Juwann James, senior forward, Second Team All-CAA
15.8 ppg, 0.9 assists/game, 5.1 rebounds/game, 0.8 blocks/game, 1.1 steals/game
After playing the first game of the year, Juwann missed the next seven after being diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart. He then collapsed at the home ODU game later in the season and would miss the next four games. One would have to think that if he hadn't missed those 11.5 games (plus part of the game at Mason) he would have been in the first team. He was deserving of it, and, after the leadership and consistency, he should have gotten first team. Regardless, congratulations to Juwann as he is an amazing and classy player that has suffered through a lot.
Julius Wells, freshman forward, Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team
11.8 ppg, 1.2 assists/game, 38.7% 3pt, 5.5 rebounds/game, 0.7 steals/game
After winning the Rookie of the Week award an astouding four times, Julius was almost a shoe-in for ROY (though Devon gave him some good competition). Julius was also one of only two JMU players to play in every game of the regular season (Pierre Curtis was the only other one and was the only player to start every game) scoring a total of 366 points this year. Congrats to Julius and thank you for such a great season.
Devon Moore, freshman point guard, All-Rookie Team
10.1 ppg, 3.1 assists/game, 31.4% 3pt, 3.6 rebounds/game, 0.8 steals/game
Devon (along with Juwann) has been called the most crucial part of the team. As pointed out in the article yesterday about him being cleared to play, this team seems to play its worst basketball when he is out. We lost all three conferences games that he didn't play in and we lost the double-OT game to Hofstra after he was injured mid-way through the second half. He makes all the other players play better, is a great defender, is one of the only JMU players that can penetrate to the basket off the dribble, and has necessary ball-handling skills that can't be overstated. Finished the regular season with 274 total points. Congratulations to Devon for the award--we couldn't be getting him back at a more crucial time.
Where I think we got overlooked:
1) Juwann not being higher. I discussed it above. Partially understandable because he was out part of the season, but how can you say he wasn't deserving of that First Team spot?
2) Andrey Semenov not being on the All-Rookie Team. I guess I can understand this, because we already have two of the six and they need to spread it around, but I think he could have easily gotten in. He also finished with 230 points and was part of the highest-scoring freshman class in JMU's D-I history.
3) Brady not getting Coach of the Year. This is the only one where I legitimately think JMU got gypped. He took a team that hadn't had a winning season in 9 years, took them 18-13 overall and 9-9 in conference, and brought in the CAA ROY, another CAA All-Rookie Team member, and another freshman that would have been in had it not been for the other two. Oh, and he had this winning season with his First-Team All-CAA preseason player (Abdulai Jalloh) on the bench for a majority of the season, his star gutsy senior out with heart problems for basically 12 games, the other senior in a shooting slump for the entire middle of the season and a concussion for the last home game of the season, one of his star freshman out for the final 4.5 games of the regular season after having the flu a couple times earlier in the season, one of his other freshman out with concussion-like symptoms and one of his few big men out with the flu for a game and a half. Even through all that he has this team inspired and the program re-energized. The only reason he didn't get it is because Bruiser Flint's team (Drexel) was picked to finished last in the conference in preseason voting. Because of this gross oversight by the coaches, Coach Brady didn't get the award. What Matt Brady has done at JMU is nothing short of remarkable.
JMU got a great mention in Who's Who in the CAA from the DC Examiner:
Who’s dangerous » James Madison. The Dukes (18-13) have lost their last three CAA games, but will be a threat if freshman point guard Devon Moore (wrist) and freshman forward Andrey Seminov (concussion) have recovered. JMU’s best inside threat, Juwan James, is back after missing four games with a chest ailment. First-year coach Matt Brady has done a brilliant job guiding his injury-riddled team to its first winning season in nine years. “I always have to check my trainer to see who’s practicing,” said Brady.
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