CAA Basketball: In-depth look at James Madison rising star Vado Morse

By Bryan Mauro | Sep 15, 2021

EMMITSBURG, MD - DECEMBER 17: Vado Morse #0 of the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers dribbles the ball during a college basketball game against the American University Eagles at the Knott Arena on December 17, 2019 in Emmitsburg, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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CAA Basketball Vado Morse Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Expectations for Vado Morse in 2021-22

James Madison is going to be considered one of the teams to beat in the Colonial again this season. They should also have one of the highest-powered offenses in the league. The Dukes are just hoping that they can avoid the early round upset in the conference tournament and make the NCAA tournament again. That would be a huge accomplishment, as it is for every team, but especially for James Madison given where the program was at just a mere two seasons ago.

Morse is not nearly as good as Lewis was for the Dukes and no one is expecting him to be. Fans should not go in with the expectation that he needs to do what Matt Lewis did. Vado Morse needs to be Vado Morse and play the game as free and easy as Morse plays it and the Dukes will be just fine. The guard earned third-team all CAA honors a year ago, and that speaks volumes to the talent level in the league year in and year out.

The junior can win the conference player of the year award if he can see a natural uptick in points scored and rebound and pass the ball well. Even if he doesn’t win player of the year he should still find himself as a first-team All-CAA player. Morse does have the game to get a look professionally and most likely start in the G-League or overseas but he should get a look to play professional basketball.

The guard is not going to have to do it himself as James Madison has a huge chunk of their roster back from last season as well as adding Seton Hall transfer Takal Molson. Molson wasn’t always a factor for Seton Hall and he was a good rotational player for the Pirates. However, Molson was a great player for Canisius out of the MAAC before transferring to Seton Hall. James Madison also added two graduate transfers to their program.

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Winthrop transfer Charles Falden has done a lot of winning in his previous four years in College and helped lead Winthrop to one of the best seasons by a low major ever. Alonzo Sule from Texas State was a starter and also experienced a lot of winning. Sule is not as much of a scorer but should play the point for the Dukes. James Madison and their star guard Vado Morse is very much a team to watch out for.