MADISON, Wis. – James Madison barely had its name placed next to Wisconsin’s on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show when basketball analyst Seth Davis picked the Dukes to upset the Badgers in Friday’s first round and advance to the Sweet 16.

Considering James Madison owns the nation’s longest winning streak at 13 games and is one of four teams entering the NCAA Tournament with at least 30 wins, UW’s first opponent appears daunting. In Greg Gard’s eyes, every team in the bracket is not one to take lightly.

“There are 68 teams that are in or aren’t in,” Gard said. “All the bad teams are on spring break. They are 31-3, won the Sun Belt, beat Michigan State the first game of the year, they are really old with a lot of grad transfers. Everybody you are going to play this time of year is really good.”

The 12th-seeded Dukes and the fifth-seeded Badgers (22-13) will be one of the final games of the tournament’s first round, tipping off at approximately 8:40 p.m. CT Friday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and one with plenty of eyeballs.

The 5-12 matchup has been a favorite for picking the upset. In 32 of 38 tournaments, at least one No. 12 seed has knocked off a No. 5 seed. The Dukes have the resume to do it. Shocking the basketball world by opening the season with a 79-76 overtime victory at Michigan State (the Spartans were ranked fourth in the preseason), the Dukes have shown it wasn’t a fluke with a winning streak that dates back to Jan.27.

James Madison ranks fifth in the country in 3-point shooting percentage defense (28.8 percent), ninth in scoring (84.4), 14th in turnover major (+3.7), and 16th in steals per game at 9.0. Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Terrence Edwards Jr. averaged 17.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He scored 24 points against the Spartans and made 12 of 13 free throws.

Boston College transfer T.J. Bickerstaff – the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year – averages 13.4 points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds per game. South Dakota State transfer Noah Freidel has hit a team-best 77 3-pointers this season.

“We’ll probably go back and watch that (MSU-JMU) game because we know what Michigan State likes to do,” guard Max Klesmit said. “It’s a similar fashion to us. Probably go back and watch that game, catch other games they have played recently, try to pick out tendencies and things in the scout that we can use to our advantage moving forward.”

While James Madison will be a trendy pick, the Badgers have the battle scars needed to compete in March. Wisconsin battled through one of the toughest schedules in the country and finished with a respectable 14-13 record in Quad 1 and 2 games and a spotless 8-0 record outside Quad 2.

In addition to its game at Michigan State, James Madison only played two other games in Quad 1 and Quad 2. Those two games were losses to Appalachian State, which ranks 33rd nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency (UW ranks 48th). Twenty-three of the Dukes’ wins came in Quad 4 or against a lower-division opponent.

The Dukes have a smaller rotation with no player over 6-9, meaning 7-foot Steven Crowl should have a matchup advantage inside after coming off a Big Ten Tournament where he averaged 14.5 points per game and made 6 of 13 3-point shots in Minneapolis.

“We’re a better team when I’m aggressive,” Crowl said. “Part of that is shooting those threes because I think I am one of the better big-man shooters in the country. It showed this weekend and hopefully, it can continue.”

Crowl isn’t the only UW player trending upward after the Big Ten Tournament. A.J. Storr averaged 22.5 points per game and mixed up his play by attacking the rim and hitting 38.5 percent from three-point range. He scored a career-high 30 points against Northwestern by going 7-for-9 on twos, 3-for-5 on threes, and 7-for-8 on free throws.

Chucky Hepburn averaged 17.3 points per game and shot 69.0 percent (20 of 29), a massive increase after finishing the regular season shooting 39.8 percent. He averaged 5.7 assists per game and had more steals (six) than turnovers (three). Both players were named to the all-tournament team.

Throw in Klesmit shooting over 50 percent in the semifinals and finals while having 17 assists to four turnovers overall, UW is upbeat heading into another win-or-go-home week and a tournament where the No.5 seeds were undefeated in the first round last season.

‘We got three good wins this week,” Gard said. “Our performance against Purdue was terrific. We played really well (against Illinois). We’re playing at a high level right now. Now, we’re all at the same starting block now. There’s no more byes given to anybody. We’re all racing towards the same thing. You have to win six. You can’t win six if you don’t win one.”

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