Like so many have asked in the past 20 odd hours, he wanted to know if Brady ever in his wildest dreams saw this coming?
“Anytime you come out of a loss, I think as coaches sometimes you think you’re never going to win again,” Brady said. “And when you when games, well jeeze we just can’t be beat.”
Burton told Brady it "seemed like they were in a different gear" last night compared to a sluggish Northeastern squad, who had the advantage of fresh legs compared to the Dukes.
The "Brady Bunch' "set the gearshift for the high gear of their soul" this past weekend as Phish would put it. The team played with an amount of energy that arguably surpassed any performance in the regular season. They wanted this title more than any of the six teams that entered the Richmond Coliseum. This heart and drive helped JMU get out to a 40-18 lead at halftime and never look back.
“I’ve been told that we took it to another level,” Brady said. “I think our guys really did lock in, you know we’re really kind of blessed. We have four seniors, four starters that we played a lot last night."
With six seniors on your team, who wouldn't praise them for the effort all season? They did just get you into the program's first NCAA tournament since 1994.
“They clearly recognized that this could be their last game if they didn’t get it done," Brady said.
Burton also made sure to bring up the topic of CAA tournament MVP, A.J. Davis.
“He’s really a fantastic talent," Brady said.
Davis has absolutely gone off in the past few weeks. He has dropped a total of 174 points in the past eight games. That's an average of over 21 points a game. 62 of those points were scored in the three game CAA tournament this past weekend helping him earn MVP honors.
“He’s been our best player the past seven or eight games. You could make the argument that he’s been the leagues best player the past seven or eight games”
On December 1, just six games into the season Davis was suspended for "violation of team standards." Davis wasn't playing for the team. He lost his starting role and became a bench player for the Dukes. By the end of the regular season, Davis was the deadliest sixth man in the entire league. This has been a long road for the redshirt senior transfer student who began his career at Wyoming.
“About six weeks ago…I don’t know what turned his buttons, but he made a decision,” Brady said. “That he was going to buy into being a great teammate and he was going to do whatever it took for his teammates, his team, and this program to go as far as we could go.”
Burton proceeded to bring up the obvious advantage that flooded the Coliseum in drones of purple.
“That was a great venue or JMU and all of its fans," Brady said.
The exposure that last night will bring to this school is undeniably ENORMOUS. Not much compares to an NCAA tournament bid.
“It certainly is going to give us a lot of exposure,” Brady said. “I think it gives us a chance to spotlight our team on a national stage in March Madness.”
In the end, Brady could not be happier about what his team was able to do after a rough draft that took 19 years to compose.
“This team has earned the right to represent our league in the NCAA tournament,” Brady said. “And I really feel great for all of our seniors that they did such a phenomenal job last night and all season representing our program."
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