There wasn’t excitement unfortunately. The excitement in Richmond for the Caa finals and the NCAA appearance didn’t translate the following year. There should have been but there wasn’t. Young roster NCAA etc but maybe it was the malaise over the Convo or the skepticism from the fan base of the 16 seed or Nation getting into problems and the team struggling to win- any momentum was lost.

I remember going to see JMU play at Drexel that year and I could see the look on Charles Cooke’s face- he realized we were small time and he was as good as gone. Not all JMUs fault but there was no enthusiasm and hasn’t been- fans don’t travel and that was when we were “good”. Then by the following year Cooke was gone Nation was suspended and the apathy was still there.

It’s why the new arena was so sorely needed- along with the new coach- to try to jump start some enthusiasm that hasn’t been there since Lefty.