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NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheet: Getting to know James Madison

Richmond James Madison Basketball

James Madison coach Matt Brady yells to his team from the sidelines during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Richmond on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, in Harrisonburg, Va. (AP Photo/Daily News-Record, Stephen Mitchell)

AP

Read through the rest of the Cheat Sheets here.

Conference: Colonial

Coach: Matt Brady

Record: 20-14, 11-7

Rankings and Ratings:

- Kenpom: 188
- RPI: 194
- AP/USA Today: N/A

Seeding?: Our Dave Ommen had Northeastern as a No. 16 seed in Monday’s Bracket Projection, and the Huskies have a stronger profile than JMU. It may be tough for the Dukes to get out of the play-in game without some conference tournament upsets.

Names you need to know: Rayshawn Goins (12.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Devon Moore (11.7 ppg, 4.0 apg, 3.7 rpg), AJ Davis (11.7 ppg)

Stats you need to know: The Dukes are not a very good offensive team. They struggle shooting the ball and they are not all that good at getting to the offensive glass. But they don’t turn the ball over very much, which is a good thing. Might as well maximize the number of shots if you’re going to shoot a low-percentage.

Tendencies: JMU is, however, the best defensive team in the conference, leading the league in defensive efficiency during CAA play. The Dukes have a weird roster makeup, in that four of their top nine are seniors and four are freshmen, and while they don’t have a ton of size on the interior, Brady has a plethora of big guards at his disposal.

Big wins, bad losses: JMU won three games against Delaware and split with Towson, but didn’t pick up a notable win in non-conference play.

How’d they get here?: The No. 3 seed in the CAA tournament, JMU upset both Delaware and Northeastern to earn the league’s automatic bid. The win over the Huskies came in dominating fashion.

Outlook: James Madison has been a talented-but-underachieving team over the past couple of seasons, so it’s only fitting that in a season where they look to be down and undergoing a youth movement that Brady finally gets this group to the CAA title game. I’m not sure if they can beat a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, however.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.