Mid-major programs carry the basketball banner in Virginia heading into March

Five years ago, Joe Bamisile and Darius Maddox were freshmen sharing an apartment at Virginia Tech.

Now they’re set to go head-to-head as the leading scorers for the top teams in the Atlantic 10 — and maybe the best in the Commonwealth of Virginia, for that matter.

The flagship programs at Virginia and Virginia Tech from the Atlantic Coast Conference are battling to finish with winning records, making it likely this will be the first NCAA Tournament without either in a dozen years. Instead, mid-major teams like Bamisile’s VCU and Maddox’s George Mason are carrying the state’s banner as March looms.

“I wish we could have done it together, but it’s cool that in our final years, we get to be parts of programs that we’re huge pieces at,” Bamisile said of Saturday’s meeting with Maddox, “and show what our value has always been.”

Going into the weekend, two state teams are alone atop their league standings: George Mason (A-10) and Norfolk State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference). James Madison is tied atop the Sun Belt. Two others, VCU (A-10) and Liberty (Conference USA), are in second.

Add in William & Mary, sitting in a crowded top third of the Coastal Athletic Association, and the commonwealth has no shortage of mid-major title contenders.

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George Mason, VCU and Liberty certainly have a chance at being at-large bubble teams come Selection Sunday. The Rams (No. 31) and Patriots (62) had the highest NET rankings among Virginia programs as of Friday, followed by the Flames (69).

For most of Virginia’s schools, a spot in the NCAA Tournament will require winning their conference’s automatic bids. Several seem within reach.

“Being at the mid-major level and making the tournament, it’s like threading the eye of a needle,” said Liberty coach Ritchie McKay, who has led the Flames to the Big Dance twice in his 12 years in Lynchburg.

The last NCAA tournament without either Virginia or Virginia Tech was in 2013. Tony Bennett had the Cavaliers in nine of the past 10 tournaments alone. The year they missed — 2022 — Virginia Tech made it after winning the ACC Tournament for the Hokies’ fifth straight bid.

Going back to that 2013 outlier, VCU, JMU and Liberty all represented Virginia in March Madness in a scenario that could be repeated next month.

At VCU, coach Ryan Odom bristles at the mid-major label — “There’s nothing mid-major about this place,” he said — and doesn’t spend much time comparing his program’s trajectory to those of Virginia’s more ballyhooed ACC teams.

If he’s chasing anything, it’s the accomplishment of the 2011 Rams, who went from First Four to the Final Four.

“We’re trying to run our own race,” said Odom, in his second year in Richmond. “There’s a tradition here that existed long before this current team. The goal is to try to get back there one day. We’re fighting the best we can right now, day in and day out, to do that.”

JMU, which reached the NCAAs last year under current Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington, beat Georgia State on Thursday night to move into a tie with South Alabama for the Sun Belt lead. The Dukes have won eight straight league games.

“We believed that we would be here,” first-year coach Preston Spradlin said. “We just didn’t know how long or what that process would look like to get here. But that’s why we’re here now. Because we never wavered on that belief.”

Liberty sits close behind C-USA leader Jacksonville State a game out of first in C-USA. The Flames got off to a 12-1 start, then had to adjust itself after losing Minnesota transfer Isaiah Ihnen to a knee injury. Three of their four conference losses came in January, and the Flames have won seven of eight.

None of those teams are as hot as Mason, currently on an 11-game win streak, the nation’s second longest active run. The Patriots are receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll.

Mason’s rise resembles the program’s iconic run to the Final Four in 2006. That team, coached by Jim Larranaga, included guard Tony Skinn, now in his second season leading the Patriots.

And while Skinn doesn’t like comparisons to the program’s most famous squad — preferring his players’ story be their own — he also doesn’t deny the similarities.

“I get a little frustrated because that’s what everyone seems to start to inch toward, that team,” Skinn said. “What this group is doing right now, I don’t want to take away from the light of these young men, because they’re doing something special. This is new history that’s being written, but there are similarities.”

Both clubs had veteran rosters with balanced scoring and a penchant for stingy defense. With a win against VCU on Saturday at the Siegel Center — where the Rams are undefeated this season — Skinn’s Patriots would take another step toward matching the 2006 squad with a league title.

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