Yeah…I said it (Commentary)
No one’s Posing in this relationship
Posted on February 14, 2008
Look around campus on this over-commercialized holiday and you’ll surely feel the love. You’ll likely see student couples from the Quad to Festival exchanging bouquets of roses and boxes of chocolates.
But don’t expect to see a completely loving experience at the Convo. Junior guard Joe Posey and the JMU coaching staff won’t be exchanging Valentines anytime soon.
Posey, one of the Dukes’ twelve scholarship basketball players, hasn’t been with the squad since he put in 16 minutes against George Mason on Jan. 19.
On Monday, Jan. 21, coach Dean Keener suspended him indefinitely because of a verbal altercation with assistant coach Louis Rowe late in the 96-75 loss to Mason.
The fourth-year Duke — Posey was granted a medical redshirt as a true freshman — voiced his annoyance after a lineup that brought JMU within seven points with 6:35 remaining, was broken up by substitutions.
JMU had trailed by as many as 21 to that point and Posey contributed to the almost-comeback.
“I feel like what I said at the time was right,” Posey said in an interview last Friday.
“I feel like it might not have been at the right time. I take responsibility for that.”
There couldn’t have been a worse time for the team or its last recruit left over from the Sherman Dillard coaching era — Posey was retained by Keener’s staff despite being recruited by the previous staff.
The Dukes were already without junior Kyle Swanston — the team’s leading three-point shooter before missing seven games to injury — and taking away Posey, who led the team in three-pointers last season, certainly didn’t help.
Although Posey was struggling to find his shot this season he is a proven shooter who made 72 of his 166 three-point attempts to lead JMU in the 2006-07 season.
Through 16 games this season he was shooing just 23 percent from long-range on 48 attempts, but could have broken the slump and made a difference in the five losses the Dukes have suffered without him.
During Posey’s six-game absence JMU has lost three games by five or less points, and freshman guard Heiden Ratner has missed having another option on the offensive end.
“Me as a ball-handler trying to find guys and get ’em open shots, I feel his presence missed out there,” Ratner said. “I definitely feel he could be helping us now.”
This isn’t the first time that Posey has been in trouble.
His freshman season he served a smaller suspension from the team for not running wind sprints at the end of a practice. He attributed the “rocky” start to immaturity more than anything, but did admit to not having the best relationship with former assistant Jake Morton.
“Coach’s decision at that time I didn’t agree with, but it probably did me more good,” Posey said.
Posey said he feels that he has matured since that first incident and considers himself a good teammate.
In last Wednesday’s JMU win over Towson, Posey could be seen sitting by himself in the lower section of the Convo across from the Madison bench. He felt inclined to attend for the first time since being suspended, because Swanston, his roommate, was returning from injury.
“He’s probably one of my best friends at the school,” Swanston said. “Not having him out here sucks.”
Swanston added that he’s encouraged Posey to try and speak with the coaches, but neither side has budged in a situation that’s starting to look more and more permanent.
Posey said he wants the best for his teammates, isn’t mad at Keener and doesn’t want to be a distraction to the program.
Keener has continued to not comment on the situation saying “Everything’s all internal at this point.”
“I don’t know why it’s internal and part of the team if I’m not part of the team,” Posey said in response Monday.
Rowe, a 1995 JMU alumnus and former Duke, was more animated Monday when approached about the issue, saying vehemently he was “not gonna talk about anything to do with Joe Posey.”
If Keener is able to salvage this season to please athletic director Jeff Bourne and continue his reign, Joe Posey will probably not be wearing purple and gold again.
There seems to be a rift between the two that has intensified this year. Posey said that players are allowed to give input on the bench during the game. After all, it is a game that brings out irrational emotions in the heat of competition.
“I think Pierre Curtis does a good job vocally,” Posey said. “Letting coach know if he sees something in the defense that maybe some of the coaches are overlooking.”
But if Curtis had let his emotions get the best of him would Rowe and Keener have acted so sternly towards the sophomore from Denver? Or is Keener, for some deeper reason HE has decided not to explain, not willing to work with the one player who he didn’t recruit but decided to stay and stick it out through what have been four dismal seasons.
“I was expecting there to be some type of punishment,” Posey said. “I never thought that I would not be on the team going on three weeks. When I talked to him he was like it’s indefinite. It could be three days it could be a week. That’s exactly what he said. He was like I’ll be in touch with you.”
Keener still hasn’t gotten in touch with his player and until he explains why, the punishment doesn’t really seeming fitting of the crime.
“A lot of people might say ‘I don’t think coach Keener really cares that much for you,’” Posey said. “At times I don’t really think so either. I don’t know.”
Tim Chapman is a sophomore SMAD major with a concentration in print journalism.
