84 dinged up and a torn acl and unable to play are two different things. Everyone is dinged up by the end of the season. Those teams didn’t compete they were blown out of the gym and when whole they didn’t accomplish as much as this team did. I get it out fan base is jaded and wounded so it’s convenient to just say they underperformed and ignore the obvious differences.

As much as the last 10:00 of the second half yesterday sucked, the “good” thing is that it was the first time that I have been really angry at a JMU basketball loss in a long time. Reminded me of how I felt after some of the tough losses in the early 90s.

Better to be angry than just not caring at all when we lose. That not caring is what happened to the JMU basketball program, and I hope that won’t happen again for a long time.

Great season, Dukes. Number one seed for the first time since 1994.

Looking forward to next season already and cheering on the team in person.

Grade of A-.

I would give him a B and to me that is a strong grade. I think anyone would have been an upgrade over Rowe’s fiasco, the question is how much? I didn’t expect the team to win the regular season and neither did anyone else as JMU was preseason #9. So that is to be commended in the shortened and altered schedule and it is coach By’s first ever regular season title so he broke the ice. He was a difference maker in year one while battling all the COVID obstacles.

I would much rather have seen the team go only .500 in the CAA regular season and then win the tournament. In that case I would give him an “A” even though it may have resulted in a worse overall record. The tourney title and a resulting autobid to the dance is so much more impactful on the program, fan interest, NCAA $ distributions, recruiting etc than a regular season title. #1 losing to #8 in the most important game keeps this from being the best grade. You just can’t lose that game when all the marbles are on the line.

(03-08-2021 08:29 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  84 dinged up and a torn acl and unable to play are two different things. Everyone is dinged up by the end of the season. Those teams didn’t compete they were blown out of the gym and when whole they didn’t accomplish as much as this team did. I get it out fan base is jaded and wounded so it’s convenient to just say they underperformed and ignore the obvious differences.

97, that team finished way ahead of this year's team in KenPom. That was a top 90 team or better, far ahead of this team and in a tougher CAA. Curry sustained a knee injury and was not effective, nor were the other two. What irks me is what I see as a double standard in assessing Byington vs. Brady. Byington is always in honeymoon mode. Yesterday was the first time in 30 years that a no. 1 lost to a no. 8. Think about that. It does not merit an "A", which is all that I said. I agree with Hart: would rather finish .500 and win CAA tourney than what just happened.

Elon, by the way, interviewed Byington for its head coaching job, but selected Schrage. I like Byington and thought he did a good job, but was very disappointed in how yesterday unfolded. Elon is a team to be reckoned with next year if those three injured players are able to return healthy.

A+. Worst to first. How is that below an A+?

(03-08-2021 09:45 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(03-08-2021 08:29 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  84 dinged up and a torn acl and unable to play are two different things. Everyone is dinged up by the end of the season. Those teams didn’t compete they were blown out of the gym and when whole they didn’t accomplish as much as this team did. I get it out fan base is jaded and wounded so it’s convenient to just say they underperformed and ignore the obvious differences.

97, that team finished way ahead of this year's team in KenPom. That was a top 90 team or better, far ahead of this team and in a tougher CAA. Curry sustained a knee injury and was not effective, nor were the other two. What irks me is what I see as a double standard in assessing Byington vs. Brady. Byington is always in honeymoon mode. Yesterday was the first time in 30 years that a no. 1 lost to a no. 8. Think about that. It does not merit an "A", which is all that I said. I agree with Hart: would rather finish .500 and win CAA tourney than what just happened.

Elon, by the way, interviewed Byington for its head coaching job, but selected Schrage. I like Byington and thought he did a good job, but was very disappointed in how yesterday unfolded. Elon is a team to be reckoned with next year if those three injured players are able to return healthy.

84 you’re comparing Matt Brady in year 8 a normal year vs Mark Byington in year 1 and an abnormal year. You’re comparing Brady’s team a 4 seed who never beat the better teams in the conference hence the 4 seed and was non competitive in a quarter with Byington team who beat the best teams in the conference Northeastern Drexel Hofstra and lost the conference player of the year a couple of weeks before (1 game before) the conference tournament. There is no comparison here.

Brady’s first year was good too- an exit in the CAA Tourney and a few wins in a third tier post season tournament. This years JMU squad won’t have a chance at that. Had Brady done what Byington done his first year (lost in the CaaT) people would still have been pleased with Brady and the future and given him a good grade - they wouldn’t have come down on him. Because he did and they didn’t. It wasn’t until year 8 after up and down seasons and 1 NCAA in a year where there were 7 teams in the CaaT followed by two quarter final exits that people had enough.

(03-08-2021 09:45 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(03-08-2021 08:29 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  84 dinged up and a torn acl and unable to play are two different things. Everyone is dinged up by the end of the season. Those teams didn’t compete they were blown out of the gym and when whole they didn’t accomplish as much as this team did. I get it out fan base is jaded and wounded so it’s convenient to just say they underperformed and ignore the obvious differences.

97, that team finished way ahead of this year's team in KenPom. That was a top 90 team or better, far ahead of this team and in a tougher CAA. Curry sustained a knee injury and was not effective, nor were the other two. What irks me is what I see as a double standard in assessing Byington vs. Brady. Byington is always in honeymoon mode. Yesterday was the first time in 30 years that a no. 1 lost to a no. 8. Think about that. It does not merit an "A", which is all that I said. I agree with Hart: would rather finish .500 and win CAA tourney than what just happened.

Elon, by the way, interviewed Byington for its head coaching job, but selected Schrage. I like Byington and thought he did a good job, but was very disappointed in how yesterday unfolded. Elon is a team to be reckoned with next year if those three injured players are able to return healthy.

I’m sorry that you’re irked by a double standard but as you describe this is a honeymoon phase in that Mark Byington just completed his first season as head coach at JMU a season that wasn’t really a season in anyway- from the time he accepted the job to the recruiting trail to the pre season to the out of conference season to the in conference season to the post season. If there was ever a honeymoon or some slack and consideration that should be given especially when despite all of that his team finished in first place them this should be that time.

Matt Brady had 8 years no double standard here sorry. It’s amazing to me how folks ignore stuff right in front of them. Disappointing ending and loss for sure but come on stop heaping your baggage with JMU hoops on the new guy and trying to compare what we just went through this year with anything from the past. This whole season has been unprecedented- this year has been unprecedented in so many ways.

(03-08-2021 07:14 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(03-08-2021 05:14 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  You cannot give Byington an "A" after yesterday's game, I'm sorry. If Brady had been the coach, the fanbase would have gone bananas. No advancement now past quarterfinals since 2013. Mid major basketball reps are made in March. Game yesterday in some ways was reminiscent of team's loss to Elon a year ago with Rowe.

Did Rowe or Brady lose their best player (the conference player of the year) before the CaaT? I’m not sure how people can gloss over that loss. Should JMU have beaten Elon regardless - yes - the same Elon who has now won 5 in a row and is tied with Hofstra in the semis- yes- but let’s not just say this is on Byington and another case of JMU underperforming in the CAAT let’s consider all the variables including being without their best player who was a go to guy for them down the stretch in games on both sides of the ball.

Did JYD play in his first season in the CAAT for Brady? Or was he injured? I honestly can’t remember.

I thought about it but can't see anything less than an "A". It's tempting to say he should have been able to stem the collapse in the second half (the only downside to this entire season). And in that run I thought the one deep deep 3 by Morse was the only "forced shot". I thought the other 3's were open looks that just didn't go. Maybe we should have forced the ball inside or brought the press back sooner, but I'm not going to hang his season on that second guessing at this point.

The bigger picture is this team overperformed my expectations by a mile with a bunch of young kids new to the program under the realities of trying to build a team under Covid protocols. They not only performed, I believe that Byington, by design, changed our basketball culture. There is some psychology mixed with his basketball acumen and we are the beneficiaries of his much needed skillset.

I can't really give Coach Byington a grade. This year he set the bar for JMU MBB. The recruiting season is going to be fun to watch. I'm extremely happy he is our coach, worst to first, he seems to love his players and his players seem to love him. Something I believe is very important with most Mid-major programs; The players are buying into a system/culture that Coaches are selling. I haven't been a close fan/follower of JMU basketball for decades like many here but this "swag" isn't something I've seen since maybe somewhere around 2010-2011.

Look, I'll say it again, I like Byington and thought he did a good job; and I agree that the future looks bright.

Take the CAA tourney out of the analysis and, to be honest, this is what you get:

1. 3 wins versus D-2 teams.
2. 8 wins in a CAA that's ranked no. 19 in RPI and no. 16 in Net.
3. Of the 8 wins, 4 were against Elon and Towson, two of the worst teams in the league when JMU played them. That's why they were seeded 8 and 9.
4. Two losses to MEAC teams (Norfolk State and Morgan State) and a convincing loss to East Carolina, a team that won 2 games in the AAC. I know ECU beat Houston as one of those wins.
5. A win against Radford, which greatly improved afterwards, but wasn't good at the time; and FL Atlantic, a decent team in Conference USA.

Not acknowledging that JMU in February when they were in rhythm after starts and stops was a different and better team than JMU early in the Non Conference is kind of like not acknowledging that JMU was a different team minus their best player in late February and early March. These may come across as excuses but they provide valuable context and if you watched the games you wouldn’t be able to ignore these facts.

(03-09-2021 12:06 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Look, I'll say it again, I like Byington and thought he did a good job; and I agree that the future looks bright.

Take the CAA tourney out of the analysis and, to be honest, this is what you get:

1. 3 wins versus D-2 teams.
2. 8 wins in a CAA that's ranked no. 19 in RPI and no. 16 in Net.
3. Of the 8 wins, 4 were against Elon and Towson, two of the worst teams in the league when JMU played them. That's why they were seeded 8 and 9.
4. Two losses to MEAC teams (Norfolk State and Morgan State) and a convincing loss to East Carolina, a team that won 2 games in the AAC. I know ECU beat Houston as one of those wins.
5. A win against Radford, which greatly improved afterwards, but wasn't good at the time; and FL Atlantic, a decent team in Conference USA.

Definite Covid Era Stats -

Still to me he took a team from #10 to #1 seed in one season. You could see player development on most players not named for a holiday. We were beating the top teams in the CAA for the first time in a long time. Our improvement was obviously better than any of the other 9 teams. We were competitive in every game. How many years were we awful in 3 point defense? I believe we were #1 this year.

We need more talent, but I'm good with the coaching. And I like the style. Mark took a program with no confidence and made it a confident program. Any time you go worst to first in a 10 team conference that is an amazing accomplishment.

As far as not getting out of the first round concern which is something I strongly consider - With Brady or Sean the first time - things happen once. Once you see a trend of 3-4 times and consistently underperform in big game this is an issue/concern.

Even in the two MEAC losses I saw an improving team that did not yet know how to play with each other. This team played hard and well all year. They were in every game.

I know the CAA was lousy this year, and had been so frequently lately, but that is not Mark's fault. We are not there, but we are heading right where I hoped. Once again he need's to add some Lewis caliber studs to get us to a top 75 program.

Hell, PG thought it would take us 3 years to show this improvement.

Looks like the CBI is happening and at a neutral site location rather than on host school campuses. Shane Mettlin confirmed that the Dukes are still practicing in case of post season opportunity.

(03-09-2021 05:11 PM)Anders Wrote:  

Looks like the CBI is happening and at a neutral site location rather than on host school campuses. Shane Mettlin confirmed that the Dukes are still practicing in case of post season opportunity.

That would be beneficial.

Hmmmmm,

Daytona, eh?

(03-09-2021 12:06 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Look, I'll say it again, I like Byington and thought he did a good job; and I agree that the future looks bright.

Take the CAA tourney out of the analysis and, to be honest, this is what you get:

1. 3 wins versus D-2 teams.
2. 8 wins in a CAA that's ranked no. 19 in RPI and no. 16 in Net.
3. Of the 8 wins, 4 were against Elon and Towson, two of the worst teams in the league when JMU played them. That's why they were seeded 8 and 9.
4. Two losses to MEAC teams (Norfolk State and Morgan State) and a convincing loss to East Carolina, a team that won 2 games in the AAC. I know ECU beat Houston as one of those wins.
5. A win against Radford, which greatly improved afterwards, but wasn't good at the time; and FL Atlantic, a decent team in Conference USA.

For #3, I see our conference schedule as a real plus. We played 8 of our 10 games against the next 4 best teams in the CAA, not by standings in this covid year, but by actual strength of the team. We still won the conference. And if Charleston hadn't stopped returning our calls, we would have played 2 games each against the rest of the top six.

(03-09-2021 06:36 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  Hmmmmm,

Daytona, eh?

I smell a road trip!

I'm giving an 'Incomplete'
Please repeat this course next year; build on your success and demonstrate this year was not a fluke.
I'm optimistic for 21-22 JMU hoops!

Per Mettlen's tweeter feed, he said it is unlikely the Dukes would accept an invitation to the CBI or College Insider. They are still practicing in case of an NIT invite or if the CAA rep has to pull out of the NCAA (doubt that will happen since Drexel's coaches should lock the kids in their rooms until the tourney starts).