The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 161 is James Madison basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of James Madison basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 5
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.7
- Bids per season: 0.12
- AP Polls: 8
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 5
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on James Madison basketball
James Madison has one of the most interesting histories in March Madness. In 50 D1 seasons, they’ve been there six times, which in itself isn’t a bad rate for a mid-major. They’ve never advanced to the second weekend, but in all but ONE of their trips to the big dance, JMU has found a way to win a game.
Here is the breakdown:
- 1981: Defeated 7-seed Georgetown, lost to 2-seed Notre Dame
- 1982: Defeated 8-seed Ohio State, lost to 1-seed UNC
- 1983: Defeated 7-seed West Virginia, lost to 2-seed UNC
- 1994: Lost to 3-seed Florida
- 2013: Defeated 16-seed LIU, lost to 1-seed Indiana
- 2024: Defeated 5-seed Wisconsin, lost to 4-seed Duke
Obviously, the ’80s were very kind to JMU, which went to three straight tourneys under head coach Lou Campanelli. He took the job in 1972 before they were Division I and stuck it out until 1985, leaving for a job at Cal. Campanelli remains the program’s all-time winningest head coach with a 165-87 record. His teams had great players, including the 1980-81 tourney team, which featured Linton Townes, who is the only JMU player to ever be drafted and play in the NBA.
From 1988-1997, Lefty Driesell was the head coach, with some up-and-down years, but overall found a way to be successful, going 159-111. Under Driesell, JMU won five straight regular season CAA titles, but only went dancing once.
After Driesell left, the Dukes started to fall off the map a bit, until Matt Brady started to get them playing better, leading them to the 2013 tournament. But it wasn’t until Mark Byington got to town that things really got back in a great track. The coach of Vanderbilt now, Byington, went 82-36 in four seasons, and in the 2023-24 campaign, led them to a ridiculous 32-4 record. That team knocked off number four Michigan State on the road in its first game of the season, before running through Sun Belt play. When Duke knocked them off, they were on a 14-game winning streak.
Currently, Preston Spradlin is the coach, and while he hasn’t led them to a 30-win season, the program has now had six straight winning seasons. And competing in the Sun Belt since 2022, the move up seems to have helped the program overall. JMU is only getting better!