(05-11-2020 12:21 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Christmas & Wooden were Lou’s best players, no?

Not yet. The four Juniors were Lou’s best and most experienced.

I love Wooden’s potential. He has the body, height and athleticism to be all CAA at some point. He has a good first step that allows him to take a post defender off the dribble and he can finish at the rim.

His downfall is that he likes to stay on the perimeter too much when he is built to play 12 feet and in. He has the body to be a really solid 4 and should be coached to be one. If he takes a three next year for any reason other than to avoid a shot clock violation, he should be pulled immediately.

Christmas was the biggest disappointment for me last year. I heard stories of preseason practices where Michael was beating everyone off the dribble, slashing to the basket and finishing with an emphatic dunk at the rim. He was rumored to be the best player on the court. Pre-conference play, he had several strong games including one where he made 5 or 6 three pointers.

Michael was rumored to have gained 15 pounds during the season and that cost him some quickness. He stopped slashing and driving. Instead he settled for chucking up off balance threes. He was out of shape and did not have the same motor at seasons end.

Michael is young and has some choices to make or we could find him transferring down next year. The guys coming in are competitors. He will have to fight to be a starter. The question is does he have the competitive fire. God blessed him with physical attributes others don’t have. Without the fire in the belly, those attributes will be wasted. The streets are littered with former players who had great potential. I sure hope one of those people isn’t Michael in the future.

I think a case of freshman season and getting adjusted coupled with a tough year for the team and coaching staff. Christmas has a nice outside shot but his biggest attribute is his leaping ability- best of the second bounce for a rebound or blocked shot on the team last year.

I actually think Wooden can hit the 3 and that coupled with his drive and lefty finish or the occasional dunk like at Mason was a decent repertoire-his upside is pretty tremendous IMO because I think he is long in terms of wing span and has legit height. I actually like Harvey’s game too- shows he can finish and has strength- outside shot just needs work but could be a rotation guy.

I hope Lewis, Wooden and Christmas stay. That is a solid core for next year. Practices will be more competitive. There is going to be good competition for starting jobs.

I hear Jacobs will finish his undergrad work this semester. He is a really good student and comes from a good family. I don’t see him transferring as both parents went to JMU. He could decide to move on with his life after basketball though. With his classroom performance, he has more options than just basketball.

I hope he comes back for his Senior year. He is a solid contributor.

(05-11-2020 04:11 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  

(05-11-2020 03:59 PM)JMU08 Wrote:  And there goes Dobbs

I'm confused. Does this get to to even for scholarships or do we now have one available

Depends.

Is Sem coming back for the ‘20 season or does he still have a RS?


Asking for a friend

I just hope Michael doesn't go the way of Curtis Gates. He looks like he may have to fight to keep weight off through his college career.

While we are all hoping, my hope is HCMB drives defense, defense and more defense. If guys don't want to play defense, then they can sit. Make it clear from Day 1. The returning guys (albeit just a handful now with all the attrition) in particular have got to buy-in to changing their dreadful ways. I can cut Wooden, Christmas, and Harvey some slack because they were frosh last year and most frosh struggle in their first year in general, but especially defending.

As far as the noobs coming in, I hope they get the message too and will get some good directives from Day 1 - especially for the frosh who hopefully will develop over the next 4 years. As bad as we were last year, if the team had ever played defense with any urgency it could have been a completely different story. Not saying we were good enough to win the CAA. We weren't, even with significantly better defending. But, we could have finished in the upper half of the CAA and avoided another appearance in the Keener-Rowe Invitational. IMO, it starts with the leadership and buy-in of Matt Lewis, if he returns. If he gets after it on the defensive end, the other guys will respond. As tough as it is to say this, if Matt isn't bought into HCMB, then I prefer he just move on. It will be a distraction and team chemistry will suffer. Having said that, I hope Matt returns, is the leader I know he can be, he easily cruises past the 2,000 point scoring mark, and he leads the team to a 20+ win season in the shiny new arena.

(05-12-2020 05:10 AM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  I just hope Michael doesn't go the way of Curtis Gates. He looks like he may have to fight to keep weight off through his college career.

He is a 19 year old college athlete, so if he can't get in stay in great shape he obviously lacks the motivation to do be a great player.

I am a 44 year old guy and I have lost 16 pounds since Frisco, with half of it during a pandemic where food and drink is always just in the other room. If I can do that and a 19 year old college basketball player can't stay in shape I am not sure we want him.

(05-12-2020 08:07 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(05-12-2020 05:10 AM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  I just hope Michael doesn't go the way of Curtis Gates. He looks like he may have to fight to keep weight off through his college career.

He is a 19 year old college athlete, so if he can't get in stay in great shape he obviously lacks the motivation to do be a great player.

I am a 44 year old guy and I have lost 16 pounds since Frisco, with half of it during a pandemic where food and drink is always just in the other room. If I can do that and a 19 year old college basketball player can't stay in shape I am not sure we want him.

maybe - weight is different for everyone and college is a weird time when people start to actually figure out their metabolism. I promise you matt lewis doesnt have the same issues as mike christmas with weight, even if they train the exact same amount.

Mac mclung transferring from Georgetown

(05-13-2020 05:23 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Mac mclung transferring from Georgetown

Dang love affair over.

Nice story on Edwards from the school newspaper: https://www.breezejmu.org/sports/jmu-men...ee3c1.html

JMU commit Terrell Strickland is going to be interviewed tonight at 8pm on Instagram live @prephoopsfl

Strickland came off well in the interview- well spoken and a good head on his shoulders. Brother plays at Temple and his Dad was obviously a big NBA guy. Late bloomer who said that the reason he signed with JMU was that he was sold on how big time the other sports are and how basketball is the last piece of the puzzle.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAY7YzahP_J...mvu56fdidc

(05-19-2020 07:34 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAY7YzahP_J...mvu56fdidc

It's always funny to see younger athletes gravitate towards Lebron. You see a lot of it if follow any of the football guys on Twitter. Not saying it's wrong but interesting to see the generational split. Seems like a great kid and I'm excited to see him work and succeed under Coach B. I haven't watch a lot of his film but I agree that he feels like a late bloomer for whatever reason.

Pretty cool to think also that we could have guys like Kyrie Irving (his god father I believe?) and other stars checking in on JMU next season.

(05-19-2020 10:24 PM)Anders Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 07:34 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAY7YzahP_J...mvu56fdidc

It's always funny to see younger athletes gravitate towards Lebron. You see a lot of it if follow any of the football guys on Twitter. Not saying it's wrong but interesting to see the generational split. Seems like a great kid and I'm excited to see him work and succeed under Coach B. I haven't watch a lot of his film but I agree that he feels like a late bloomer for whatever reason.

Pretty cool to think also that we could have guys like Kyrie Irving (his god father I believe?) and other stars checking in on JMU next season.

Dang. I came away super impressed. Seems like he's very excited to come here and looks like he could be a great get. Love him talking about wanting to be in the league (but also smart enough to know he needs to focus on his studies either way). Was awesome seeing them talk up the JMU academics. Just seems like a very smart kid that could have a big future (and has the connections to get there). Would love for JMU to be his launch point.

There's a lot of uncertainty (for many reasons) about this next season, but I'm starting to really believe that this could finally be the turning point for JMU MBB.

I am chomping at the bit. This does seem like we have truly turned a corner (and not just hoping that we have done so). Good selling point by our staff in mentioning the success in other sports and this squad starting the turnaround in helping basketball to join the party. Glad he mentioned wanting to be a part of that....right attitude.

I'll be getting a few extra tickets this year and driving up from Va Beach to watch.

Heard the NCAA ruled a "no go" on the one time transfer waiver for this year. Transfers will have to sit out this coming season

That’s true as a blanket statement on the transfers, but individually they’ll continue to review and approve on a case by case basis.

Received via email an advertisement to buy season tickets. Christmas and Lewis were the two men’s players in the photo. There were two female players as well. Makes me feel like Lewis is definitely coming back.