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James Madison wins Sun Belt tournament, NCAA Tournament bid; Samford also in

James Madison started this season with a stunning upset at then-No. 4 Michigan State in November and bookended that Monday night by leaving no doubt about whether this dream season would be paid off with the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 2013. The Dukes’ 91-71 shellacking of Arkansas State in the Sun Belt championship game ran their record to 31-3 and punched their ticket to the dance for just the second time in 30 years.

Fourth-year coach Mark Byington had the program’s second-most wins as a Division I program (22) last season. Now he’s smashed the previous record (24) set in 1982 and will try to deliver JMU’s first NCAA Tournament victory since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. And why not? It’s been a year of firsts for the school in Harrisonburg, Va.

The football program, in just its second season transitioning from FCS, went 11-1, won at Virginia, hosted ESPN’s “College GameDay” show and earned its first invitation to a bowl game. At one point this fall, JMU was one of just six schools ranked in the AP Top 25 in both football and men’s basketball. The Dukes were ranked as high as No. 19 in the AP basketball poll before suffering their first loss on Jan. 6 at Southern Miss.

“It’s like a Power 5 school, basically,” Boston College transfer TJ Bickerstaff told The Athletic at the time. “It’s a sleeping giant.”

Bickerstaff is second on the team in scoring (13.6) and first in rebounding (8.6), while Terrence Edwards Jr., one of Byington’s first recruits, leads the way at 17.3 points, 4.4 boards and 3.5 assists per game. But it’s a deep and well-rounded team — eight players average at least six points — and Xavier Brown, who emerged as a starter in late January, stole the show Monday. He had 21 and 10 and sank 5 of 10 3s.

These Dukes are a dangerous draw in the next tournament. They rank 11th nationally in scoring offense, fifth in 3-point percentage defense and top-25 in effective field-goal percentage defense and steal percentage. That’s a boring way to say: Ask Tom Izzo if JMU is a scary matchup.

Samford became the sixth team to earn a bid to the tournament by beating East Tennessee State 76-69 in the Southern Conference tournament final, The Bulldogs (29-5), who have set a school record for wins, will be dancing for the first time since 2000 and for just the third time in program history.

Impact on the bracket

James Madison likely would not have earned an at-large bid had it lost to Arkansas State — but a 30-win team that beat Michigan State on the road would have had an interesting argument. Appalachian State’s loss in the Sun Belt semifinals assured that this will be just a one-bid league. That’s good news for teams like Indiana State, who are hoping no bid thieves emerge this week.

The Dukes project to be a No. 12 seed on Selection Sunday — and a very popular upset pick for everyone filling out a bracket next week.

Samford looks like a No. 13 seed. The Bulldogs will give whoever they play problems with Bucky Ball, the nickname for their style of play under coach Bucky McMillan, who was a high school coach until four years ago. They full-court press constantly, shoot lots of 3s and play at one of the fastest tempos in the country. And they just dominated a solid mid-major league. — Brian Bennett