Posted on October 8, 2007
In the dimly lit Memorial Hall Gymnasium, JMU coach Dean Keener and his staff got an early look at this year’s basketball team during an off-season workout Tuesday.
After three losing seasons and showing little sign of progress, Keener will need the Dukes to shine a little brighter than the old Harrisonburg High School court and resemble a team at a slightly higher level than the HHS Blue Streaks.
In the former Georgia Tech assistant’s short tenure at Madison, the lack of production in the win column has rivaled the lack of attendance at the Convocation Center. The Dukes have a record of 18-68, and average home attendance is less than half of the 7,100-plus arena.
In spite of it all, Keener is optimistic about the 2007-08 season.
“It’s been many things over the last three to six months that have kind of led me to believe that we have a group of guys that are believing in what we’re saying and what we’re trying to do,” Keener said.
But maybe more important, he will need the athletic department to believe in what his team is trying to do.
Three years isn’t that long, but JMU has suffered through seven straight losing campaigns dating back to Sherman Dillard’s last four seasons from 2000-04. Dillard’s recruits are gone now, and “Keener’s guys” should be ready to produce double-digit wins.
Two new faces will be in the starting line-up this year with transfers Abdulai Jalloh and Dazzmond Thornton filling much needed roles at point guard and center. Thornton is a 6-foot-7, 275-pound sophomore who transferred from Texas Tech. Jalloh, who in some circles has been dubbed JMU’s possible savior, transferred from St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia after two seasons as an all-conference performer for coach Phil Martelli.
The Dukes also return sophomore guard Pierre Curtis, junior forward Juwann James and senior forward Terrence Carter as probable starters. All performed well last year, but the high-energy scoring punch that Jalloh brings might be the difference maker in 2007-08.
“I just want to win and I don’t want to lose,” Jalloh said. “I don’t really think about all of that other stuff that comes with it.”
Carter, another transfer to JMU, also expressed his urge to win, elaborating on the ramifications this season will have on the coaching situation.
“It’s my last year, so I’m already trying to go out on a winning end,” Carter said. “But being that Coach Keener gave me the opportunity to come to an institution like this by giving me a scholarship I do feel like in a way I’m actually playing for his job.”
Although Keener didn’t quantify his expectations for this season he does expect a better outcome than last year and doesn’t want his team to just play for him.
“I think the guys believe in what we’re doing but I don’t think they’re necessarily playing for me; they should be playing as much as anything for themselves,” Keener said. “They should be playing for a lot of reasons; for the university, for people who’ve played here in the past, but to say for one particular person or one reason, no I think it’s bigger than that.”
In just a few months we’ll see if JMU can play bigger than it has under Keener because if he doesn’t get it done with his “group of guys” then someone new will be trying to this time next year.
Tim Chapman is a sophomore SMAD major with a print journalism concentration.
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