Shane Mettlen

1 week ago | dnronline.com | Shane Mettlen

The Founding Fathers are back in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). And for the first time, the James Madison University alumni squad will be the home team. TBT and JMU announced Thursday morning that the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg was selected as a regional host site for the popular and influential $1 million winner-take-all event. First-round games are scheduled to begin July 18 with tickets now on sale.

1 week ago | dnronline.com | Shane Mettlen

During the college basketball season, players and coaches attempt to, as the cliche goes, take it one game at a time, let alone think too much about the following season. But last winter, when it began to look like former junior college athletes might gain an extra year, coaches and players who will spend this coming season at James Madison couldn’t help but wonder about the future. “When I saw that rule came out, I didn’t even know if it was true yet,” new JMU guard Bradley Douglas said.

1 week ago | dnronline.com | Shane Mettlen

The Harrisonburg Turks open another Valley Baseball League season this weekend. But the team on the field for the first couple weeks may not resemble the squad longtime Turks manager Bob Wease hopes to have for the bulk of the summer. Wease felt confident when he and general manager Gerald Harman put together the roster for this summer that Harrisonburg could once again compete for a VBL championship.

1 week ago | dnronline.com | Shane Mettlen

Like any coach, James Madison’s Preston Spradlin has a preferred style of play and a way he likes to lead. But like most Division I head coaches, he’s also finding that thrusting a rotating cast of players into a rigid system isn’t the best approach in the unrestricted transfer era. “I really like our group now, but the thing with the portal is your team is going to be different each and every year,” Spradlin said.

1 week ago | dnronline.com | Shane Mettlen

When James Madison guards Zakiya Stephenson and Bree Robinson each decided to stay with the Dukes, they made the offseason significantly less stressful for themselves and the team’s coaching staff. Unlike last spring — when JMU was in search of ball handlers and the two transfer guards were in the portal after feeling disappointment in the way their freshman seasons at power conference schools played out — both sides are content with the way the backcourt has shaped up for the 2025-26 season.