By: Drew Mandeville 

     With March just around the corner, college basketball fans are looking forward to one of the biggest tournaments. The 68 teams look to finish out their regular season and have a fight in March, with gritty defense, Cinderella teams, and hopefully lots of highlight plays. Per ncaa.com, Selection Sunday will be on March 17 this year. Lots of teams have strong records and look to make an impression this March. The National Tournament allows schools with a history of success like North Carolina (UNC), Duke, and Kansas, to add to their illustrious history and gives rising programs the opportunity to make a name for themselves. 

     In Division 1 College basketball, and March Madness itself, there are groups of teams that are dominant and always look to make an impact once the tournament rolls around. Last season’s national champion, University of Connecticut (UCONN) is having another successful year, despite losing key players from last year, like Jordan Hawkins (New Orleans Pelicans), Andre Jackson (Milwaukee Bucks), and Adama Sanogo (Chicago Bulls). Other dominant teams include Duke University, The University of North Carolina, and The University of Houston, which are all top three in their respective conferences. Several teams look to have the roster to make a run for the national championship.  

     Eisenhower Assistant Basketball Coach, Joseph Pellegrino, commented on his pick to win the national championship as he shared, “I think the team that’s most equipped to win the National championship is UConn, because I know they won last year and it’s almost impossible to win back to back, but, with the players they lost last year within the transfer portal and the bench players that have improved from last year, they are definitely the most equipped”. At the time of publication, UConn’s team has four players averaging over 10.5 points per game, per ESPN. While teams hold the most success through team basketball, many players will have a strong impact by having solo performances this March. 

     Plenty of the top teams in the country boast bunches of the best players in college basketball. UNC retains Armando Bacot and RJ Davis, two players from the runner-up team that played the University of Kansas team that won in 2022. Kansas retained Dejaun Harris Jr., who’s been a steady backcourt member for the last few seasons. They also got 7’2 Hunter Dickinson who transferred from Michigan and has been averaging 18.9 points per game and 11.1 rebounds per game at the time of publication. Duke has a solid team, boasting Jared McCain, Tyrese Proctor, and Kyle Filipowski. Notable players from other teams include reigning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey of Purdue, reigning Big East Player of the Year, Tyler Kolek of Marquette, and Arizona’s Oumar Ballo. Pellegrino commented on Tennessee’s success this season saying, “…personally, I think Tennessee is going to do very well because they play very hard-nosed defense and I’m going to go with Dalton Knecht… He’s the offensive spark a team like that needs.” Knecht is averaging 20.2 points per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the field. With great players and great teams, the underrated ones could take a team by surprise and make a deeper run than expected.  

     One of the best things about March is the competitive Cinderella teams that defy odds and upset some of the best and biggest schools in the country. Last season saw Farleigh Dickinson University take down the Purdue Boilmakers in the first round and last season’s National Player of the Year, Zach Edey. Another surprise run was the San Diego State Aztecs, who were an underrated fifth seed that made a run to the final and fell short against a good UConn team. Every season holds some Cinderella odds. Over a decade ago, sophomore Stephen Curry and the Davidson Wildcats made a run to the Elite Eight where they lost to Mario Chalmers and the national champion, Kansas Jayhawks. Pelligrino commented on who he believed will be an under-the-radar team, “Let’s go with Creighton, they’re good, they’re a top twenty-five team. But they’re probably going to be a six or seven seed…the personal on their team is good enough to really shut people down.” Creighton’s center, Ryan Kalkbrenner, averages 2.6 blocks per game and 16.5 points per game. Kalkbrenner was ranked fifth on the CBS Top 100 players list.  

     With all the buzz of teams finishing out the regular season and looking to qualify for the tournament, the March Madness buzz will heat up and eventually everyone will be waiting to see which school will win. The Squire would like to thank Coach Pellegrino for taking the time to provide his insight.