Dukes In Hunt?
Madison Picked Fifth In CAA
Posted: October 19, 2011
ARLINGTON — At the annual Colonial Athletic Association basketball media day Tuesday, reporters swarmed around the tables of big-name Virginia coaches like Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart, Old Dominion’s Blaine Taylor and George Mason’s Paul Hewitt.
Matt Brady may have received a sliver of the attention, but the fourth-year James Madison coach believes his Dukes have made progress toward becoming one of the conference’s top-flight teams.
In a poll voted on by coaches, media members and sports information directors, JMU was selected fifth out of 12 teams in a parity-filled CAA in which a half-dozen schools could seriously contend for a title.
Drexel, which returns four starters, was picked first, George Mason second, VCU third and Old Dominion fourth.
“To me, becoming an elite team in this league is a process and you’ve got to go through growing pains, and we’ve done that,” Brady said, wearing a gray suit and purple tie at Champps restaurant in Arlington – the site of media day. “Last year we started with a 15-3 record but we lost eight games in the league – five of them to the best three RPI teams in our league [two to Old Dominion, two to George Mason and one to VCU]. Now we’ve gone through those wars, we hope to be able to reap the benefits of all our experiences of years past.”
It’s the third straight year JMU has been picked fifth or higher, but the last time JMU actually finished as high as fifth in the conference was 1999-2000.
JMU point guard Devon Moore, who is academically ineligible for the first semester, was selected to the all-conference second team. Last season, Moore averaged 11.4 points and 4.2 assists (most among returning CAA players).
The first team consists of all seniors – VCU forward Bradford Burgess, Drexel forward Samme Givens, William & Mary forward Quinn McDowell, George Mason forward Ryan Pearson and Old Dominion guard Kent Bazemore, an athletic 6-foot-5 wing who was tabbed as preseason Player of the Year after averaging 12.3 points per game as a junior. Bazemore, the two-time defending CAA Defensive Player of the Year, will likely miss the first month of the season with a broken foot, suffered during the summer.
Joining Moore on the second team is Drexel junior guard Chris Fouch, Hofstra senior guard Mike Moore, North Carolina-Wilmington junior forward Keith Rendleman and Delaware sophomore guard Devon Saddler.
JMU senior forward Julius Wells, who averaged 10.7 points last year, was one of five players to receive honorable mention.
Last year, JMU was picked fourth in the preseason and finished sixth. It went 21-12 overall and 10-8 in the CAA, before losing to No. 11 William & Mary in the first round of the conference tournament.
“The goal is going to be the same,” Brady said. “We are trying to become CAA champs. Whatever it’s going to take, we’re going to keep working until we achieve that goal. Are we good enough to do it this year? I don’t know. I still think we have some uncertainty, especially when you lose a player like Denzel Bowles.”
Bowles, a center who averaged 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds, is the only big loss from a Dukes team that was dangerous offensively.
If Moore handles his business academically this semester, the Dukes will get back one of the league’s top players. The 6-4, 180-pounder missed the entire 2009-10 season because of a knee injury and seemed to finally be himself again late last season, when he averaged more than 14 points in his last nine games.
“Last year at the end of the year he was as good a guard as there was in the last five or six games of the year,” Brady said. “He wasn’t that prior to that; I can point to the VCU home game where he missed four lay-ups, I can point to the Georgia State game on the road. But I think the last five or six games of the year last year he was as good a player as there was in the league. And my hope is that that’s the player we see in the next two years.
“I don’t think he was 100 percent healthy and I think there was some lingering rust on his game.”
Returning four starters if you count Moore, the Dukes hope to do more than just finish in the top half of the conference. Picked to finish below them, in order from sixth to 12th, are William & Mary, Delaware, Hofstra, Northeastern, UNC-Wilmington, Georgia State and Towson.
Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne has stated that the season won’t be considered a success unless the team reaches the NCAA tournament or NIT.
Last year, a league-best three CAA teams made the NCAA tournament and none reached the NIT. Brady estimated that his Dukes would need to be in the top 50 in the Ratings Percentage Index to earn an invitation to the NIT.
“Are we a top 50 team in the country? I don’t know, but I will say that we are worlds closer to being a top 50 team in the country right now in college basketball than we were when I first got here,” he said.
Brady likes the look of his team and its potential to break into the top tier.
“We haven’t had a returning nucleus of players since I’ve been here,” he said. “We haven’t had senior guards. Those two things go a huge, long way in college basketball. Exhibit A, B and C was Old Dominion, George Mason and VCU last year. Now I have those ingredients this year. Now I have to figure out who our best offensive player is.”
JMU will host Philadelphia University in an exhibition game on Oct. 26 and will open its season at home against Canisius on Nov. 13.
Matt Brady may have received a sliver of the attention, but the fourth-year James Madison coach believes his Dukes have made progress toward becoming one of the conference’s top-flight teams.
In a poll voted on by coaches, media members and sports information directors, JMU was selected fifth out of 12 teams in a parity-filled CAA in which a half-dozen schools could seriously contend for a title.
Drexel, which returns four starters, was picked first, George Mason second, VCU third and Old Dominion fourth.
“To me, becoming an elite team in this league is a process and you’ve got to go through growing pains, and we’ve done that,” Brady said, wearing a gray suit and purple tie at Champps restaurant in Arlington – the site of media day. “Last year we started with a 15-3 record but we lost eight games in the league – five of them to the best three RPI teams in our league [two to Old Dominion, two to George Mason and one to VCU]. Now we’ve gone through those wars, we hope to be able to reap the benefits of all our experiences of years past.”
It’s the third straight year JMU has been picked fifth or higher, but the last time JMU actually finished as high as fifth in the conference was 1999-2000.
JMU point guard Devon Moore, who is academically ineligible for the first semester, was selected to the all-conference second team. Last season, Moore averaged 11.4 points and 4.2 assists (most among returning CAA players).
The first team consists of all seniors – VCU forward Bradford Burgess, Drexel forward Samme Givens, William & Mary forward Quinn McDowell, George Mason forward Ryan Pearson and Old Dominion guard Kent Bazemore, an athletic 6-foot-5 wing who was tabbed as preseason Player of the Year after averaging 12.3 points per game as a junior. Bazemore, the two-time defending CAA Defensive Player of the Year, will likely miss the first month of the season with a broken foot, suffered during the summer.
Joining Moore on the second team is Drexel junior guard Chris Fouch, Hofstra senior guard Mike Moore, North Carolina-Wilmington junior forward Keith Rendleman and Delaware sophomore guard Devon Saddler.
JMU senior forward Julius Wells, who averaged 10.7 points last year, was one of five players to receive honorable mention.
Last year, JMU was picked fourth in the preseason and finished sixth. It went 21-12 overall and 10-8 in the CAA, before losing to No. 11 William & Mary in the first round of the conference tournament.
“The goal is going to be the same,” Brady said. “We are trying to become CAA champs. Whatever it’s going to take, we’re going to keep working until we achieve that goal. Are we good enough to do it this year? I don’t know. I still think we have some uncertainty, especially when you lose a player like Denzel Bowles.”
Bowles, a center who averaged 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds, is the only big loss from a Dukes team that was dangerous offensively.
If Moore handles his business academically this semester, the Dukes will get back one of the league’s top players. The 6-4, 180-pounder missed the entire 2009-10 season because of a knee injury and seemed to finally be himself again late last season, when he averaged more than 14 points in his last nine games.
“Last year at the end of the year he was as good a guard as there was in the last five or six games of the year,” Brady said. “He wasn’t that prior to that; I can point to the VCU home game where he missed four lay-ups, I can point to the Georgia State game on the road. But I think the last five or six games of the year last year he was as good a player as there was in the league. And my hope is that that’s the player we see in the next two years.
“I don’t think he was 100 percent healthy and I think there was some lingering rust on his game.”
Returning four starters if you count Moore, the Dukes hope to do more than just finish in the top half of the conference. Picked to finish below them, in order from sixth to 12th, are William & Mary, Delaware, Hofstra, Northeastern, UNC-Wilmington, Georgia State and Towson.
Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne has stated that the season won’t be considered a success unless the team reaches the NCAA tournament or NIT.
Last year, a league-best three CAA teams made the NCAA tournament and none reached the NIT. Brady estimated that his Dukes would need to be in the top 50 in the Ratings Percentage Index to earn an invitation to the NIT.
“Are we a top 50 team in the country? I don’t know, but I will say that we are worlds closer to being a top 50 team in the country right now in college basketball than we were when I first got here,” he said.
Brady likes the look of his team and its potential to break into the top tier.
“We haven’t had a returning nucleus of players since I’ve been here,” he said. “We haven’t had senior guards. Those two things go a huge, long way in college basketball. Exhibit A, B and C was Old Dominion, George Mason and VCU last year. Now I have those ingredients this year. Now I have to figure out who our best offensive player is.”
JMU will host Philadelphia University in an exhibition game on Oct. 26 and will open its season at home against Canisius on Nov. 13.