Before we tackle the question of whether JMU can snag a CAA Tournament title this weekend, let’s start with this. That we’re even talking about it is a nod to what Kenny Brooks and Sean O’Regan combined to build in Harrisonburg. These 2020-21 Dukes lost four starters, yet were still picked to win the league in the preseason coaches poll.
They’re seeded second behind the Delaware Blue Hens under coach Natasha Adair.
After a zany season of stop-and-gos and back-to-back games against the same opponent, both related to COVID, we’re left with a highly inconsistent JMU team and a lot of uncertainty. The Dukes saw five games canceled — two due to William and Mary opting out of the season. They didn’t play Hofstra. O’Regan also weathered the virus himself, fortunately minus major symptoms.
Now they’ll be without Rayne Tucker, out with a knee injury sustained last weekend against Drexel.
The Dukes have a 13-9 overall record — the most losses for a JMU team headed into the conference tournament since the 2004-05 season. A 9-6 league record reflects their ups and downs. Usually this time of year the debate centers on must JMU win the CAA Tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament? That’s not at stake this season. If JMU doesn’t hold the trophy this weekend, there are no Big Dance prospects. A 48-team WNIT is scheduled, 12 teams fewer than normal.
O’Regan has reason to be frustrated but isn’t. “I love this team,” he says. “I love Peyton McDaniel. I think she’s going to be a star. I love Claire Neff. I think she’s going to be an absolute star. I love Jamie Hazell.”
McDaniel received the league’s Rookie of the Year accolade earlier this week despite missing six games of conference play. Her 30 made 3-pointers is a team best; she averages 12.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 1.2 spg.
Hazell averages 10 ppg and a team-best 2.5 apg. Neff’s played in just seven games and shoots 47% from 3 and averages 6.3 ppg.
JMU has beaten every team in the league and is 1-1 this season against Delaware (19-3). The Blue Hens needed overtime to beat JMU in the second game of a late February back-to-back series.
O’Regan regards Delaware’s regular-season title as one of the best in league history given all the challenges that distinguish this season. He feels for his team of newbies — five frosh and two transfers — who didn’t get to assimilate into typical college life because of the restrictions related to the virus.
“We pretty much stayed separate in our pods,” he said. “Early on, if somebody got a positive test, we were able to still play because we stayed so separated. But it took us longer to get our chemistry. The freshmen hang with the freshmen. Kiki and Rayne and Maddie (Green) and Jaylin (Carodine) hang out with each other. Any other year, these guys would get together and do team building.
JMU didn’t win back-to-back league games in the conference all season. Add to that the absence of Tucker, the sophomore forward who O’Regan figured would be a defensive stopper in the vein of Kayla Cooper-Williams. Turns out she’s a scorer, too, — her 22 points and seven boards against Delaware last month handed the Blue Hens their first league loss.
That hurts. A lot. It also reminds JMU fans of two years ago when JMU looked primed for its first league title under O’Regan only to lose Kamiah Smalls and Lexi Barrier to injury right before the league tournament. The pair attempted to play in the quarterfinal game against Hofstra but lasted a combined three minutes, and down went the Dukes.
This team is more offensively balanced than that one, led by Jefferson’s 15.2 ppg. O’Regan’s pleased by how Jefferson has handled being the marked woman on the heels of last year’s CAA Rookie of the Year honor. When Smalls was a sophomore, she had the luxury of being surrounded by upperclassmen who were leaders — Logan Reynolds, among them, who absorbed much of the heat. Jefferson’s had to grow up fast in leading this young Dukes team, and she’s taken it in stride, O’Regan said.
The 6-1 guard leads the Dukes in more than points, ranking No. 1 in FGs, free throws, rebounds, steals and minutes. “I would give her a 10 out of 10 this year,” he said. “And she’s only going to get better.”
The future couldn’t be brighter. The present not so much, particularly minus Tucker, but it’s certainly not unthinkable to believe JMU could pull it all together at the time it matters most.
Turnovers cost the Dukes this season — travels and offensive fouls have been trouble spots. Defense has been spotty. Winning three in a row would seem unlikely during a season when back-to-back victories have been a rarity.
JMU is not in an enviable spot even as a No. 2 seed. They’ll open against a Northeastern team on Thursday that drained 11 3-pointers to earn its first-ever win in Harrisonburg on Jan. 26. If they get by the Huskies, they’ll either face a Drexel team whose style gives everyone in the league fits or home favorite Elon, though the lack of fans limits that advantage.
JMU’s last CAA title was in 2016. Another one would give the program 10.
For the Dukes to be 2021 champs, they’ll need to rely on trust over what O’Regan dubs “hero ball.”
“Under adverse times, you’ve got to really trust each other and play together,” he said. “That’s what I feel like has been our biggest learning curve.”
Tipoff for the quarterfinal game is at 6 p.m.
Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics