BROOKLYN, N.Y. — On Sunday evening, it’ll be Duke vs. the Dukes. And the best part is, it’s as compelling a matchup as it sounds like it should be.
No. 12 seed James Madison is physical and fast, its offensive ball movement is a thing of beauty. The Dukes have won 32 games this season and certainly believe they can win another on Sunday night to earn a trip to the program’s first Sweet 16. As No. 4 seed Duke (singular) coach Jon Scheyer put it on Saturday, the Dukes (plural) have high-major talent and one of the most experienced rosters in the country.
Meanwhile, Duke is Duke. This is a blue blood synonymous with the month of madness, no matter who wears the uniforms or who stalks the sidelines. It is fitting, in a way, that the Dukes will have to go through Duke to keep the magic going.
Not that JMU is thinking about the task at hand that way, of course.
“That doesn’t carry over into this game — the pros and the legacy and everything else,” JMU head coach Mark Byington said. “You have to be able to be good (Sunday) night when the ball is tipped up, and that’s what we’re focused on. We’re not worried about their history or the previous great players. … We’re worried about their current team, and what’s the best chance we have to try to be able to beat them.”
No one is framing this matchup as one of David versus Goliath. No one intelligent is calling James Madison a Cinderella simply because this is a school from a mid-major conference. We all saw how consistently good this team has been all season long, and we all saw the Dukes jump all over Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, a win in which they led wire-to-wire.
“Every team that gets to this point has done some really good things — it’s not a lottery system,” Byington said. “You don’t just show up in the round of 32.”
Scheyer knows that, too, which is why he was effusive in his praise of the Dukes (plural). He complimented their size, their skill level, and their consistency. He said his respect level for JMU was “100 percent” and “there at the highest level.”
Round 2 mindset 🔒🕺 pic.twitter.com/AfOrI1RToZ
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 23, 2024
Scheyer also knows exactly what kind of environment Duke will be walking into. The Blue Devils will be favorites on paper, but JMU will be the crowd favorite. Not only will there be a ton of JMU fans, as there were on Friday night, but the Connecticut and Northwestern fans can’t be counted on to pull for the polarizing Blue Devils in the first game of the Sunday night doubleheader.
“You could feel it (Friday) night in the Vermont game where all of a sudden, I was pretty sure we had three schools rooting against us, if not more,” Scheyer said. “Look, at the end of the day, we go on the road and it’s a whiteout, it’s a blackout, it’s sellouts, and that’s the responsibility you have wearing Duke across your chest.
“But also, you’d rather play in those environments. So, we know it’s probably going to be more like a road game (Sunday). I know our Duke fans are going to show up and be loud, too. But that’s part of the beauty of playing in the NCAA Tournament. You get to play in a sold-out crowd where there’s a lot of people there that really want you to win, and there’s obviously going to be people that don’t want you to win.”
Duke athletic director Nina King said she believes that’ll create for a fun environment, too. She complimented JMU for the win over Wisconsin and said it’s important for mid-majors to win games in the NCAA Tournament. (Well, to win one game in the NCAA Tournament, in this case. She doesn’t want the Dukes to win two.)
“They’re good in so many sports, and they’re really making a name for themselves,” King said. “This is going to be fun.”
JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne agreed. He can’t wait for the game but also the dance-off between the two plush mascots. (He thinks Duke Dog deserves more respect nationally.) And for Bourne, who has led JMU’s athletic department for a quarter-century, this weekend in Brooklyn has been a culmination of years and years of planning to be in a position like this. He’s tried to elevate all of the Dukes’ sports by fundraising, hiring good coaches and supporting them with the resources that success requires.
“We hope that this is just the beginning of something,” Bourne said.
GO DEEPER
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He wants to see JMU become a March mainstay, like Gonzaga or VCU became after what could have been just a flash-in-the-pan moment. He wants JMU to capitalize on what’s at stake. But he’d also love Friday’s win to simply be the beginning of a tournament run that stretches into next weekend, too.
Just Duke stands in the Dukes’ way.
(Photo of Xavier Brown and James Madison celebrating Friday’s win over Wisconsin: Dustin Satloff / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
