With summer moving along and the roster for the team looking to be set time to start thinking about the upcoming season for the WBB team.

Last season was a bit of an anomaly with the departure of Rayne to Towson (and now to Temple) and the season long injury to Peyton and then Claire getting hurt later in the season. Team never really seemed to jell well. Had some good stretches and and not so good ones and coupled with the outrageous decision of the CAA to ban any league championship appearance by the Dukes it just seemed to suck the life out of the team. So hopefully with a fresh start in the Sunbelt and the return of Peyton and Claire things are on the upswing.

Going to be interesting to see how minutes are spread out this season. Had the two transfers last season, Amira and Ksenia, who did not play for a variety of reasons and the two new transfers Caroline and Kobe plus the 4 incoming freshman so there seems to be a good deal of incoming talent. Couple that with the existing veterans of Kiki, Jamia, Annalicia, Claire, Peyton and Mikaya the teams seems to have a solid core and a lot of new parts.

To me, in my uneducated opinion, the biggest need for the team is good point guard play. Since Logan graduated that position has been somewhat spotty. One of the incoming freshman is a highly regarded PG me thinks and one of the transfers is also a PG so we will see what happens. I would guess at this point that Jamia would be the starter but again I do not know squat. Going to be fun watching the staff figure out who and what goes where and when.

I have no clue as to how good Sunbelt WBB so perhaps someone who is more attuned can let me know. Hopefully we will start to see some schedule stuff drop so the wife and I can start making road trip plans soon.

Anyone have any idea when schedule stuff starts to come out? I do not remember.

All in all looking forward to the new start in the Sunbelt and to see the Dukes return to the level of play and success that we have come to enjoy over the last 10-15 years.

Go Dukes!!

Brian

Last season was more than a bit of an anomaly. Between Coach O's comments and some eye-opening chats I had with the mothers of Mikaya and Sherese, it was quite obvious that the perfidious actions of the CAA (may they descend into ignominy!) took the heart right out of the team. They didn't have anything to play for. The departure of Rayne Tucker was another dagger in the heart, and the injuries to Peyton and Claire were just the finishing stabs.

New day, new conference! Let's go Dukes!

O to P

Yeah I also thought that the CAA decision really messed with the WBB team and other JMU teams. Sad vindictive decision by the powers that be.

Fresh start for all the teams starting this fall.

Go Dukes!

Brian

Priority deadline is this Friday for men's and women's tickets. Also a re-seating & re-parking year.

Really looking forward to all of our teams in competing in the SB!

Kayla Cooper-Williams gets promoted to assistant coach. Glad to see her loyalty and hard work being rewarded. I am excited to see her and Lexie on the bench again...hopefully they bring that good energy to the team.

Womens Conference schedule released:

https://jmusports.com/news/2022/7/13/wom...edule.aspx

Now to start getting the non conference games listed!!

Brian

Really excited for Kayla! She has a great future in coaching. Hopefully that satisfies at least some of the folks with OGS, although I fear some will never be satisfied with anyone but Nikki.

Was going over over Conference Schedule and have worked out a couple of nice road trips for the upcoming season. Need the OOC stuff now!!

Brian

OOC never seems to show up until September.

Mettlen article on Middle Tennessee State transfer Kseniia Kozlova

https://www.dnronline.com/sports/college...751d7.html

(07-19-2022 06:48 AM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  Mettlen article on Middle Tennessee State transfer Kseniia Kozlova

https://www.dnronline.com/sports/college...751d7.html

Really great article! She seems like she's going to have an immediate impact.
Pretty cool to hear that Koslova compared O'Regan's style as European. Also shows that a really talented player can struggle if they aren't in the right place. No offense to MTSU, but it just seems like it wasn't the right fit for whatever reason.

Stupid that the article has a picture of Tennessee's Rae Burrell though. What's with that?

(07-19-2022 10:18 AM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  Stupid that the article has a picture of Tennessee's Rae Burrell though. What's with that?

The center/defender is the new JMU transfer

(07-19-2022 10:18 AM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  Stupid that the article has a picture of Tennessee's Rae Burrell though. What's with that?

Huh, what are you talking about. The focus of the article is the girl playing defense from MTSU. You really take issue with the team she is playing against in the photo....geez.

Tennessee is very important.

Are they hosting UNC this season? I thought I recalled from the coaches caravan them saying they’re hosting the girls the same night/weekend the guys are at UNC.

I’d you haven’t seen we’ve scheduled W&M OOC. Disappointing we’re entertaining these caa schools

(07-20-2022 02:36 PM)James Madison Wrote:  I’d you haven’t seen we’ve scheduled W&M OOC. Disappointing we’re entertaining these caa schools

We're more than entertaining W&M, we're playing them in Williamsburg.

JMU should be playing other Virginia schools in OOC. It makes too much sense. Football can afford to be picky but the other sports should be staying closer to home.

(07-20-2022 02:38 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  JMU should be playing other Virginia schools in OOC. It makes too much sense. Football can afford to be picky but the other sports should be staying closer to home.

I don't disagree, but with the way things went down, the first game of a home and home should be in our arena. I'll get my satisfaction if we go down and blow 'em out.