Mode: | Basketball |
Year: | 2024–25 |
Prev Year: | 2023–24 |
Next Year: | 2025–26 |
Team: | James Madison Dukes |
Conference: | Sun Belt Conference |
Short Conf: | Sun Belt |
Record: | 5–4 |
Conf Record: | 0–0 |
Hc Year: | 1st |
Asst Coach1: | Scott Combs |
Asst Coach2: | Dominic Lombardi |
Asst Coach3: | Cason Burk |
Asst Coach4: | Dionte Ferguson |
The 2024–25 James Madison Dukes men's basketball team represents James Madison University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Dukes are led by first-year head coach Preston Spradlin and play their home games at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia, as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Dukes' 2023–24 season was the most successful year in school history, beginning the season with upsetting then-ranked No. 4 Michigan State, their first win over a ranked team since defeating California in 1992.[1] This season also marked their first appearance as a ranked team in the AP poll in school history.[2] The Dukes finished the 2023–24 season with a record of 28–3, 15–3 in Sun Belt play, to finish in second place.[3] They defeated Marshall, Texas State and Arkansas State in the Sun Belt tournament to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 12 seed in South region, marking the team's first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2013. They upset No. 5-seeded Wisconsin in the first round to advance on to the second round for the first time since 1983.[4] There they lost to Duke in the second round, ending the season with a 32–4 overall record.
On March 25, 2024, head coach Mark Byington left the school to become the head coach at Vanderbilt.[5]
The Dukes were picked to finish in second place in the conference's preseason poll.[6] Redshirt senior guard Mark Freeman was named to the preseason All-SBC First Team. Junior guard Xavier Brown was named to the conference preseason third team.
Coaches poll | ||
1 | Arkansas State - 193 (12) | |
2 | James Madison - 170 (1) | |
3 | Troy - 155 (1) | |
4 | Louisiana - 144 | |
5 | Southern Miss - 133 | |
6 | App State - 122 | |
7 | Texas State - 89 | |
T8 | Georgia Southern - 85 | |
T8 | Old Dominion - 85 | |
10 | Marshall - 79 | |
11 | South Alabama - 78 | |
12 | Georgia State - 75 | |
13 | Coastal Carolina - 34 | |
14 | ULM - 28 |
|-!colspan=12 style=| Regular season|-!colspan=9 style=| Sun Belt tournament