Admittedly, we were bummed, too. We would have loved for James Madison to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991. Instead the Dukes end the season at 26-8 after running into a more experienced Oklahoma team with an eye toward a third consecutive visit to the Final Four.
The No. 6 Sooners (22-11) led by as many as 19 before a late JMU run cut it to six, but the Dukes edged no closer. Dawn Evans got 20, but we figured she'd need at least 30 or more for JMU to pull the upset. Evans was also 0-of-11 from beyond the arc; Evans and Tarik Hislop combined for a 13-of-48 shooting effort.
JMU never settled into a rhythm, leading just once at 2-0. Much of that was due to the tandem of Danielle Robinson and Whitney Hand, who combined for 43 points.
Nice to see that most in the crowd of 3,763 was wearing purple, folks who undoubtedly had a heavy heart when Evans came out of the game for the last time and shared a long embrace with coach Kenny Brooks.
Just a note about ESPN's coverage. Many fans around the state didn't see much of the second half, even though the local game was supposed to be, at the very least, on the local ESPN channel, (the non-HD version). That wasn't the case, and frankly, that shouldn't be. We'll expound later in the week on our thoughts about ESPN, but that was a major bummer.
Dawn Evans stock draft pummented.... Took horrible shots and is overrated imo.
ReplyDeleteyour opinion is wrong
ReplyDeleteone game does not cause your draft stock to (pay attention to how you spell it) plummet. She did take some sub-par shots against Oklahoma. You don't put up 23 ppg, break the all time leading scorer in the CAA, and hold 40 school records with no talent. oh and i almost forgot- she has kidney disease.
ReplyDeleteits ok. IMO, you simply didnt do your homework.
Obviously you're right; any team that would draft a player based solely on one performance, good or bad, should fire its general manager. We do wonder about the kidney issues, though. Our understanding is that Dawn wasn't at 100 percent all year and that she had to sit out some practices to be as fresh as possible for games. As a pro, she'll need to play three times a week against the best players in the world. No one questions Dawn's heart or desire. But is she physically capable of handling the WNBA's demands at this stage?
ReplyDeleteNo way can she can sustain that workload....
ReplyDelete