Sports reporters David Teel, of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Michael McCleary, of the Wisconsin State Journal, talk about the March Madness matchup between the University of Wisconsin and James Madison University on Friday.
Both 31-3 squads begin their NCAA tournament journey Friday here at the Barclays Center, the Huskies against Stetson in the East Region, the Dukes vs. Wisconsin in the South. There the similarities end.
UConn is hunting a sixth national title, which would tie the Huskies for third all-time with North Carolina, behind UCLA’s 11 and Kentucky’s eight.
JMU is appearing in its sixth NCAA tournament, the first since 2013, and has never advanced more than one round.
But dismissing the Dukes’ glossy record as merely the product of a modest Sun Belt Conference schedule would be a mistake.
Winning is hard, no matter your league affiliation, and this experienced roster, teeming with players who have logged 100-plus games and scored 1,000-plus points, has oozed confidence for months, if not before a season-opening victory at Michigan State, then certainly since.
“There’s only team in the country that can beat James Madison, and that’s James Madison,” sophomore guard Xavier Brown of Williamsburg said Thursday prior to the Dukes’ practice. “I said that in my first interview (this season). You can go back — I think it was right before we played Michigan State.”
Coach Mark Byington is no less assured. Yes, Wisconsin (22-13) is bigger than JMU and competes in the rugged Big Ten. But led by Sun Belt player of the year Terrence Edwards, T.J. Bickerstaff and Noah Freidel, the Dukes are long and athletic.
Transfers Bickerstaff (Drexel) and Raekwon Horton (Charleston) have NCAA tournament experience, and the entire team got a dose of Big Ten basketball at Michigan State — the Spartans defeated Mississippi State in a first-round NCAA game Thursday.
“I’ve got a confident group,” Byington said. “Sometimes you win 31 games and you don’t think you’ve been through a lot of adversity. We’ve been through it, and sometimes overcome it during the game, during moments... We’ve learned along the way.”
Byington has learned throughout a career that previously brought him agonizingly close to the NCAA tournament, only to be denied. As a player at UNC Wilmington and assistant coach at the College of Charleston, he was on teams that finished atop their conference standings but fell short of winning the league tournament and accompanying NCAA bid.
“So when you get here, you’ve got to appreciate it,” Byington said. “You’ve got to cherish, and you’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity...
“This is their journey, this is their time, and they were destined for this all along the way. And I just had to guide them and sometimes get out of the way and let them do their thing.”
As a Division I fledgling, JMU upset Georgetown, Ohio State and West Virginia in the 1981, ’82 and ’83 NCAA tournaments, respectively, an intoxicating run orchestrated by the late Lou Campanelli. But the Dukes haven’t approached that success since.
JMU returned to the bracket in 1994 under the late Lefty Driesell — the Dukes are wearing a “Lefty” patch on their uniform for the tournament to mark his passing last month — and 2013 under Matt Brady.
But never has JMU coupled basketball and football visibility like now.
In just their second FBS season, the football Dukes went 11-2 last fall and earned their first bowl appearance. And during late November and early December, both the football and men’s basketball teams resided in the Associated Press top 25.
Moreover, JMU in 2023-24, Alabama in 2022-23 and Houston in 2021-22 are the only FBS schools in the last three academic years with at least 10 football victories and 30 men’s basketball wins.
“JMU has got a great story,” Byington said. “Every single thing there is big-time. Tremendous people, great fan base. … Every time you looked on television, you were seeing JMU, and that’s great for anybody that has pride in the university or knows about the university.”
How long the Dukes can sustain this is an intriguing question.
Athletic director Jeff Bourne is retiring this year after a quarter-century tenure, and the search for his replacement is ongoing. Football coach Curt Cignetti left in November for Indiana, succeeded by Bob Chesney from Holy Cross.
JMU President Jon Alger this week announced his impending departure for the same position at American University, and Byington is sure to draw offseason interest.
“Yeah, this team knows that I’m committed to every single thing about them on this journey and to be able to run this race with them,” Byington said of job speculation. “And this has not been any kind of distraction, anything along the way.
“The truth of it is, I think our guys got used to distractions, used to rumors, used to things. It’s kind of a generational thing where a lot of things are not true. And, you know, we are always honest with each other. We always care about each other. And everything that I have has been put into this team, and everything has been given to me.”
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