Urbach Joins Dukes

HARRISONBURG — Louis Rowe’s descriptions for his incoming players are very formulaic.

In some order, the James Madison basketball coach will talk about the player’s athleticism, competitive fire, toughness and versatility. Those are the characteristics most important to Rowe when he’s on the recruiting trail, so those are the attributes that stand out the most to him.

He has a unique answer for the basketball side of the equation depending upon what role the player is expected to perform. But that response is always secondary to the character of the prospects he recruits.

Matthew Urbach was no different for Rowe, who said he knew from the first time he spoke with the W.T. Woodson graduate that he was someone who would fit with the Dukes.

“The way he spoke to me, the way he looked at me, the way he engaged with me,” Rowe said. “He was really, really engaging, looked me in my eye and great to talk to. ... He just really engaged with me, locked in, I felt him and I feel like he felt me. Even if we were just walking around campus, he was really engaging. Talking to him on the phone, I loved how he was with me and the guys.”

Urbach’s arrival on campus earlier this week with the rest of the freshman class put to rest the growing concern outside the program about whether or not he was joining the Dukes. On Oct. 28, Urbach announced he had verbally committed to JMU and on Nov. 15, W.T. Woodson tweeted out a photo of Urbach signing a letter of intent.

However, JMU never confirmed publicly whether Urbach was going to join the team and Rowe himself was mum on the recruiting process as well. Neither Rowe nor the school would discuss why it took eight months for Urbach to officially be introduced, but Rowe said there was never a doubt Urbach would be part of the 2018-19 Dukes.

“He was committed to us and we were committed to him,” Rowe said. “He wanted to be here, and we wanted him here really badly.”

Urbach is the third guard Rowe brought in as part of this four-player class that has already begun summer workouts in Harrisonburg. The position was a major priority for JMU entering last offseason, but became a pressing concern when Joey McLean’s ankle injury and Antanee Pinkard’s “academic matter” left Rowe with just three guards for the second half of the year.

Originally, Rowe said he wasn’t planning to sign a shooting guard this year because the Dukes have redshirt senior Stuckey Mosley and Pinkard, but Urbach was too good for JMU to pass up. The coach said Urbach is a strong fit for the positionless guard system Madison plays because of his natural instincts.

“He played with a perpetual motion,” Rowe said. “He had a great feel for the way we want to play at that position. Loved how he moved without the basketball, found spots, ran to the spots, knew how to get his shot off and knew how to give space to the other guys.”

O’Regan Adds Transfer To Mix

James Madison women’s basketball coach Sean O’Regan confirmed Thursday that Nikki Oppenheimer has transferred into the program from Syracuse.

The guard announced on Twitter on May 25 her decision to join the Dukes after playing in just 14 games for the Orange last season. She will sit out the 2018-19 season and have three years of eligibility remaining afterward.

O’Regan said he first remembered watching Oppenheimer before her sophomore year in high school alongside former JMU coach Kenny Brooks, who knew Oppenheimer’s father, Josh, from their time as assistants in the Colonial Athletic Association in the early 2000’s. However, Nikki committed to the Orange early in the process and O’Regan moved on to other recruits.

The third-year coach said one of the main reasons he brought in Oppenheimer was because of her shooting capabilities, a deficiency that JMU had last year.

“It’s no secret that one of our weaknesses this year was having people shoot the 3,” O’Regan said. “Nikki is an excellent 3-point shooter. She’s a good basketball player, too, but certainly her strength is the 3.

“For me, what I saw was a player who knows the game, has been playing basketball all her life, can play [shooting guard] or [point guard] if she has to and can really, really shoot the 3. I think that’s a no-brainer add for us at this time just because of what we need.”

O’Regan had one other connection to Oppenheimer in graduate assistant manager Ashley Perez. The two practiced together while representing Puerto Rico last summer — Perez on the senior national team and Oppenheimer on the U-19 squad.

O’Regan said he spoke with Perez about Oppenheimer’s personality to make sure she would fit with the team, but added the prior connection helped earn Oppenheimer’s trust during the process.

“If I’m cold-calling Nikki Oppenheimer and I have Ashley Perez, ‘Hey, call Ashley Perez and ask her about me,’ it’s like a reference point,” O’Regan said. “That prior relationship with them really helped solidify what I was saying to her. I’m telling her this, and she doesn’t know if she can trust me or not, but she’s got another reference point where she can check my reputation.”