Of course it is possible. Is it likely? No.

What are some crazy team sports miracles in a series (not a single game) that would make us believe that maybe, just maybe the Dukes could pull it off?
Keep in mind that no team in the CAA has ever won 4 games in 4 days coming out of the Keener/Rowe round. Of any year for it to happen, this would be it with the best team being ranked #123 nationally.

BTW, The worst record to ever make the NCAA tournament is a 3 way tie between UCF, Fairfield, FIU at 11-18.
If JMU pulls off the miracle in the downtrodden CAA, then they will be 13-20 and slightly better than those 3. Instant media darlings as the lovable losers.

1- US Hockey wins the 1980 gold medal. Not only did they beat the favorite Russian team in the semifinals, but they beat several other European teams that featured pros against the amateur US team. They tied Sweden in the first game and then won 6 straight

2 - NC State 1983 basketball champs. They were 17-10 after the regular season and had to win the ACC tourney to make the big dance which they did. Then they won 6 straight games for the NCAA title.

3 - not on the national radar, but East Carolina won the 1993 CAA tourney when it was only an 8 team league. They were 10-16 (4-10 CAA) and then won 3 straight games including over #2 ODU and #1 JMU in the finals.

One that comes to mind for me is the 2012 LA Kings. They finished the regular season 12-4-3 in their last 19 games to get the last playoff spot in the western conference. In the first round they faced the NHL's top team(the Canucks with 111 points) and won their first three games then closed the series out in five games. Then in the second round they swept the NHL's #2 team(Blues, tied with the Rangers at 109 points). They went on to win the western conference final in five games and the Stanley Cup in six games becoming the first 8 seed in the four major sports to win a championship. They made a coaching change in December and even at the end of February looked unlikely to make the playoffs, but they were dominant through March and the playoffs.

No

No and it would be the worst possible scenario for the future of this program.

There is no way. A more humane approach would be to forfeit and save the players from having to suit up for another embarrassing loss.

They have a better chance of winning the Powerball lottery.

No. And the biggest reason why is that the players don't care. They know their season is done. They know their coach is gone. Obviously from the Hofstra game they don't care enough to play hard to finish out LR's HC career at JMU. The other team stopped playing with 11 minutes left and we still couldn't get it close by the end. We didn't even deserve to be on the same court as Hofstra. We'll go, get beaten by Elon again to drop our ranking even further, and then hopefully we can end at least this phase of misery.

Even putting that aside, JMU winning this tournament would potentially be the biggest upset in sports history. That's how bad we are. A team that goes 2-16 in their conference will never win 4 straight game on 4 straight days to win their conference championship. On Massey, we're number 306. Elon is #267. W&M is #136. Towson is #148. Hofstra is #107. We lost to Elon by an average of 8.5, going 0-2 this season. We lost to W&M by an average of 8.5 (only after playing our best conference game of the season in the final home Convo game), going 0-2 this season. We lost to Towson by an average of 11.5, going 0-2 this season. We lost to Hofstra by an average of 11 (after they literally just stopped scoring against us for the last 1/4 of the game), going 0-2 this season.

Chances according to Massey of winning any single game:
vs. Elon: 41% (+3)
vs. W&M: 21% (+9)
vs. Towson: 18% (+10)
vs. Hofstra: 12% (+13)

And I would bet the Vegas lines would be at least double all of those. All of them together gives us, what...less than 0.2% chance of winning the tournament. And that's being generous.

2004 National Championship Football team. Major props to MM for wining three road playoff games and finishing off the run with a come from behind victory over IAA powerhouse Montana.

Go Dukes!

It wouldn't be a miracle if we won. More like a terrible curse.

Most of the examples were actually good teams that were either underrated, peaked at the right time, etc. It would be almost impossible for a bad team to all of a sudden turn it on.

The closest example I thought of was the ECU team that Hart already mentioned. That team was better than this JMU team, however, and was actually very good defensively so they could always be in games.

Of course those JMU and ODU teams were also way better than any team in the current CAA, so I guess that is the one you have to look to when trying to convince yourself there is a chance...

Hope springs eternal in March Madness. Crazy things happen on neutral courts when some players wilt under the pressure of a one and done conference tournament. We know this.
The regular season is completely irrelevant in the watered down CAA so throw that out the window along with any egghead stats guys that think they know the future.
Only the CAA tourney champ matters and all teams are 0-0 right now.

While not likely, it would be a heck of a story and all 12 of us JMU fans at the Washington DC sports and entertainment arena would go nuts. While we may not have the numbers to impressively rush the court, we could rush the block/charge arc under one basket.

If our remaining fans can hang in for a 9-20 (2-16) regular season, then what is another 1 to 4 games next week?
Bonus - the arena sells cold beer and lines are sure to be short in the Keener/Rowe round.

Lou should try the George Costanza Opposite Strategy during the CAA Tourney. What does he have to lose?
If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

Ugh, sorry you brought up that ECU 1993 championship game. That was awful. Bad memories of that game. People were already looking ahead to the NCAAs before that game. Definitely one of the worst losses under Lefty. That and losing as the top seed to number 8 Navy in the 1991 first round. The Richmond Coliseum was a total jinx to us back then... until the Culuko shot!!

I have no doubt that Lefty’s teams in the early 90s would have made some noise in the NCAAs if we had been able to win more CAA tournaments. We were arguably the best team in the conference from 1989-1995 and had quality non-conference wins most of those years. Just could not win more of the big ones at the Coliseum to have a chance.

As painful as those losses were, would love to be back to that level to at least have a chance.

(03-01-2020 10:29 PM)jmudukes001 Wrote:  Ugh, sorry you brought up that ECU 1993 championship game. That was awful. Bad memories of that game. People were already looking ahead to the NCAAs before that game. Definitely one of the worst losses under Lefty. That and losing as the top seed to number 8 Navy in the 1991 first round. The Richmond Coliseum was a total jinx to us back then... until the Culuko shot!!

I have no doubt that Lefty’s teams in the early 90s would have made some noise in the NCAAs if we had been able to win more CAA tournaments. We were arguably the best team in the conference from 1989-1995 and had quality non-conference wins most of those years. Just could not win more of the big ones at the Coliseum to have a chance.

As painful as those losses were, would love to be back to that level to at least have a chance.

I don't know about the "making noise" thing. We couldn't even win an NIT game. Lefty just got really wound tight in the CAA tournament and I think the players felt it.

What’s more likely .. JMU men winning the NCAA tournament or a human being swimming from New York City to London ? We are only ten wins away !!

with the way this team has played the second half of the season- no chance they win 4 games in 4 days- let alone 2 in 2.

(03-01-2020 09:56 PM)olddawg Wrote:  Lou should try the George Costanza Opposite Strategy during the CAA Tourney. What does he have to lose?
If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

(03-01-2020 06:56 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  No and it would be the worst possible scenario for the future of this program.

This. Hoping for a quick merciful ending to this season.

(03-02-2020 06:34 AM)jmuduke10 Wrote:  

(03-01-2020 06:56 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  No and it would be the worst possible scenario for the future of this program.

This. Hoping for a quick merciful ending to this season.

I get where you guys are coming from- it's most likely a moot point but I will always root for the Dukes to win.

Ideally I think you see JMU win vs Elon and upset W&M and then then would likely run out of steam after than anyway. My point is as much as I expect and I am cool with a merciless end to an awful season and turning the page in terms of head coach- for the players sake I'd like to see them have some success in the CAAT because maybe it's something to build on and fuel them going into what will be a pivotal off season.

It also would kind of put a mini positive capper on the Lou Rowe era if the guys could turn the switch on and compete in DC and pull off at least one major upset in the process. I personally don't see it happening but that's what I'll be rooting for.

(03-01-2020 06:59 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  There is no way. A more humane approach would be to forfeit and save the players from having to suit up for another embarrassing loss.

I got a good laugh out of this