A new coach—and attitude at JMU

The way the students swarmed the court after James Madison beat George Mason on Saturday, you would have thought the Dukes had done something momentous.

Maybe they did.

JMU fans have been waiting for a revival of a basketball program that once mingled among the hierarchy of the Colonial Athletic Association. They may have found optimism in first-year coach Matt Brady.

The Dukes (8-5, 16-9) take on Virginia Commonwealth (10-3, 17-7) tonight at 7:30 at the Siegel Center in a game between teams jockeying for the four bye spots in the CAA tournament. That JMU once again is in meaningful games says something about the attitude Brady is creating.

The Dukes are one victory away from their first winning season since 1999-2000. They hadn't beaten George Mason, one the league's flagship teams, in 10 tries until Saturday's 68-66 victory.

Somewhere in that mob on the floor -- and loving it -- was senior forward Kyle Swanston. One of the reasons he was attracted to JMU was the chance to make the program a winner.

His first three seasons? 5-23, 7-23, 13-17.

"We definitely feel the love," he said. "The campus has really embraced basketball. It's a different feeling from the past three years."

The producer of this new vibe is Brady, a New Jersey native who demands defense and was drawn to Madison, in part, by the challenge of restoring the program.

Brady performed a similar job in four years at Marist, where he made a moribund program into a consistent winner (73-50).

At JMU, he inherited the CAA's best scoring team and its worst defensive team. Brady immediately set out to change the defensive mentality.

Swanston said the Dukes spend about 75 percent of their practice time on defense. JMU ranks ninth in the league in scoring defense (67.3 points per game) but has gotten better as the season has progressed.

"I think he came into this licking his chops because he saw a team that led the CAA in points per game," Swanston said. "'If I can get this team to play defense, they'd be really good.'

"Midway through the season, you could see a different team out there."

Perhaps the most impressive thing is JMU has won despite playing without a pair of all-conference-caliber players for significant portions of the season.

Senior guard Abdulai Jalloh played in six games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. Senior forward Juwann James has missed 10 games with pericarditis, an inflammation of the saclike covering (pericardium) of the heart, and tightness in his chest.

James, who has missed the past three games with what doctors now believe is a second bout of pericarditis, is "highly doubtful" to play tonight, Brady said.

Three freshmen -- guard Devon Moore and forwards Julius Wells and Andrey Semenov -- have stepped in and produced almost 42 percent of the scoring. Semenov may not be available tonight after experiencing dizziness Saturday.

"There's no reason why James Madison can't be as good as anybody in this league," Brady said, "albeit I will say that I know it takes time."