Mark Byington wanted nothing to do with Michigan State, but there weren’t any other options.
The James Madison coach had called around to local high-major programs in the area and came up empty.
If his team was going to open the season with a buy game against a quality opponent — it needs contests like that every year to fund the program’s budget — the only way to do it was fly to East Lansing.
“They don’t lose in November. [Tom] Izzo is one of the best coaches in the country, and the challenges in that first night [are tough],” the James Madison coach recalled Saturday. “And we also knew we had Kent State right after. [It] had not lost in their home arena in two years.
“So we are looking at probably one of the toughest first weeks of any team in the country.”
Looking back now, he’s glad he scheduled the game.
The 12th-seeded Dukes pulled off a mammoth upset, stunning the fourth-ranked team in the country on its home floor, which they followed by winning at Kent State.
The victories set the stage for the best season in program history, a 32-win campaign that included the school’s first NCAA Tournament victory in the main draw since 1983 and a second-round showdown with No. 4 Duke on Sunday night at Barclays Center.
“It sparked our confidence and got us rolling,” said sharpshooting guard Noah Freidel, one of four senior starters. “Once we got the first two road wins, we knew we had a chance to do something special.”
Considering where this program was only a few years ago, it makes this winter that much more enjoyable for James Madison, which has won 14 straight games.
It won just nine games in 2019-20 and went 2-16 in the CAA (it now plays in the Sun Belt).
Byington took over the following season after a successful seven-year stint at Georgia Southern.
The school won 22 games last season, its most since 1981-82, and surpassed that total in mid-February.
Byington has built James Madison up by keeping productive players like leading scorer Terrence Edwards Jr. and adding significant transfers in Freidel (South Dakota State) and T.J. Bickerstaff (Boston College).
It was one of the stars of the start to the NCAA Tournament, after its 72-61 manhandling of No. 5 Wisconsin on Friday night in Brooklyn.
The Dukes looked like the higher seed.
They were by far the better team, more physical, more poised and better prepared.
“We are not here by luck or anything like that,” Freidel said. “This was our goal and we worked hard for it.”
The next step will obviously be tougher.
Byington’s team won’t surprise Duke.
Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said the Dukes’ ability “jumps off the page,” and feels like they have the qualities of several ACC teams.
Their pressure reminds him of N.C. State and their defense and physicality has some of North Carolina, Virginia and Clemson.
“They have high-major players, their whole team. I mean, everybody that comes in the game, their size, their skill level [stands out],” Scheyer said. “Obviously they are one of the most experienced teams in the country. And any time you go through a season and you have three losses, that’s really impressive.”
There was a narrative that James Madison was a product of a soft conference, since 22 of its wins were Quad 4 games.
That was dispelled in the win over Wisconsin.
But the Dukes aren’t satisfied.
They want to accomplish more.
As much fun as this journey has been, they aren’t ready for it to end.
They are after even more history: A Sweet 16 berth, which has never happened to the Virginia school.
“If I ever took time to think about it, yes, it [has surpassed my expectations],” the 47-year-old Byington said. “And I’m so far in the season, it’s always what’s next, what do I have to do next. And there will come a point when we’re finished and we count the wins up, we cherish the memories and we do all that stuff.
“But we’re eager for more right now. I’m that way. The players are that way. We’ve done a lot of great things. We know it. We are focused on right here, right now, and trying to be the best we can at this situation. Try to make more memories, try to make it even more special.”
