The road ahead...

Mason travels down to Harrisonburg Saturday and is looking to extend it's 10-game winning streak over JMU. The record in the GMU-JMU series for longest winnest streak is 11 by JMU, set back in the 70s. And people say this isn't a real rivalry? Mason has not had trouble in Harrisonburg and really it's been the only place they seem to consistently win on the road. Just last year Dre Smith put an exclaimation point on that statement. Watching Dre put on that show last season makes me want to bet on sports again. After all it was march madness betting on Mason in 2006 and VCU in 2007 that helped me survive financially during my last few years at Mason. Back to the matter at hand, JMU has not come within 18 points of beating Mason since 2004, let that sink in for a second. Yet you still can't take any team lightly in the up and down CAA this year, especially after we have seen first place Northeastern lose to last place UNCW. The Dukes can put up points (16 three-pointers against GSU on Wednesday) but it's their defense that has been holding them back this year. They especially lack control on defense in the front court so you would have to think we will see some heavy doses of Darryl Monroe, Ryan Pearson and Louis Birdsong. Pearson and Birdsong led the Patriots in scoring last time against the Dukes and they will need to get going early to prevent JMU from getting an early lead. What scares me is Kyle Swanston nailing open look threes all day and Juwann James getting it done inside to keep the game close late. If the Patriots play defense like they did Tuesday against Hofstra they should have no trouble, but that's a big IF when this team has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to home games versus road games. With what happened in the CAA this week you would have to think the Patriots will be even more hungry to jump at the chance to possibly move up into the standings closer to a top 2 spot.