James Madison Leads Vic Bubas Cup Standings Through Winter Seasons

(with Sun Belt reports)

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison leads the Sun Belt Conference's Vic Bubas Cup standings through the winter sports season. The Bubas Cup is the Sun Belt's all-sports championship, awarded to the top athletics department in the conference based on a points system.

This academic year, James Madison has captured Sun Belt regular-season and tournament championships in both volleyball and women's basketball to go along with high finishes in the regular season standings for multiple other sports.

With 10 of 18 sports complete, the Dukes have accumulated 83.5 points in the Bubas Cup Standings, which puts them ahead of South Alabama (72.0) and Southern Miss (70.5). Marshall (69.5) and Arkansas State (63.5) round out the top-five.

JMU's high finishes have included first in volleyball and women's basketball, third in cross country, football and women's soccer and fourth in men's basketball. In championships consisting of head-to-head competition, JMU has competed in four Sun Belt title games (volleyball, women's basketball, men's soccer and women's soccer), whereas only one other league school has reached two.

Overall, JMU has compiled a 165-77-9 cumulative record in all sports for a .675 winning percentage. The well-rounded success in JMU's first year in the Sun Belt is even further elevated by three sports not sponsored by the league. In the Fall, field hockey finished 22^nd in the national rankings, in the Winter swimming and diving was runner-up in the CCSA Championship meet and thus far in the spring lacrosse is 8-1 and ranked fifth in the country.

In the 2022-23 winter sports season, Arkansas State swept the men's and women's titles at the Sun Belt Indoor Track & Field Championships for the fourth consecutive season. Southern Miss captured its first Sun Belt Men's Basketball Regular-Season Championship, while Louisiana claimed the Sun Belt Men's Basketball Tournament crown. James Madison, Southern Miss and Texas State shared the Sun Belt Women's Basketball Regular-Season Championship with JMU taking home the tournament title.

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.

2022-23 Vic Bubas Cup Standings (as of March 22, 2023)

	Rank	Points	WXC	MXC	WSOC	MSOC	VB	FB	WITF	MITF	WBK	MBK
1	James Madison	83.5	11.0		11.5	3.0	15.0	11.5	6.5		14.0	11.0
2	South Alabama	72.0	7.0	7.0	11.5		9.5	13.5	10.0	5.0	1.5	7.0
3	Southern Miss	70.5	13.0		5.5		9.5	8.5	5.0	2.0	13.0	14.0
4	Marshall	69.5	10.0	6.0	5.5	8.0	3.5	10.0	6.5	1.0	6.5	12.5
5	Arkansas State	63.5	12.0	9.0	13.0		2.0	1.0	13.0	7.0	4.5	2.0
6	Louisiana	62.0	5.0	5.0	2.0		6.0	8.5	8.0	6.0	8.0	13.5
7	Texas State	61.5	3.0	1.0	10.0		13.0	2.5	11.0	4.0	13.0	4.0
8	Coastal Carolina	59.0	8.0	3.0	2.0	5.0	8.0	11.5	12.0		6.5	3.0
9	App State	56.5	9.0	8.0	8.0		11.5	5.5	3.0		4.5	7.0
10	Georgia Southern	54.5	2.0		14.0	1.0	6.0	5.5	9.0		10.0	7.0
10	Troy	54.5	4.0	2.0	1.0		11.5	14.5	2.0		10.0	9.5
12	Old Dominion	42.0			10.0	4.0	6.0	2.5			10.0	9.5
13	ULM	32.0	6.0	4.0	2.0		1.0	5.5	4.0	3.0	1.5	5.0
14	Georgia State	29.0	1.0		7.0	7.0	3.5	5.5	1.0		3.0	1.0

Vic Bubas Cup All-Time Winners
1977 - Jacksonville
1978 - South Florida
1979 - South Florida
1980 - South Florida
1981 - South Florida
1982 - South Florida
1983 - Old Dominion
1984 - South Florida
1985 - South Florida
1986 - South Florida
1987 - Western Kentucky
1988 - South Alabama
1989 - South Alabama
1990 - South Florida
1991 - South Alabama
1992 - South Alabama
1993 - South Alabama
1994 - South Alabama
1995 - Arkansas State
1996 - South Alabama
1997 - South Alabama
1998 - Arkansas State
1999 - South Alabama
2000 - South Alabama
2001 - Middle Tennessee
2002 - Western Kentucky
2003 - Western Kentucky
2004 - Middle Tennessee
2005 - Middle Tennessee
2006 - Western Kentucky
2007 - Middle Tennessee
2008 - Western Kentucky
2009 - Middle Tennessee
2010 - Middle Tennessee
2011 - Middle Tennessee
2012 - Middle Tennessee
2013 - Middle Tennessee
2014 - Western Kentucky
2015 - South Alabama
2016 - South Alabama
2017 - South Alabama
2018 - South Alabama
2019 - Texas State
2020 - Arkansas State
2021 - South Alabama
2022 – Texas State

Calendar