NCAA Tournament March Madness

#205 James Madison

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Projected seed: 14 (automatic qualifier)

James Madison’s résumé shows flashes of competence — home and neutral wins over teams like Coppin State, Towson and Nebraska Omaha and a gritty road victory at Florida International — but those positives are offset by an ugly string of losses away from home at Akron, Longwood, LIU Brooklyn, George Mason, Old Dominion and Georgia Southern that make the resume look fragile. The best moments demonstrate the ability to close out tight games, as in the narrow victory over Norfolk State, while the worst results are damaging road defeats that leave the team short on high-end wins. The conference schedule still offers room to repair the profile with home opportunities against Louisiana and Georgia State and midseason tests against Marshall and Old Dominion plus road trips to Troy, Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina and a very difficult nonconference date at Arkansas that could become a signature if it goes well. Until those chances play out the resume reads like a midlevel league team that needs a sustained run in conference play or a deep run in the league tournament to erase the damage from its road losses.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Akron55L85-71
11/9Coppin St364W84-70
11/12@Longwood303L82-72
11/15@LIU Brooklyn213L88-79
11/18Towson134W81-75
11/24@Florida Intl181W80-72
11/25(N)NE Omaha233W88-77
11/29@George Mason79L82-66
12/3NC Central351W67-62
12/6Norfolk St254W68-67
12/17@Old Dominion217L77-68
12/20@Ga Southern215L96-92
12/29@Arkansas283%
1/3@Arkansas St13924%
1/4@Arkansas St13924%
1/7Marshall15750%
1/10Old Dominion21763%
1/15@Appalachian St24746%
1/17@Marshall15729%
1/22South Alabama19359%
1/24Texas St25669%
1/29@Troy14225%
1/31@Southern Miss19137%
2/4Louisiana32583%
2/12Georgia St33184%
2/14Appalachian St24768%
2/18@Coastal Car22243%
2/21@Georgia St33167%
2/25Ga Southern21563%
2/27Coastal Car22265%