No. 2 Seed? Maybe
Hot Hens Next For Madison
Posted: February 16, 2013
HARRISONBURG — Delaware is the hottest basketball team in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Blue Hens have won three straight games and six of their last seven, including an overtime victory at first-place Northeastern on Wednesday.
And all of that success could be a good thing for James Madison, which plays at Delaware in a televised game Sunday that could be another step in JMU’s quest to achieve at least a No. 2 seed in the CAA tournament.
The Dukes have won their last three contests against teams coming off victories, whereas they’ve lost the last two against teams coming off defeats. JMU coach Matt Brady has grumbled recently about playing quality competition that’s theoretically more focused after consecutive losses (George Mason and Drexel both apply), but that shouldn’t be an issue against the Blue Hens.
“They certainly have the look of a team on a great run,” said Brady, whose Dukes beat Towson on Tuesday, stopping the Tigers’ four-game win streak. “I think their energy level is real good, and they’re a very balanced scoring team offensively. We’ve said all along, their starting five is as good as anybody’s.”
Delaware looks like a different team than the one that suffered its third straight loss to fall to 8-11 overall and 3-3 in the CAA on Jan. 23 at Madison. On that night, JMU “outplayed us, outhustled us, outcoached us,” Hens coach Monté Ross said after his team’s languid 64-50 loss. It was Delaware’s lowest scoring output of the season, matching an early-season defeat at No. 2 Duke.
The Blue Hens turned a corner after that dreadful performance, beginning its current 6-1 run five days later at Drexel.
The Hens are now 14-12 overall and 9-4 in the league, one-half game ahead of JMU for second place.
“I feel like they’re playing with a lot more confidence than they were then,” JMU senior Alioune Diouf said Friday after practice, the Dukes’ first on-court workout following two days off. “They’re figuring out how to play with each other. But so are we.”
Picked in the preseason to finish second in the 11-team conference, UD is just now getting contributions across the board from its bevy of offensive threats, led by junior guard Devon Saddler, the league’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game. Fellow guard Jarvis Threatt has scored 50 points in UD’s last three games, and more impressively has 29 rebounds in that span. Threatt is just 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, but he’s been the motor for Delaware.
“He’s a gamer,” Ross said this week. “… He’s the type of guy that knows what’s needed for us to win. He knows this is the time of year when you have to go and get it. He was that way last year as a freshman. He’s been that way this year, where he goes and finds what is needed for us to win the game, and he does it.”
It was around this time last year when Threatt and Kyle Anderson, both rookies, heated up to help Delaware win nine straight, including a perfect 8-0 February. Anderson, averaging 8.8 points as a sophomore this year, has hit multiple 3-pointers in 10 of his last 15 games.
While Delaware has prolific scoring guards, teams can’t just sell out defensively on the perimeter. Senior forward Jamelle Hagins is averaging 12.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, and bruising frontcourt mate Josh Brinkley has averaged 8.1 points.
Hagins tallied 23 points and 18 rebounds in Delaware’s only meeting with JMU last year, but finished with just four and four in his team’s loss in Harrisonburg last month. His underperformance was key in JMU dominating the battle on the glass, 48-32.
“We were fortunate here to outrebound them by a significant margin,” Brady said. “You go on the road, can you do it again? That’s one of the great challenges.”
JMU has three of its final four games on the road, where it’s just 2-8 this season. A win would guarantee the Dukes their second over-.500 season in CAA play since 1999-2000.
Sunday’s game marks the second of three straight against the top of the conference; JMU plays at Northeastern on Wednesday.
The Dukes’ chances to win the regular-season title are remote — they’re three games behind NU — but finishing in second place is a realistic and significant achievement. It would ensure that JMU would play the worst eligible team in the first round of the seven-team CAA tournament (the top seed gets a bye) and would delay a potential meeting with the league champions until the championship game.
And while Northeastern is far ahead of the pack in the standings, it is, by no means, a heavy favorite. Five teams, all the way down to sub-.500 Drexel, are legitimate contenders.
Speaking generally of the league race on this week’s conference call — one day before his team upset the Huskies using a late-game comeback — Ross noted that the CAA is wide open.
“Whoever can get on a little run, a little roll in these last two weeks of the season, will have a dynamite chance of winning the whole thing,” he said.
And all of that success could be a good thing for James Madison, which plays at Delaware in a televised game Sunday that could be another step in JMU’s quest to achieve at least a No. 2 seed in the CAA tournament.
The Dukes have won their last three contests against teams coming off victories, whereas they’ve lost the last two against teams coming off defeats. JMU coach Matt Brady has grumbled recently about playing quality competition that’s theoretically more focused after consecutive losses (George Mason and Drexel both apply), but that shouldn’t be an issue against the Blue Hens.
“They certainly have the look of a team on a great run,” said Brady, whose Dukes beat Towson on Tuesday, stopping the Tigers’ four-game win streak. “I think their energy level is real good, and they’re a very balanced scoring team offensively. We’ve said all along, their starting five is as good as anybody’s.”
Delaware looks like a different team than the one that suffered its third straight loss to fall to 8-11 overall and 3-3 in the CAA on Jan. 23 at Madison. On that night, JMU “outplayed us, outhustled us, outcoached us,” Hens coach Monté Ross said after his team’s languid 64-50 loss. It was Delaware’s lowest scoring output of the season, matching an early-season defeat at No. 2 Duke.
The Blue Hens turned a corner after that dreadful performance, beginning its current 6-1 run five days later at Drexel.
The Hens are now 14-12 overall and 9-4 in the league, one-half game ahead of JMU for second place.
“I feel like they’re playing with a lot more confidence than they were then,” JMU senior Alioune Diouf said Friday after practice, the Dukes’ first on-court workout following two days off. “They’re figuring out how to play with each other. But so are we.”
Picked in the preseason to finish second in the 11-team conference, UD is just now getting contributions across the board from its bevy of offensive threats, led by junior guard Devon Saddler, the league’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game. Fellow guard Jarvis Threatt has scored 50 points in UD’s last three games, and more impressively has 29 rebounds in that span. Threatt is just 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, but he’s been the motor for Delaware.
“He’s a gamer,” Ross said this week. “… He’s the type of guy that knows what’s needed for us to win. He knows this is the time of year when you have to go and get it. He was that way last year as a freshman. He’s been that way this year, where he goes and finds what is needed for us to win the game, and he does it.”
It was around this time last year when Threatt and Kyle Anderson, both rookies, heated up to help Delaware win nine straight, including a perfect 8-0 February. Anderson, averaging 8.8 points as a sophomore this year, has hit multiple 3-pointers in 10 of his last 15 games.
While Delaware has prolific scoring guards, teams can’t just sell out defensively on the perimeter. Senior forward Jamelle Hagins is averaging 12.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, and bruising frontcourt mate Josh Brinkley has averaged 8.1 points.
Hagins tallied 23 points and 18 rebounds in Delaware’s only meeting with JMU last year, but finished with just four and four in his team’s loss in Harrisonburg last month. His underperformance was key in JMU dominating the battle on the glass, 48-32.
“We were fortunate here to outrebound them by a significant margin,” Brady said. “You go on the road, can you do it again? That’s one of the great challenges.”
JMU has three of its final four games on the road, where it’s just 2-8 this season. A win would guarantee the Dukes their second over-.500 season in CAA play since 1999-2000.
Sunday’s game marks the second of three straight against the top of the conference; JMU plays at Northeastern on Wednesday.
The Dukes’ chances to win the regular-season title are remote — they’re three games behind NU — but finishing in second place is a realistic and significant achievement. It would ensure that JMU would play the worst eligible team in the first round of the seven-team CAA tournament (the top seed gets a bye) and would delay a potential meeting with the league champions until the championship game.
And while Northeastern is far ahead of the pack in the standings, it is, by no means, a heavy favorite. Five teams, all the way down to sub-.500 Drexel, are legitimate contenders.
Speaking generally of the league race on this week’s conference call — one day before his team upset the Huskies using a late-game comeback — Ross noted that the CAA is wide open.
“Whoever can get on a little run, a little roll in these last two weeks of the season, will have a dynamite chance of winning the whole thing,” he said.