Time To Win In The NCAA Tournament!

I am sure everyone is still shocked about the James Madison Dukes being sent to College Station, TX. While not the ideal location for fans, it offers the greatest opportunity to advance in the tournament. You cannot control where you are sent, but you can control how you view the situation and how you will react to that situation. What has made this team fun to watch is their zeal to win and to find ways to dig deep within themselves.

In reality it doesn't matter where you go because in the end you still have to play the game. Coach Brooks stated on TV and in newspapers that he thought JMU was better than an 11 seed, while I agree, it is time to put your words into action and win in the tournament. If this team feels they are better than an 11 seed and that they can win a few games in the tournament, then prove it!

The last couple of trips though have ended with disappointing loses to Temple and Oklahoma. Both were good teams, but both teams were teams that JMU could have beaten. The team then was lead by a prolific scorer Dawn Evans who wowed everyone with her shooting effort. But even with a descent support staff around Dawn, JMU failed to advance past the first rounds. In fact, I thought we played poorly at times in those contest. Perhaps it was the inexperience, perhaps, our opponents played defense well, or perhaps, our team lacked key components to truly become a contender. Whatever the reason, those were indeed good teams.

Then the next two years we played great in the WNIT, going all the way to Oklahoma State in 2012 for the WNIT final and again, came up short while not playing our best basketball. And that was a great tournament in which JMU had victories over Davidson, Wake Forest, South Florida, Virginia, and Syracuse. It was by far the best tournament I have ever been a part of. It was exciting. But to come up short and to play the final at Oklahoma State due to a scheduling conflict was disappointing because we all knew if JMU played at home, they would have won the championship.

In 2013, we had another disappointing year by not making the NCAA tourney (never understood why), but again had a great run in the WNIT, and faced the now NCAA tournament team Florida. But we fell short to a team that was on fire during that game, disappointing, but truly we left everything on the floor that game.

This year, we are now back in the NCAA tournament and will be facing a very tough Gonzaga team. Looking at this team, you get the feeling that they are practically mirror images of James Madison, they are tall, athletic, and boy can they shoot. They have weapons. They can rotate up to 10 players in a game and can play various styles of basketball. They are slightly taller in key areas, but remember, Syracuse? Nothing that we haven't seen before. If I had to guess the starting five, it would probably be Palmer, Greinarcher, Sherbert, Albanez, and Cheslek. Although, Redmon could be a starter as well. Their defense allows around 56 points, whereas JMU allows 54.8. Gonzaga scores on average about 75.4 points, whereas JMU scores on average about 75.2 ppg. JMU is slightly better from the 3 point range and Gonzaga is better from inside the arc. So pick who you think is going to win, because in reality it is a toss-up.

What worries me the most, is how the team will react to a slightly taller team inside and against a team that press and play man-to-man defense well. We all saw what happened at Charleston and if we play as poorly as we did overall in that game against Gonzaga, it will be an early trip home. This has the makings to either be a defensive game that will be scored in the 40's or it will be an all score fest like we saw against Green Bay last year and Vanderbilt this year.

What gives me hope is how we played against North Carolina, St. John's, and even Vanderbilt. Three teams that are in the tournament and all ranked higher than JMU. We need stellar play from everyone. Burkholder has to show why she is the CAA player of the year (she is due for a big shooting night), as well as Precious Hall, Nikki Newman needs to show why she is the CAA defensive player of the year, Giggets, Okafor, and Griffin have to have big games inside. They need to shoot well and they need to get stops against 6'5"/6'4" players. Gwathmey must continue to prove why she is the MVP. Angela Mickens? Yeah we need you too. In other words, we need to play well in all positions.

Gonzaga is fast, but honestly, I think JMU is faster. They do shoot slightly better than JMU, but I do think our defense can shut them down enough to keep them from scoring a ton of points. Rebound, Rebound, Rebound! A key factor in the game for sure. This team has the goods to advance, but as stated earlier, do they have the mental fortitude and killer instinct to make it happen? They showed it in the CAA tournament, now it is time to show it in the NCAA tournament. Time for Coach Brooks to finally get his tournament wins!