RE: MBB: JMU at Towson, 1/18, 2pm
Here are my thoughts for what it's worth:
1. I thought that Rowe would probably fall somewhere down the middle of the season with respect to his future. I thought that the team would improve in season and had bolstered its assistants significantly. I thought that the freshman class would really add to the team. I thought that the CAA was ripe for the picking. Well, I thought wrong. Rowe has made the decision easy for the JMU administration. This season has gone off the tracks completely. I suspect that Rowe will submit his resignation prior to the end of the season, along the lines of what Keener did in his fourth season.
2. The talent question is an interesting one. I think that this is a talented team, but they don't play to their strengths on either side of the ball. What I saw yesterday, for example, was a stilted offense that was overly deliberate in the first half. Towson took away Lewis as an offensive threat and he continued to hoist up shots, missing 8 in a row at one point. The usual lull happened at the beginning of the second half (actually started at the end of the first), when Towson blew the game open. Rowe was too slow to call a time out. The game went to a more chaotic approach, which probably fits JMU's personnel better and is how they should probably play. As soon as they got the game within striking distance (say 4 or 5 points), they went right back to playing how they started the game and that took care of that; i.e., giving them no chance to close it out with a win.
3. Echoing what others have said, I don't understand why Rowe is incapable of trying different things, although yesterday he said the right things in the postgame interview. That is to say that JMU has to have ball and player movement on offense. They too often don't play as a team, but go back to the one on one philosophy that doesn't work. I don't understand why Flowers, Richey and Hobbs aren't given a chance, with the first two of those guys known as being good perimeter shooters and Hobbs as a good ball handler that can get to the rim. Pinkard, meanwhile, has very little skill yet gets playing time.
4. Back to the talent issue: I think that Banks and Christmas are the two most talented players on the team. Banks too often plays second fiddle to Lewis, who is really only a complementary player, not a lead player. Christmas too often sits at the expense of Wooden, who's not the same level talent. Harvey, a very promising player, sits so that Pinkard can play.
5. I think the other factor that's not mentioned enough is that other teams play harder than JMU. They want it more. We're too laid back and passive. It's during those lull periods that games are won and lost. And finally, the team gave up 47 points in the second half, part of a season long pattern of collapse on the defensive end in the second half.
6. With the right coaching staff, this team should be a lot better next year. They'll need to bolster the roster in a couple of areas, though.
7. Flo Sports isn't perfect, but it enables one to watch the games for $12.50 a month. Cancel it after the 4 month season.
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