Over the 32 days leading up to college basketball season, we’re profiling 32 different teams who could be in the NIT mix, aided in this effort by those who know them best (or the closest we could get). Today, Bennett Conlin responds by email to our questions about James Madison.
Bennett Conlin is the co-founder of JMU Sports News. He is among our favorite recurring NIT supporters.
Here’s the full list of 32 for 32’s published so far, with links:
- Auburn, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- BYU, with Mitch Harper
- Cincinnati, with Zach Fries
- Dayton, with Tyler Cronin
- Duquesne, with Tristan Freeman
- Indiana, with Matt Cox
- Iona, with Sam Federman
- Iowa State, with Joe Stunardi
- James Madison, with Bennett Conlin
- Loyola, with Ky McKeon
- Michigan, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Missouri, with Jim Root
- North Texas, with Harry Miers
- Northwestern, with John Templon
- Notre Dame, with Stuart McGrath
- Ohio State, with Mark Titus
- Oregon State, with Andy Dieckhoff
- Penn State, with DJ Bauer
- South Carolina, with Brian Rauf
- St. Bonaventure, with SBUnfurled
- St. John’s, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Syracuse, with the Marshall Street Podcast
- Texas, with NIT Stu
- Utah, with Andrew Crowley
- Virginia Tech, with Ken Pomeroy
- Washington State, with Dave Andersen
- Wisconsin, with Cole Amundson
The Barking Crow: Let’s start with last year. After flirting with the NIT picture for much of the winter, James Madison fell two games short of the Sun Belt title and wound up on the outside of the NIT looking in. What has to happen in Harrisonburg to get over that hump? Whom are the Dukes chasing?
JMU looks poised to contend for the league championship thanks to a deep roster led by SBC Player of the Year contender Terrence Edwards. JMU should be firmly in the postseason conversation throughout the 2023-24 season, although there should be plenty of other competitive teams in the conference. Southern Miss is another team to keep an eye on this year. The battle to make the NIT will be fierce in the Sun Belt this winter.
TBC: JMU has a concentrated men’s NIT history, having made the tournament five times in total and four years in a row back in the late 80s and early 90s. In those five appearances, the Dukes went 0–5. What would it mean to James Madison as a program and as an institution to end that drought? What would it mean to win the school’s first ever NIT game?
JMU would gladly jump at the chance to play any postseason game in the spring of 2024. The Dukes are in desperate need of some sustained energy within the program and that really starts with postseason victories.
If JMU makes the NIT, fans will embrace the games. It’d mean a lot for the Dukes to compete in the NIT and have a chance to play meaningful games into March. Winning an NIT game? That’d create pandemonium in Harrisonburg.
TBC: James Madison was famously a short man. How does this affect JMU in a sport where success is traditionally thought to correlate with height?
Nobody on JMU’s roster is 7-feet tall. Heck, nobody is even 6’10 or taller. I’ve questioned head coach Mark Byington’s recent roster construction, as the Dukes are often undersized in the low post.
It’s clear now that Byington is giving a nod to James Madison’s height. That’s a classy gesture and shows just how much Byington gets it.
TBC: The women’s basketball program at JMU has been a WNIT mainstay in recent years, winning multiple games in the tournament five times last decade and reaching the championship in 2012. With the WBIT joining the postseason mix, how would you rate the chances of JMU cutting down the nets at Hinkle Fieldhouse, becoming the inaugural WBIT champion?
The women’s program is everything fans wish the men’s program could be. Talk about a model of consistency. If the Dukes, led by standout scorer Peyton McDaniel, make the WBIT, they’re going to have their sights set on winning the whole damn thing.
I’d put the Dukes on my short list of WBIT contenders right now.
TBC: Who is James Madison’s dream NIT opponent? Who does James Madison least want to run into in the NIT?
I’d say North Carolina, but after last year’s disgraceful decision to skip the NIT, I’ll go with Virginia Tech instead of the Tar Heels. The Dukes haven’t faced Virginia Tech since the 2005-06 season, so playing an in-state Power Conference program would have fans excited.
JMU beat UVA in 2021 and on the football field this fall, so there’s no real excitement about playing the Cavaliers again. JMU is far and away the superior athletic department. As for Virginia Tech, it’d be nice to battle the Hokies on the hardwood. A recent WNIT battle between the two programs in Harrisonburg was bonkers.
TBC: What’s something you wish more people knew about JMU?
The undergraduate enrollment is just over 20,000, and the Dukes bring in $50+ million annually in athletic department revenue. While the Dukes might not be all that well known nationally, JMU isn’t really a “small school” like some national pundits like to say.
Winning a national championship, like the NIT, could squash that tired narrative.
TBC: Dare we dream of a James Madison NIT title?
I dream of this daily. The Dukes have what it takes. They just need the opportunity.
