This is another great chance for a convincing home win against a bad team even though JMU did not convince us when given the opportunity Thursday against Coastal Carolina.

7-12 Northeast Louisiana-Monroe at 11-8 JMU

The Northeast Louisiana-Monroe Indians are #266 in the NET and have earned their low rating, but oddly enough they got their best win of the year last night taking out Marshall on the road in double OT. I had the chance to watch the end of that game and both OT periods which, I think, is the first time I've ever seen NUL-M play in basketball. They are the lowest funded athletic department in the Sun Belt by far and only spend 33% of what JMU spends annually on athletics. They invest less than Maine even with a FBS football team.
If you are looking for a Sun Belt program to kick out and upgrade it is definitely UNL-M

In a repeating theme recently, this is actually a bigger game than I realized. The Dukes only play the Indians once this year in the unbalanced Sun Belt schedule. And a win by JMU would tie them with the Indians in wins/losses but JMU would have the tiebreaker should the teams tie for 4th place at the end of the season.
The scary thing is JMU is so inconsistent that they have already proven they can lose to bad teams several times. Just 2 weeks ago the Dukes lost consecutive home games while being double digit favorites against bad teams.

It feels like Byington has gone cold turkey on the full court press. Is he putting it in permanent hibernation and changing his strategy midstream? Or is he sandbagging in games he knows he can win without it so he can develop the weaknesses of the team in halfcourt? Or perhaps coyly putting it in his backpocket until the Sun Belt tourney so teams can't play against it and learn before the most meaningful games occur in March. Whatever the reason, the team isn't nearly as good playing halfcourt basketball. Round peg, square hole. This roster is loaded with run and jump athletes that can overwhelm opponents if placed in a scheme to do so.

Gotta win this one and it is about time to get a feel good blowout win at home so the fans have a reason to come back 2 weeks from now and root fer Dukes for 4 straight home games to end the regular season.

JMU 74
UNL-M 59

Nice writeup Hart, you put a lot of thought and emotion into these and are clearly one of the more avid bball fans here. Would be nice to know when said event is occurring, and if we might be able to catch it on the tv. Some of us are occasionally too darn lazy to go look that up or memorize the schedule

(01-27-2023 08:20 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  This is another great chance for a convincing home win against a bad team even though JMU did not convince us when given the opportunity Thursday against Coastal Carolina.

7-12 Northeast Louisiana-Monroe at 11-8 JMU

The Northeast Louisiana-Monroe Indians are #266 in the NET and have earned their low rating, but oddly enough they got their best win of the year last night taking out Marshall on the road in double OT. I had the chance to watch the end of that game and both OT periods which, I think, is the first time I've ever seen NUL-M play in basketball. They are the lowest funded athletic department in the Sun Belt by far and only spend 33% of what JMU spends annually on athletics. They invest less than Maine even with a FBS football team.
If you are looking for a Sun Belt program to kick out and upgrade it is definitely UNL-M

In a repeating theme recently, this is actually a bigger game than I realized. The Dukes only play the Indians once this year in the unbalanced Sun Belt schedule. And a win by JMU would tie them with the Indians in wins/losses but JMU would have the tiebreaker should the teams tie for 4th place at the end of the season.
The scary thing is JMU is so inconsistent that they have already proven they can lose to bad teams several times. Just 2 weeks ago the Dukes lost consecutive home games while being double digit favorites against bad teams.

It feels like Byington has gone cold turkey on the full court press. Is he putting it in permanent hibernation and changing his strategy midstream? Or is he sandbagging in games he knows he can win without it so he can develop the weaknesses of the team in halfcourt? Or perhaps coyly putting it in his backpocket until the Sun Belt tourney so teams can't play against it and learn before the most meaningful games occur in March. Whatever the reason, the team isn't nearly as good playing halfcourt basketball. Round peg, square hole. This roster is loaded with run and jump athletes that can overwhelm opponents if placed in a scheme to do so.

Gotta win this one and it is about time to get a feel good blowout win at home so the fans have a reason to come back 2 weeks from now and root fer Dukes for 4 straight home games to end the regular season.

JMU 74
UNL-M 59

100% speculatrion here, because I too have been clamoring for a havoc style defensive style as well.

To me, there has to be a reason why we are not running it more regularly, one of which could be that Byington is trying to win games straight up, toe-to-toe. I suppose if you feel you have superior talent, you dont need to play in a high risk high reward manner. But the relaity is...we arent winning games that way consistently enough, and theer are long stretches in games where our guys seem to be in a malaise. As you state, we are poor in half court sets, on BOTH sides of the ball.

We seem to have the depth, athleticism, etc. to run a more upbeat, uptempo, pressing style. Further, this style of defense forces more transition play and we also seem to thrive in this style of offense, with athletic bigs and rhythm shooters.

Caught up this A.M. watching that near collapse against a bad, bad Hooters U squad. So I don’t know what to expect or hope for next.
Methinks this squad has plenty of talent, I just see a lot of “me first” kinda play. They ever gel and decide to play as a legit “team” we may have something.

Right now every game seems a struggle, even with an 18 point lead.

Looking for a decisive W at the 6 o’clock hour today.

Go Dukes!!!