Healthy JMU could hurt the CAA in tournament

With just seconds left in the game, James Madison University backup guard Scooter Renkin got out of a jam underneath the basket with a wraparound pass to a teammate.

That brought a roar from the JMU bench, where the starters were located. They laughed, applauded and stood to cheer their teammates.

The JMU starters were watching from the sideline because they had the opening-round game of the Colonial Athletic Association game against William and Mary well in hand.

The Dukes starters have spent considerable time on the bench this season, and little of it has been because the game was well in hand.

No team in the CAA has been as affected by injuries and illness as the Dukes.

They have had six significant players miss 47 games this season. Twenty-five of those belong to senior guard Abdulai Jalloh. He's out with a shoulder injury and is not coming back.

But Juwann James (pericarditis, 11 games), Devon Moore (head injury, wrist, four games), Andrey Semenov (head injury, four games), Dazzmond Thornton (ankle, illness, two games) and Kyle Swanston (head injury, one game) are back.

Last night, the Dukes, seeded No. 7 in the tournament, looked as if they are all the way back.

"I don't know if we've peaked, but we're starting to play really well," junior guard Pierre Curtis said. "We got lucky and got Devon back in time for the tournament. We're finally healthy. We're trying to make the best of it."

That could be very bad news for the rest of the CAA field. JMU won 18 games in the regular season while coach Matt Brady patched together a variety of lineups.

James, who comes off the bench, is one of the best players in the CAA. Swanston is an unconscious 3-point shooter. Moore, a freshman, runs the offense with a smooth efficiency.

"I've liked our team when we've been healthy an awful lot," Brady said. "We've had nine losses in the league, and two of them have been when we were healthy."

When they are healthy, the Dukes have a potent inside/outside game. James, 6-6 225, has the body of an NFL tight end and the agility of a wide receiver. Thornton, 6-7 270, has the body of an offensive lineman. When that duo is in the game, the Dukes have an inside attack that could pass for a pretty good goal-line offense.

James and Thornton find ways to get the ball to the rim.

And when Swanston is hitting from the perimeter, the court opens for Moore and Curtis to penetrate and either spin bounce passes to James and Thornton or find Swanston on the wing.

The Dukes can be a handful.

"We like our chances when we're healthy," Brady said.

The health of Moore can't be understated. The 6-4 guard had a torn ligament in his wrist, wore a cast for two weeks and missed the final three games of the regular season. The Dukes lost two of those contests.

"He makes us a better team," Brady said.

The Dukes have a significant challenge tonight against George Mason, the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

The plays around the basket that William and Mary could not finish will be finished by the Patriots. And George Mason seems unlikely to make just 1 of 18 3-point shots, as the Tribe did last night.

"We understand the task in front of us," Brady said. "We'll throw it up. Hopefully, we'll be healthy and have a chance to survive and advance.

"Anything can happen with my group. Somebody is going to sprain an ankle slipping on some ice walking out of the building."

With the temperature a balmy 58 degrees when the Dukes left the Coliseum, that seemed unlikely. However, Brady would have swathed his players in bubble wrap if that much bubble wrap could have been found to cover James and Thornton.

"We haven't had a whole team, a healthy team much since we flipped the calendar to 2009," Brady said. "We'd like to keep this thing going for a bit."

Based on the most recent results, the Dukes have a chance of doing exactly that.