James Madison vs Wisconsin 9:40 ET
Dukes (+) over Badgers- Fifth-seeded Wisconsin and 12th-seeded James Madison will begin NCAA Tournament play when they close out a quadruple-header at Barclays Center in a South Region first-round game. Wisconsin (22-13) received an at-large bid after losing to Illinois, 93-87, in the Big Ten championship game Sunday afternoon. James Madison (31-3) earned the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid by cruising past Arkansas State, 91-71, in the conference championship game on March 11. Wisconsin, which missed the NCAA Tournament last season for just the second time since 1998, allowed fewer than 70 points in regulation in each of its first three Big Ten tourney games after allowing at least 70 points in nine of the last 11 regular season games. Few teams in the field enter the tournament playing better than James Madison, whose 31 wins are matched only by No. 1 UConn and whose 13-game winning streak is the longest in the nation. The trip to the NCAA Tournament is the sixth for James Madison and its first since 2013, when the Dukes were a 16th seed after earning the then-Colonial Athletic Association's automatic bid.
Take JAMES MADISON!