James Madison (12) vs. Wisconsin (5) Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Badgers are 5-point favourites to win on the college basketball odds.
James Madison vs. Wisconsin NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of Friday’s game will face either No. 13 Vermont or No. 4 Duke on Sunday also in Brooklyn for a trip to the Sweet 16.
James Madison has just three losses all season but all were in Sun Belt regular-season play and it finished second to Appalachian State. However, the Dukes didn’t have to deal with the Mountaineers in the conference tournament and beat Arkansas State by 20 on March 11 to earn the league’s automatic bid. It was JMU’s fifth conference title in program history and its first in exactly 11 years to the day when it won the 2013 Colonial Athletic Association crown. It is in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time and first since 2013 when it beat Long Island in the First Four but then was routed by Indiana.
Wisconsin is about as streaky as they come, but it was streaking the right way late in the season with three straight wins, including a stunner of Purdue, a No. 1 seed in the Dance, in the Big Ten Tournament before losing in the final to Illinois. The Badgers are making their 27th trip to the NCAA Tournament and are one only five schools to appear in 23 of the last 25 tournaments, joining Gonzaga (25), Kansas (25), Michigan State (25) and Duke (24). UW is 40-25 all-time in the Dance.
It’s the first meeting between these programs. There have been 53 upsets by No. 12 seeds since the NCAA Tournament field expanded in 1985 but there were none in 2023.
James Madison Dukes (12)
James Madison’s 31 victories are a record for a Sun Belt school and tied with defending national champion and NCAA Tournament favourite UConn for the most in the country. The Dukes are on a national-best 13-game winning streak and also started the season on a 14-game win streak. That included a season-opening 79-76 OT victory at then-No. 4 Michigan State of the Big Ten, the only power conference team James Madison has faced. Wisconsin was 2-0 vs. Sparty this season. Dukes junior swingman Terrence Edwards Jr. was voted Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and is averaging 17.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists. JMU averages 84.4 points per game, which ranks ninth nationally, and is eighth with a +15.2 scoring margin. The Dukes also rank fifth in the country in three-point percentage defence (.288).
Wisconsin Badgers (5)
When you think Wisconsin, you generally think defence and low-scoring games, but these Badgers were one of the best offensive teams the school has ever had, averaging 75.1 points per game, the highest for a UW team since 77.9 ppg in 1993-94. Wisconsin has scored at least 70 points in 10 straight games and in 27 total this season. By comparison, the Badgers reached that mark just 11 times last season. St. John’s transfer AJ Storr leads in scoring at 16.9 ppg and has scored in double-figures in 29 straight games, including three straight 20-point games currently. Coach Greg Gard would legitimately go 11 players deep at times in the regular season, so it will be interesting to see if he cuts that rotation in the Dance. The Badgers have made the Sweet 16 in six of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments.
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