Dukes and Dogs

Championship Week really heats up the next few days as the remaining teams take the court. Kansas may not be playing long, though. It has ruled out both Kevin McCullar (18.3 ppg) and Hunter Dickinson (18.0 ppg and 10.8 rpg) for the Big 12 Tournament due to various injuries.

We’ll see how the Jayhawks look without them and whether they’ll be ready to go for the NCAA Tournament next week.

Let's get to Monday’s news.

1. James Madison ‘locked in’ to an NCAA tourney berth

No team has more wins this season than James Madison. It went unbeaten during its non-conference schedule, won another 15 times during conference play, and reach 30 victories ahead of Monday night’s Sun Belt Championship game.

There’s no way the NCAA Tournament seeding committee would leave out the Dukes, right? Well, the Dukes didn’t leave anything to chance.

James Madison rolled past Arkansas State, 91-71. The Dukes (31-3) have won 13 in a row.

And they got a big day from an unexpected source, too.

Xavier Brown entered Monday averaging just 6.1 ppg and 2.1 apg, but his career-high 21 points — all in the first half — seemed to make things easy for JMU, which lead by double digits in the first half. Terrence Edwards, the league’s POY, added 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting. JMU shot 62% from the field and committed just 7 turnovers.

It’s James Madison’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2013, and the first time for coach Mark Byington, who’s had six 20-win seasons in 11 years. After their awesome start to the season (winning at Michigan State), he was delighted with this one.

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