Outstanding Fall Sees JMU on top of Sun Belt’s Vic Bubas Cup Standings

HARRISONBURG, Va. – With top finishes across each sport that participates in the Sun Belt Conference, James Madison vaulted to the early leader position in the conference's Vic Bubas Cup standings, which recognizes the top athletics department in the conference based on a points system.

The Dukes have accumulated 53.5 points in the Bubas Cup Standings, which puts them ahead of South Alabama (46.5) and App State (45.5). Full standings are available at sunbeltsports.org. The pace is just slightly ahead of JMU's first SBC season in 2022-23, when they also led the Fall standings with 52 points before finishing second in the final standings.

In the fall sports season, James Madison finished tied for first in football (11-1 overall, 7-1 SBC), second in cross country, tied for second in volleyball (21-10, 12-4), fourth in men's soccer (10-5-5, 4-2-3) and tied for fifth in women's soccer (9-5-8, 4-1-5). JMU was runner up in the Sun Belt Championship in both women's soccer and volleyball. The Dukes also would have hosted the Sun Belt Championship game in football had they not been restricted by rules related to NCAA reclassification.

All five sport programs advanced to some form of postseason competition in the same season for the first time in JMU history as men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball each earned at-large berths to NCAA Championships. JMU was one of two Division I institutions nationwide to earn at-large bids to the three championships. Cross country competed in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship. Football earned the program's first postseason bowl appearance and will compete in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force on Dec. 23. James Madison was the only Division I program in the country to earn spots in NCAA Championships for men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball while also earning a bowl appearance.

The Vic Bubas Cup is named after the Sun Belt Conference's first Commissioner. Bubas was appointed the conference's commissioner on Oct. 6, 1976, and served for 14 years until his retirement in 1990. He led the conference during a period in which its membership increased from six to eight members and its sport sponsorship grew from four to 10 sports. Bubas was a three-time ACC Coach of the Year at Duke in the 1960s, taking his team to three Final Fours. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Bubas passed away in April 2018 at the age of 91.

Points for the Bubas Cup are awarded based on regular-season finish for sports that have a regular season conference schedule. Points are awarded based on Sun Belt Championship finish if that sport does not have a regular-season conference schedule. Points are awarded based on the number of schools sponsoring the sport. Institutions not sponsoring a sport do not receive points in that sport. Institutions tying for positions split the combined points of their positions.

For sports that have both a regular-season schedule and a conference tournament, one additional point will be awarded to the winner of the conference tournament, including an additional point for winning the Sun Belt Conference Football Championship.

For sports with divisions, the conference records of all teams are ranked and points are awarded regardless of divisional finish. Standings for the sports of men's and women's soccer are determined by points rather than winning percentage.

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