So what are we facing with these three teams and who should we look out for? By far the toughest team that we are going to see is Drexel, but Northeastern always seems to give us problems. I don't know much about William and Mary, but in the UNCW post game, Coach Brooks (Not Herb Brooks from the movie, ;-)) stated that he really thought W&M would be a tough draw this year and is playing really well. So lets take a look at these three teams and see how tough they are going to be for the Lady Dukes.
Drexel - 7 PM Thursday
Offensively on paper, Drexel is a far better shooting team. They are currently shooting the ball at 50.2% (eFG%) and JMU is currently at 41.1% (eFG%). Defensively, the two teams are about even. Drexel plays a slowdown type offense, so they will use their possessions wisely, nor are they going to foul much either. They have one main scorer in Hollie Mershon who scores about 18 points a game. While Mershon is their main scoring threat, they do have several other players that can score from deep. Both of their forwards score close to 9 points a game-Nicki Jones and Taylor Wootton. This appears to be a team that loves to shoot the three ball, but isn't afraid to take it inside when need be. Defensively, this is a team that can defend the perimeter well, allowing only about 22% of 3-point shots. Inside they are much weaker allowing close to 56% of shots. When this team wins, they usually win big, only two games were within 10 points, the others were blowouts. However, when they lose, they usually do not lose by very many.
Northeastern -2 PM Sunday
Ahh...the team that kept us out of the NCAA tournament last year. Whenever we play this team, or at least away, we tend to have bad games. But lucky for us, we have them home this year, and even better news, we do not play a return trip. With that stated, JMU and its fans should keep a close watch on how well this team does against William and Mary, given that JMU plays both teams back to back. At the moment, this team is 8-4 (1-0). Their RPI rating is almost the same as JMU's so looking at the RPI rankings will tell you that this will be another evenly matched game. This team likes to play the attack offense much like JMU. They have three scorers that score 12 points or more per game. They are Forward Jewel Tuntsull, Guard Deana Kerkhof, and Guard Kashaia Cannon. This is also a much better offensive team than JMU scoring close to 50% of their shots (eFG%). Defensively, this team is allowing just under 30% of shots from the 3-point and around 48% from the 2-point. Like Drexel, when this team wins, they were winning big, but when they lost, it was close.
William & Mary January 17 @ 7 PM
At the moment, this team has only won two games. They have three players to watch out for, Emily Correal (16.7 ppg), Talyor Hilton (8.7 ppg), and Janine Aldridge (13.2 ppg). Correal is also their best rebounder recording about 9 rebounds per game. Their best 3-point shooter is Janine Aldridge. They have two common opponents-Hofstra and UNCW. They lost to both teams. Hoftra they lost by 3 points and to UNCW by 9 points. The thing to remember with this team is that you are not going to blow them out of games. For most of their loses they have been in them. With the exception of two game (blowouts) they only lost by 3-9 points.
Notes: Congrats to Kirby Burkholder for being names this weeks CAA player of the week http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14400&ATCLID=205881665
Good article in Tuesday's DNR by Matthew Stoss http://www.dnronline.com/article/jmu_playing_tougher_foes
UPDATE on Nikki Newman - She is definitely done for the season and will go for a Medical Red Shirt.
Brooks Monday Luncheon: http://www.jmusports.com//mediaPortal/player.dbml?POPOUT=1&db_oem_id=14400&id=1214705&catid=21611&start=926.068
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