Mark Byington Advances in NCAA Tournament, May Sent Home

Potential WVU candidate Mark Byington coached James Madison to a 72-61 win over 5-seed Wisconsin on Friday night in the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes played hard on both sides of the floor against the Big Ten Tournament runner-ups and will now play 4-seed Duke on Sunday.

JMU’s tournament win was the first of Byington’s career and the first for the Dukes since 1983.

NO. 12 JAMES MADISON UPSETS NO. 5 WISCONSIN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/RTQBWptbUV

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 23, 2024

James Madison sits at 32-3, winning the Sun Belt Tournament and earning an NCAA Tournament bid, the school’s first since 2013.

JMU upset Michigan State on night one of the college basketball season, which then helped build momentum to a 14-0 start. James Madison will be the popular Cinderella pick moving forward in the NCAA Tournament. James Madison currently holds the active longest winning streak in college basketball at 14, so they’re white hot at the right time.

Another WVU target, Dusty May, fell in the round of 64 as Northwestern defeated Florida Atlantic 77-65 in overtime.

May has been the mid-major darling of college basketball for the past year after taking FAU to the Final Four in 2023. May, who took over Florida Atlantic in 2018, has done an incredible job rebuilding a program with not much history. The Owls made the NCAA Tournament just once before hiring May in 2002.

Other West Virginia coaching targets Darian DeVries (Drake) and Niko Medved (Colorado State) each lost during Thursday’s games.

WV Sports Now will provide updates on how potential candidates for the Mountaineers do in the NCAA Tournament.