James Madison didn’t care.
The No. 12-seeded Dukes didn’t care about Wisconsin being a No. 5 seed.
Didn’t care about the Badgers’ pedigree in the NCAA Tournament.
Certainly didn’t care about being, on paper, underdogs.
They haven’t lost since Jan. 27.
And in their minds, they were the favorites.
James Madison came out swinging and punched Wisconsin in the mouth from the opening whistle, and the Badgers could barely muster any counterpunch.
The Dukes showed the much higher-ranked Badgers no respect, hounding every dribble and shot without any fear en route to an emphatic 72-61 first-round win Friday night at Barclays Center.
They never trailed, embarrassing Wisconsin the entire way.
It marked James Madison’s first win in the main field of the NCAA Tournament since 1983 (it won a First Four game in 2013).
The Dukes will next face No. 4 Duke in the second round on Sunday after the Blue Devils beat Vermont.
James Madison’s defense quickly had the Badgers shell-shocked, forcing them to commit 19 turnovers – a whopping 13 of them in the first half.
The Sun Belt champions, who entered with a 31-3 record and 13-game win streak (the longest current streak in the nation), were picked by 45.7 percent of brackets to pull off the first-round upset, according to NCAA.com, and became the second-most popular double-digit seed in the field to reach the Sweet 16.
Dukes forward T.J. Bickerstaff — Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s nephew — said it was a “really good” matchup for his team.
Clearly, he knew something.
The Dukes enjoyed a well-rounded scoring effort, with Terrence Edwards Jr. leading the way with 14 points.
Bickerstaff and Julien Wooden chipped in 12 apiece.
The Badgers’ leading scorer the whole year, St. John’s transfer, AJ Storr, had a nightmarish showing in what could be his last collegiate game, finishing with 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting with four turnovers.
It wasn’t until 11 minutes into the game when the Badgers scored their 10th point and finally had more points than turnovers.
James Madison enjoyed a 28-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
James Madison entered 26-0 when leading at halftime, and certainly weren’t going to blow Friday’s 13-point lead at the break.
Wisconsin was late to its practice and media availability on Thursday, stuck in traffic from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
One day later, the Badgers’ offense was stuck.
Maybe it would’ve been better if their bus never even arrived.
James Madison ran the Badgers right back to Wisconsin.
