The Good Guys host a red-hot Radford team, who is coming off a very impressive win at Tejas. This is their 2nd road win over a P5 club as they defeated Notre Dame in South Bend earlier this season.

Radford is 6-1, but 4-1 against D1 opponents as they have 2 wins over non-D1 teams. Their lone loss was at Duquesne by 5 pts.

The Dukes lead the series, 12-3. This includes a 1 pt loss at Radford a season ago.

This will be the last home game for the Dukes in a month. Next home game will be Jan. 3rd in the 3rd CAA game when UNCW comes to the Convo. 4 straight road games with exam week and some time off for Christmas mixed in.

The Highlanders will open somewhere around 9 pt favorites. The Dukes are coming off their worst performance all season and one of the worst, if not the worst, in the Lou Rowe era.

Wonder if the 11 points in the first half is an all time record low in a half for JMU? Don't recall them ever scoring so few points in a half, but maybe it has happened??

Radford seems to be legit this year. If they can beat Texas and ND several states away, pretty sure they can head up 81 and take down the Dukes. At the beginning of the season I thought we could do this, but we've tracked down (or pretty stable from our original low ranking) and they've tracked sharply up. Doesn't mean JMU can't win, just not very likely. I think our defense can play well enough, we just need to be on fire. Would be funny if their two losses came to the Dukes, though.

Radford - 68

JMU - 59

Dukes played much better in the second half Saturday but I just don't see them taking down red hot Radford.

For the first time in my basketball fan life, I am afraid of Radford. Oh the shame...

We have the chance to get blown out by in-state foes with athletic budgets less than ours three times within a seven day span. Then we get W&M at the end of the month. Rowe is going 0-4 in those games and will still somehow have a job. This team is getting a brand new $90M home too? I just don't get it.

They lost to Dukes earlier in the year. Maybe the name is their kryptonite? Wishful thinking on my end. I just hope this team is awake for this game. They seem to be sleepwalking since Thanksgiving.

wont be a blow out

Radford 72
JMU 63

(12-03-2018 10:00 AM)olddawg Wrote:  For the first time in my basketball fan life, I am afraid of Radford. Oh the shame...

Right now we really suck but in fairness this Radford team would be a handful in any year.

(12-03-2018 12:05 PM)Bogey Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 10:00 AM)olddawg Wrote:  For the first time in my basketball fan life, I am afraid of Radford. Oh the shame...

Right now we really suck but in fairness this Radford team would be a handful in any year.

I'm not so sure as a whole the last 20 years Radford has not been better than us in men's basketball.

This is Radford's recent claim to fame - sound familiar?

Highlanders earned a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament and were selected to play in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. It was there on March 13, 2018 that Radford won its first ever NCAA Tournament victory – a 71-61 win over LIU Brooklyn

Sad thing is we even have the new arena as recruiting tool, and they have the Dedmon center.

JMU loses by double digits. Easy win for Radford.

Radford by 90

I got the Dukes in a huge upset .. I think Radford is complacent after big wins against nd and Texas and maybe looking ahead to their game against Clemson .. hopefully the Dukes hit rock bottom on Saturday and give 40 minutes of effort

Dukes 71
Highlanders 68

Radford has 2 of the biggest mid-major wins this year, but I am not sold on them being a 9 pt favorite on the road.
I think that is easy money for the Dukes to cover.

The Highlanders rely on 3 small guards and I fully expect JMU’s length to give them fits on the perimeter.
The one point loss at Radford was painful last year as they scored a layup in half court offense with a few seconds left. Gut wrenching.

That Radford team snuck into the big dance with a March Madness buzzer beater in the Big South tourney. So they have a good team, but they aren’t that good.

It is time for revenge

JMU 69
RU 68

(12-03-2018 05:39 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Radford has 2 of the biggest mid-major wins this year, but I am not sold on them being a 9 pt favorite on the road.
I think that is easy money for the Dukes to cover.

The Highlanders rely on 3 small guards and I fully expect JMU’s length to give them fits on the perimeter.
The one point loss at Radford was painful last year as they scored a layup in half court offense with a few seconds left. Gut wrenching.

That Radford team snuck into the big dance with a March Madness buzzer beater in the Big South tourney. So they have a good team, but they aren’t that good.

It is time for revenge

JMU 69
RU 68

Oh yeah, this will be cakewalk.

And who will have the most fans there?

A couple of other intriguing games involving CAA teams Tuesday night...

Northeastern travels to Syracuse as 11 pt underdogs. Also, Elon is a 7 pt underdog at home facing 25th ranked Furman.

I admittedly had to do a double-take when I saw Furman is ranked #25 in the nation. They are 8-0, though their record for RPI is only 5-0 because they have 3 wins over non-D1 teams. They have a W at Villanova, which is what I assume is getting them poll votes because their other 4 wins against D1 competition are nothing much to boast about. For example, they just beat a 1-7 Western Carolina team at home by just 2 pts this past Saturday. Elon is 1-5 against D1 competition on the season to date.

GAME DAY!!!! I want to see some fire from the team today. I think HCLR should have the team press to start the game; force them to get tough right from the get go, and hopefully it leads to easy transition buckets to get the players' confidence up.

If nothing else, I’d hope they play for some pride.

Win or lose is one thing, being held to a HS girls team getting their doors blown off in a half is another.

Find me 5 guys at UREC or the local Y, they could put up 12 pts.

A little surprising that Radford "only" opens as 4.5 pt favorites. I expected it to be closer to 9.

O/U = 132.5

Books expecting a final score of somewhere around 69-64 in favor of the Highlanders.

Some interesting scores from various teams with ties to tonight's game:

1. Radford beats Texas on the road. Texas beats the Citadel by 28 points. Texas also beats North Carolina and Arkansas and loses by 10 points to Michigan State.
2. Radford beats W&M by 9 points in Williamsburg, a tough place to play. W&M played Notre Dame respectably.
3. Radford beats Notre Dame.
4. JMU loses at ODU by 25 points, loses to the Citadel and has to go to overtime to beat Coppin State, one of the worst teams in the country (with a margin of defeat of close to 30 points entering that game).

This JMU team is simply awful at the moment. I don't see how JMU stays within 10 points of this team tonight.

Rowe sounded like a broken man after that ODU game the other night. Effort alone without meaningful change will not result in marked improvement. They've got to change up how they play and start to build some confidence.

I'm surprised by how little noise on the transfer out of Hicklin. With that transfer, roster would look something like this:

1 - Lewis (Jr), Parker (So)
2 - Banks (Jr), Richey (Fr), Urbach (So)
3 - Christmas (Fr), Flowers (So), Pinkard (Sr)
4 - Wooden (Fr), Jacobs (Jr), Jones (Jr)
5 - Wilson (Jr), Fowler (Fr)

They could also move Banks to the 3, start Richey and move Christmas to the 4. In any event, I think all 4 freshman will be in the rotation next season (and all 4 could be starters eventually and as soon as next season). That class, to me, is the sole bright spot at the moment.

If someone else leaves, they can add another ball handler because I think they need one. I also hope that Rowe is open to adding an experienced assistant to his coaching staff.