2012-13 outlook Conventional wisdom in college athletics, basketball in particular, states that seniors win championships. James Madison hopes that conventional wisdom holds true, especially when combined with an infusion of fresh talent and energy. Coming off of a disappointing and injury-plagued 2011-12 season, the 2012-13 preseason version of the Dukes looks to be defined by six seniors hungry for
became too much to overcome. After the 7-4 mark in 2011, JMU went 5-16 the rest of the way in 2012, including a second straight first-round exit from the CAA Championship in March. The 2012-13 benefit for JMU is that each player faced varying loads at different times, providing valuable experience to eight returning letterwinners. JMU returns 74 percent of its total scoring from a year ago along with 84 percent of its rebounding and 76 percent of its minutes played. The only significant losses to be overcome by the Dukes are Wells (8.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and guard Humpty Hitchens (14.9 points per game and 82 three-pointers).
Players
Devon Moore one final push at CAA contention combined with five freshmen, each of the “immediate contributor” variety. While the composition of his team may vary from year to year, to fifth-year head coach Matt Brady, the goal remains the same. “As long as I’m the head coach, the goal is to try to compete for a league championship,” offered Brady. “We feel like we are a talented group and have the right mix of older guys. At our level, if you have seniors with experience then you have a chance to be good. “I do think the mix of older guys and talented good new players is something that is going to propel us to a great season. The theme we talk about with this group is being the most unselfish and team-oriented group as we can.” Brady hopes that in addition to the newcomers providing energy and competition for the group of returners, one key will be for them to provide a welcome boost in terms of depth. He added, “I think we have 14 guys that can help and contribute on any given day. That’s not been the case in my time here, but it’s one of the reasons we have great optimism.”
Looking Back
Any analysis of the 2011-12 JMU squad is incomplete without the word injury. The season began inauspiciously with a season-ending injury to forward Rayshawn Goins in preseason workouts. The Dukes weathered the storm of the loss of Goins and eligibility issues for point guard Devon Moore to jump out to a 6-3 record with significant road wins at Penn, Hofstra and George Washington. Madison sat 7-4 at the start of 2012 and was poised to go 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association with a late lead against Old Dominion. However, senior forward Julius Wells went down late with what proved to be a season-ending health ailment. ODU came back to win in overtime and JMU’s season was never the same. While the Dukes competed in their remaining CAA games, with nine losses by 10 points or fewer, the injuries began to snowball and the fluctuating lineups
Among the six seniors listed on the 2012-13 roster, five are fifth-year seniors. They are players who have picked up an extra year, primarily due to a transfer or a major injury. While not uncommon to see one or perhaps two fifth-years on a roster, five in one season is an attentiongrabbing number. In fact, the five fifth-year players are the most in the nation for the 2012-13 season and the most in JMU program history. Brady can identify several reasons for optimism regarding the plethora of fifth years on his roster. “First of all, these seniors are hungry, and they recognize that we’ve been close to putting it all together.” Brady continued, “This is their last opportunity. That’s what you really get from seniors, the idea that the window is closing on their career. They want to accomplish something together. I think this group certainly feels that way and they think they can accomplish great things.” For JMU, the drive and senior leadership begin with point guard Devon Moore. Moore missed the first seven games with eligibility issues, struggled to blend into a pre-existing lineup and added a wrist injury that hampered both his shooting and his ball handling. Despite those issues, Moore still managed to average 8.8 points per game while ranking fourth in the league with 4.2 assists per game and third with an assist-toturnover ratio of 1.8. In addition to the leadership role he accepted as the starting point guard dating back to his freshman season, Brady still sees areas for improvement necessary from Moore in order to post a breakthrough senior campaign. “Devon has worked really hard again in the offseason to become a better long-range shooter. Beyond that, when Devon’s healthy, he’s a handful. He’s as good of a defensive guard as there is in this league and as good of a rebounding guard as there is in this league. He knows how to win games late. We need him to continue to be the best leader he can be.” Overcoming ongoing back issues and other ailments over the course of his collegiate career, forward Andrey Semenov emerged as a versatile and consistent threat during the 2011-12 campaign. He provides a unique matchup as a player big enough to bang around in the paint while also accurate enough to warrant tight coverage on the arc. In fact, he ranked second in the CAA last year with a .440 three-point percentage and eighth averaging 1.9 made threes per game. “When he’s healthy, Andrey is as good of a shooter, catching and shooting, as there is in this league. We’ll continue to try to get him shots on the perimeter.” Bradyd continued, “He’ll also be as competitive as anybody guarding his position. He does as good a job as anybody, given his weight and lack of bulk, battling for rebounds at both ends.” Each year of Brady’s tenure seems to feature some new infusion of point production and ready-to-play talent. In 2009-10 it was Denzel Bowles. In 2010-11 it was Humpty Hitchens and Rayshawn Goins. For the 2011-12 season, that player was A.J. Davis. In his first year in the league, Davis ranked fourth in the CAA averaging 15.9 points per game, giving him JMU’s highest point production. He was also ninth in the conference in field goal percentage (.437), 14th for free throw percentage (.735) and seventh for steals
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per game (1.7). His 55 total steals were second most in a season in program history. He led the Dukes with 24 games scoring in double figures and topped the 20-point mark on 11 occasions, including becoming the first player in school history to begin his career with four consecutive 20-point games. With a proven ability to put the ball in the basket, Brady will look for more development in other areas in Davis’ final season. He stated, “He needs to be a highlyenergetic defensive guy. He needs to do a better job at both ends rebounding and cutting down on turnovers. With him playing his highest level of defense and rebounding more, I do think he’s a guy that can create opportunities for us at both ends.” If the Dukes saw an infusion of talent with the arrival of Rayshawn Goins for the 2010-11 season, they hope to see the same thing, part two, during the 201213 campaign after losing the burly forward during preseason preparations. When healthy as a junior, Goins started and averaged nearly 10 points and seven rebounds as a complement to Denzel Bowles. Now, after training himself to perhaps the best conditioning level of his career, Goins will need to assume a more featured role in the paint for Madison. “Rayshawn has had as productive of an offseason as anybody I’ve been around in my time here at JMU. He has more bounce in his game than he did previously. The numbers he put up as a junior were big numbers for us. I hope he can at least match, if not exceed, those numbers. The other part is Rayshawn is a great passer, and I think if he maintains his fitness level that we’re going to see a very versatile forward.” Two other seniors figure to provide valuable experience off the bench for the Dukes. Wing guard Alioune Diouf was a candidate for a redshirt at the start of last year before being forced into action a few weeks into the season. He averaged 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds and, at times, provided an important spark off the bench. Center Gene Swindle had seen only one minute of college action in three years at Virginia Tech, but he resurfaced from what was believed to be a career-ending knee injury to fill a larger role than most expected last year. Swindle played in 31 games while starting 13 and averaged 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Unnoticed by some, he showed visible improvement at the end of the season and averaged nine points and five rebounds in JMU’s final four games. While many storylines for the 2012-13 season will undoubtedly focus on the senior and freshmen classes for the Dukes, wedged in between can be found three significant pieces in guards Christian Pierce and Arman Marks along with forward Enoch Hood. Like Swindle, Hood was pressed into service beyond what was anticipated and performed admirably. By the halfway point of the season, he was a regular starter and finished with 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Brady said of the lean forward, “If you just look at his numbers, you’d have to be impressed with Enoch’s points and rebounds. It really comes down to whether he can make a jump here as a sophomore, but he’s got obvious athletic ability and the ability to run the floor. He just needs to put it all together and display more mental toughness. The lone junior on the team, Pierce played limited minutes as a sophomore and will sit out the beginning of the 2012-13 season with an injury. Marks, like Hood, also made higher-than-expected contributions a year ago with 31 appearances and nearly 500 minutes on the court. He averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He was fourth on the team with 24 made three-pointers, but according to Brady, it’s his ability to battle inside that makes him even more valuable. “The thing that Arman can do, for a guard, is he can really offensive rebound and can really rebound for a guard at both ends. A lot of his ability to stay on the court will come down to if he makes a jump as a sophomore defensively.” After that group of returning players, Brady boasts what he believes to be the best recruiting class of his