hope we can keep picking up winnable games against majors and strong mid-majors so that we can build a resume that might get us more in to the 12, 13 seed or better range if we win the tournament. Long term I hope the conference improves to where an at large is possible in the best years and where we can start thinking more about the neighborhood of a 10 seed.

Just saw a tweet that Strickland has been shut down for the rest of the season. Going to be a tough stretch as our injuries are mounting.

Yeah, really seems like injuries have shutdown a good JMU team. I guess they bright spot is that those playing have a real opportunity to improve their game and beca factor next season.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

So did they decide to redshirt McConnell and Stinson? Or are they hurt?

Or did I miss the news there are no redshirts? Forget what I read…

Savage gets PT, but McConnell had some hype.

(02-03-2022 08:44 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote: [ -> ]So did they decide to redshirt McConnell and Stinson? Or are they hurt?

Or did I miss the news there are no redshirts? Forget what I read…

Savage gets PT, but McConnell had some hype.

McConnell has been hurt, I haven't noticed tonight whether he's dressed or not but at home games he hasn't been for a while. The redshirts aren't happening though so Savage started getting a lot more playing time. I guess Stinson just can't crack the lineup yet, curious to see how much McConnell gets in once he's healthy.

(02-03-2022 08:50 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote: [ -> ]

(02-03-2022 08:44 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote: [ -> ]So did they decide to redshirt McConnell and Stinson? Or are they hurt?

Or did I miss the news there are no redshirts? Forget what I read…

Savage gets PT, but McConnell had some hype.

McConnell has been hurt, I haven't noticed tonight whether he's dressed or not but at home games he hasn't been for a while. The redshirts aren't happening though so Savage started getting a lot more playing time. I guess Stinson just can't crack the lineup yet, curious to see how much McConnell gets in once he's healthy.

Thanks