Coach Brady Interview #3

Here is the third interview of Men's Basketball coach Matt Brady by John Theobald (Feb 26):

1) What are the main differences between the MAAC and the CAA in your opinion in terms of fan support, gameday atmosphere, alumni support, etc ?

The biggest differences, to me, are the better resources, arenas and crowds that the CAA attracts to its venues. The other difference, and it is significant, is that most of the programs here in the CAA have a much larger and stronger demographic, in part, due to the very large alumni base each school yields. JMU really has state-wide appeal. In the MAAC, that is definitely not the case. It is more local community based.

2) Recently on the CAAZone there was a poll conducted asking who is the #1 player JMU could NOT afford to lose. In your opinion who is that player? (please find a large piece of wood to knock on after answering)

Well, we have already lost the two players, for significant time periods and CAA games, that JMU cannot afford to lose. Juwann James and Devon Moore. Hopefully, Devon could return by the CAA tourney and Juwann stays healthy. Two very big ifs, especially in light of the way the season has gone to date.

3) Assuming we will be playing from day 1 of the tournament, do you think our conditioning and preparationg has prepared us to make a long run?

Our backcourt is not very deep, our overall athletic ability as a team is only fair (in my opinion) and our health is still a major concern. That being said, our goal is to do whatever it takes in our game on Friday to play on Saturday. If we get to Saturday, we will use that same approach to advance to the next game. We have enough ability to advance but these other issues are real. We will need to play extraordinarily well to win games in Richmond. If we are healthy, I can tell you nobody we'll be excited to draw the JMU Dukes.