head coach Head Coach
Matt Brady
Year At JMU: Fourth Career Year: Eighth Career Record: 128-97 Hometown: Haddon Heights, N.J. College: Siena 1987 Matt Brady enters his fourth campaign as JMU’s men’s basketball coach with the 2011-12 season. He holds a 55-47 record through three seasons after going 21-15 in his first season and producing the program’s first winning record in nine seasons. He followed that with a 13-20 campaign in 2009-10 with a squad that was decimated by injuries before rebounding with another 20-win mark in 2010-11 at 21-12. The 2010-11 season was one to remember in many ways for the Dukes as they continued their climb to the upper echelon of the alwayscompetitive Colonial Athletic Association. JMU started the year at 15-3 and tied for the best 18-game start in program history, which earned Madison votes in the Associated Press poll for the first time in nearly 20 years. The Dukes weathered a three-game losing streak from that point and managed to finish sixth in the CAA. JMU then received a postseason invitation for the second time in Brady’s three seasons by advancing to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The Dukes finished in the top 100 of the national ratings percentage index (RPI) and matched the program record for road victories with 10. As a team, the offense proved formidable averaging 71.4 points per game, good for third in the CAA. The Dukes were also second in the league in field goal percentage (.458) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.378). Individually, Denzel Bowles turned in a season for the JMU record books, becoming the 24th player in school history to score 1,000 points, the fourth with multiple 500-point seasons, the 11th with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and the fifth to score at least 40 points in a game. All of that came in just two seasons for the 6-10 forward, who advanced to sign a professional contract in Lithuania. Bowles was named First Team All-CAA, First Team All-State, First Team All-District and the first player in JMU history to earn MidMajor All-America accolades. Known as a “shot doctor,” Brady continued to build that pedigree, evidenced in the progression of Julius Wells from a high school interior player to one of the best perimeter shooters in JMU history. Wells sank 61 treys to climb into the top five in school history in threes attempted and threes made, along with 11th on the career scoring chart at 1,311. The second season for Brady started with much promise as four starters returned, including the reigning CAA Rookie of the Year in Julius Wells and an All-Rookie selection in Devon Moore, along with the anticipated second-semester debut of Texas A&M transfer forward Denzel Bowles. However, the high anticipation was dissipated quickly as Moore went down in the preseason with an injury, starting forward Andrey Semenov missed all but four games due to injury, and forward Dazzmond Thornton was unavailable for the second semester. With so many missing pieces, the Dukes compiled a 13-20 overall record and finished 11th in
the CAA at 4-14. Despite the depleted roster, JMU took down sixthplace Drexel in the CAA Championship opening round and led eventual runner-up William and Mary in the semifinals by 14 points early in the second half before falling on a late rally by the Tribe. Among the highlights, senior guard Pierre Curtis shifted into the starting point guard role in Moore’s absence and placed in the top five in the league in assists (4.2 per game) and assists-to-turnover ratio (1.9). He established JMU records for minutes (4,137), games (126), starts (124), assists (463), and steals (175) while also finishing 16th in career points with 1,237. Bowles did not disappoint when he became eligible after seven games. He became the first player in CAA history to lead the league in scoring (20.8 points/game), rebounding (9.2 per game) and field-goal percentage (.594), earning him Second Team All-CAA accolades. His 12 double-doubles in just 25 games already ranks third in JMU history. Wells, pressed into a high-scoring role, earned Third Team All-CAA honors after averaging 16.3 points to rank in the top five in the CAA while also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. He established JMU sophomore records for three-pointers (91), minutes (1,211), points (539), field-goal attempts (470), and three-point attempts (258). Brady’s first JMU squad compiled a 21-15 overall record and a 9-9 Colonial Athletic Association mark in 2008-09. The Dukes advanced in the CAA Tournament and reached the semifinals of the post-season CollegeInsider.com Tournament. JMU’s 21 wins matched the second-best season total in team history and were the Dukes’ most in a season since 1992-93. JMU reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since compiling a 20-9 record in 1999-2000, the most-recent time the Dukes had finished a season with a winning record. JMU’s nine conference wins were its most in a season since finishing 12-4 in 1999-2000; the Dukes advanced in CAA Tournament for the first time since 2002-03; and their post-season tournament appearance was the program’s first since 1993-94. Brady joined the JMU staff after four seasons as head coach at Marist, and his first JMU team combined a nucleus of veteran players and an impressive group of newcomers. Senior forwards Juwann James and Kyle Swanston were the team’s No. 1 and No. 3 scorers and junior guard Pierre Curtis its No. 5 scorer. Freshmen Julius Wells, Devon Moore and Andrey Semenov gave the Dukes the CAA’s leading group of first-year contributors. James was second-team All-CAA and led JMU with a 14.1-points-per-game scoring average; Swanston averaged 11.6 points and had 95 three-point field goals; and Curtis averaged 9.3 points and 2.8 assists. Wells was second on the team in scoring (11.6) and its leading rebounder (5.5) and was CAA rookie of the year. Moore joined Wells on the league all-rookie team and averaged 10.7 points and 2.9 assists, and Semenov averaged 8.2 points despite seeing only limited time late during the season because of illness.
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