(Photo : . (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)) CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – NOVEMBER 20: Head coach Mark Byington of the James Madison Dukes directs his group throughout the second half of their sport towards the North Carolina Tar Heels on the Dean E. Smith Center on November 20, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
After the 2023 NCAA Tournament resulted in San Diego State making the ultimate and Florida Atlantic making the Final 4, it is pure to marvel which groups on this yr’s area of 68 might be poised to shock the nation and go on an analogous run.
One candidate for such a run this yr would possibly simply be the James Madison Dukes. The Dukes have been increase their program beneath head coach Mark Byington.
Last yr, they challenged themselves with non-conference video games towards ACC powerhouse packages like North Carolina and Virginia, and this yr they introduced again a proficient roster with excessive expectations.
Those expectations have been fulfilled final week when the Dukes went on a run to win the Sun Belt convention event to clinch an computerized qualifying bid to the event.
The Dukes obtained their event project on Selection Sunday, when it was revealed that they will be taking up the five-seed Wisconsin Badgers as a 12-seed.
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NCAA Tournament Dark Horse: James Madison Dukes
KenPom Ranking: 59
NET Ranking: 52
Best Wins: Michigan State, Akron, Kent State
James Madison’s season-opening win over Michigan State proved them to be able to beating a Big Ten at-large caliber group, and the Badgers current one other alternative to just do that.
There are a variety of on-court causes to consider on this as an upset choose as nicely.
It begins with James Madison’s all-around solidness. The Dukes defend the three-point line very nicely, and so they shoot the three-ball at a excessive clip.
James Madison holds its opponents to the fifth lowest three-point share within the nation at 28.8 p.c, and so they shoot it at 36.4 p.c, that 7.6 p.c delta is the fourth greatest mark within the nation.
In a setting the place three-point taking pictures could make or break any given sport, that may be a enormous mark in JMU’s favor. Let’s discuss in regards to the gamers who make that occur.
The Dukes are led by two stars in Sun Belt participant of the yr Terrence Edwards Jr. and Boston College switch T.J. Bickerstaff.
Edwards Jr. does a variety of all the things for the Dukes, averaging 17.4 factors, 4.4 rebounds, and three.5 assists per sport. He’s James Madison’s main scorer and ball handler, and he shoots the ball nicely.
Bickerstaff has been an enormous beneficiary of transferring down a degree, averaging 13.4 factors and eight.5 boards per sport on 62.2 p.c taking pictures from the ground.
He’s aware of taking part in battles within the publish towards energy 5 degree bigs, and the mixture of these two gamers needs to be sufficient to get some high quality offense going towards a really robust defensive Wisconsin group.
James Madison will attempt to drive the Badgers right into a quicker sport, and if they’ll achieve doing that, the Dukes ought to have the ability to take the win.
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