Sunsets are lovely in Harrisonburg against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And yes, the sun will set tonight because despite what Dukes fans went to bed thinking on Thursday, the sun rose today in the Valley today.
A week ago, who could have thought we’d be talking about JMU and the WNIT in the same sentence? The Dukes were the best team in the CAA wire to wire, hiccup to UNC Wilmington aside. Because a quarterfinal loss in a conference tournament is devastating when you don’t have a Top-50 win on your resume. RPI and who did you beat? factor in when deciding NCAA Tournament at-large bids.
The Dukes’ best victory, RPI-wise? They swept No. 63 Drexel.
Not that it’s fair. Kamiah Smalls, snubbed for CAA player-of-the-year honors, went down hard on her wrist in Sunday’s regular-season finale, and while she started against Hofstra, her time on the floor lasted all of two minutes. She couldn’t shoot. Follow that up with Lexie Barrier getting hurt on the opening possession, and suddenly JMU is playing a conference tournament game without its two leading scorers. Backup point guard Maddie Green also not dressing was another nail.
All of it makes for a disheartening outcome. Sean O’Regan must wonder if he’s snake bit. The last two years, the Dukes fell short of an Elon team that was a notch better, but this season, the Dukes were heavy favorites to win their first tournament title under O’Regan. Life changes in a blink, about as long as it took for Smalls to hurt her shooting hand in a meaningless game against Delaware given JMU had wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament.
It wasn’t a perfect season by any means. Dismissing Kelly Koshuta from the team affected JMU’s scoring; the starter, a former five-star recruit, averaged 11.9 ppg. Hofstra aside, the Dukes didn’t keep their foot on the pedal against Hampton and later Wilmington, near wins that turned into losses. JMIU fouled a shooter who hadn’t made a shot the entire game with 0.9 seconds on the clock in a 50-49 loss at Wake Forest. It wasn’t pretty at Maryland, but these Terps will host games in the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s what might be as maddening as the Hofstra loss. Let’s say JMU had won all those games minus Maryland and was sitting at 28-2. It still wouldn’t be enough. The NCAA Tournament is almost a private exclusionary country club of Power 5 members and UConn. This isn’t a new concept, but it is even more flagrant since we’ve returned to the top four seeds hosting first- and second-round games. “Growing the game” is rhetoric that sounds good on paper but little is done to make it a priority. That Delaware team that filled the Bob when Elena Delle Donne played college ball wouldn’t be hosting anything but a watch party under this system. And it’s this system that will almost surely reward Tennessee, 19-12 and 7-9 in the SEC, with a tournament invite on Selection Monday while JMU while await its WNIT opponent.
Nobody would expect the committee to do the research that would explain Thursday’s loss — two injured starters who might be healed come tournament time. The JMU team that lost to Hofstra was, in fact, just Dukes pieces.
That leaves JMU looking forward with a couple of choices, both tall orders. Come next year with all the key parts back, win the conference tournament and get a no-questions-asked invitation to the dance. Or play the heavies early and score an upset or two, run the tables in the conference and advance to the championship game.
That second option isn’t terribly feasible given top tier Power 5 opponents aren’t overly eager to return phone calls from schools in places like Harrisonburg or Spokane, Washington, home to another non-Power 5 elite, Gonzaga.
One aside, no hard knocks on O’Regan’s nonconference slate this year. Dayton and George Washington were NCAA Tournament teams a year ago. The Flyers and Colonials underachieved by their standards, so JMU beating both didn’t boast its RPI. The Dukes’ victory over St. John’s didn’t pay off, either, as the Red Storm finished with a losing record.
JMU likely never saw itself a WNIT participant until the final buzzer on Thursday. Starting anew calls for making a run and finishing the season on a higher note then playing in a largely empty gym in a CAA Tournament quarterfinal. Preparation for next year starts with the next practice. And make no mistake, this team has room to improve. The Dukes can’t afford the slip-ups that cost them against Wilmington and Hampton. Let’s hope the offseason affords them another consistent scorer; we’d nominate Kayla Cooper-Williams.
Sun’s up, Dukes. Make it a new day. The future might be hard to see today, but it’s there and it’s bright.
Photo courtesy of The Breeze