Image courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications

By Bennett Conlin (This was originally published in our newsletter)

Headed west – JMU is headed to Tucson, Arizona, for the Wildcat Invitational this weekend. The picture featured above was tweeted Thursday as the Dukes waited for their flight to beautiful Arizona on the last day of February. Not a bad spring break destination for the Dukes. 

The schedule – It’s good. The Wildcat Invitational features a deep field of talented teams. JMU plays Drake and Kent State on Saturday in the team’s most winnable games of the weekend. Sunday’s matchups against ranked teams Minnesota and Arizona are much tougher. Minnesota ranks 23rd in the USA Today poll and Arizona sits at 12th. For perspective, the Dukes are 19th. JMU can win both games, but it could just as easily drop the two. Expect Megan Good to face Arizona and Odicci Alexander to get the nod against Minnesota. If Payton Buresch starts, it’ll likely be against Drake or Kent State.  

Beating either Minnesota or Arizona would go a long way toward earning a seed in May’s NCAA Tournament. Beating both would be a huge step forward.