After the 2023 NCAA Tournament resulted in San Diego State making the final and Florida Atlantic making the Final 4, it's natural to wonder which teams in this year's field of 68 could be poised to shock the nation and go on a similar run.
One candidate for such a run this year might just be the James Madison Dukes. The Dukes have been building up their program under head coach Mark Byington.
Last year, they challenged themselves with non-conference games against ACC powerhouse programs like North Carolina and Virginia, and this year they brought back a talented roster with high expectations.
Those expectations were fulfilled last week when the Dukes went on a run to win the Sun Belt conference tournament to clinch an automatic qualifying bid to the tournament.
The Dukes received their tournament assignment on Selection Sunday, when it was revealed that they'll be taking on 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 capable of beating a Big Ten at-large caliber team, and the Badgers present another opportunity to do just that.
There are a lot of on-court reasons to believe in this as an upset pick as well.
It starts with James Madison's all-around solidness. The Dukes defend the three-point line very well, and they shoot the three-ball at a high clip.
James Madison holds its opponents to the fifth lowest three-point percentage in the country at 28.8 percent, and they shoot it at 36.4 percent, that 7.6 percent delta is the fourth best mark in the nation.
In a setting where three-point shooting can make or break any given game, that is a huge mark in JMU's favor. Let's talk about the players who make that happen.
The Dukes are led by two stars in Sun Belt player of the year Terrence Edwards Jr. and Boston College transfer T.J. Bickerstaff.
Edwards Jr. does a lot of everything for the Dukes, averaging 17.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He's James Madison's primary scorer and ball handler, and he shoots the ball well.
Bickerstaff has been a huge beneficiary of moving down a level, averaging 13.4 points and 8.5 boards per game on 62.2 percent shooting from the floor.
He's familiar with participating in battles in the post against power 5 level bigs, and the combination of those two players should be enough to get some quality offense going against a very strong defensive Wisconsin team.
James Madison will try to force the Badgers into a faster game, and if they can succeed in doing that, the Dukes should be able to take the win.
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