James Madison vs Duke Predictions, Expert Picks & Player Props for NCAA Tournament

• The #12 James Madison Dukes upset Wisconsin to set up a second-round matchup with the #4 Duke Blue Devils
• With 32 wins on the season, no DI team has more victories than JMU
• See the James Madison vs Duke predictions, player props and picks for Sunday, March 24

The co-winningest team in the nation, the #12 James Madison Dukes (32-3, 6-0 neutral, 19-14-1 ATS) pulled off a small upset over #5 Wisconsin on Friday night, setting up a second-round battle with the #4 Duke Blue Devils (25-8, 3-1 neutral, 19-13-1 ATS) in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Duke, which covered as double-digit favorites over #13 Vermont, head into Sunday’s game as 7.5-point betting favorites at the Barclays Center in New York (5:15 pm ET).

James Madison vs Duke Odds

The Blue Devils are also heavy -320 moneyline favorites in the college basketball odds for Sunday, with JMU a +260 underdog to advance to its first Sweet 16 in program history.

Odds as of March 23 at ESPN Bet. Download the ESPN Bet app in NC.  

Duke enters the round of 32 as the third-favorite to win the South Region, sitting at +500 in the Final Four odds. James Madison is +3500 to cut down the nets. Top-seeded Houston is the chalk at +120 followed by #2 Marquette at +360.

JMU Crushes Wisconsin in First Round

James Madison made good as a popular upset pick in the first round against #5 Wisconsin, taking an early 15-4 lead and never allowing the gap to get below six in the second half en route to a 72-61 win.

Four Dukes scored at least 11 points in the win, led by Terrance Edwards with 14, though JMU was only 5-of-17 from beyond the arc as a team. The poor shooting from three was unusual for the Dukes, who hit at a 36.3% clip (44th-best in DI). JMU’s tenacious defense was the real MVP of the victory, forcing 19 turnovers from the Badgers (including 14 steals).

JMU has now won a DI-best 14 straight games, dating back to a Jan. 27 loss at App State (82-76). The Dukes worst loss this year was an 81-71 setback at Southern Miss.

Prior to the Wisconsin game, JMU had only played one top-75 KenPom team, stunning Michigan State 79-67 in OT in East Lansing in the season-opener for both sides.

In his fourth year with the Dukes, head coach Mark Byington is in his first trip to the NCAA Tournament. He failed to make it in seven seasons with Georgia Southern (despite three 20-win campaigns).

Duke Rolls Over Vermont After Tight First Half

The Blue Devils found themselves in a first-half dogfight with #14 Vermont on Friday night. Duke took a narrow 34-29 lead into the break but pulled away in the second thanks to its smothering defense. Duke allowed just 18 second-half points to the Catamounts as they covered the 12.5-point spread in a 64-47 win.

Duke was able to pull away despite leading scorer Kyle Filipowski (16.7 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.6 BPG) scoring just three points on one field-goal attempt.  Sophomore forward Mark Mitchell had 15 on 6-of-9 shooting while freshman guard Jared McCain also had 15, going 4-of-9 from the field.

Duke is 7-6 against teams in the top 60 at KenPom, but dropped its last two: 84-79 at home to UNC in the last game of the regular season, and 74-69 to NC State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

JMU vs DUKE Player Props

JMU vs Duke player props from DraftKings North Carolina on March 23.

Despite the whisper-quiet performance against Vermont, Filipowski has a game-high point total of 16.5 O/U, slightly ahead of JMU’s Edwards at 15.5. The Duke big man also has the highest rebound total on the board at 8.5, one more than Bickerstaff at 7.5.

James Madison vs Duke Picks

This is a massive spread against a team as talented and experienced as James Madison. The Dukes were full value for the win over Wisconsin; they looked like (and were) the better team from the opening tip, and that was a Badger side that was top-20 at KenPom heading into the game.

JMU has an excellent chance to pull the upset, but I will stick with an ATS play on the Dukes catching a bucket-load of points.

JMU vs DUKE prediction:

• James Madison +7.5 (-110)
• Filipowski under 16.5 points (-120)