The NCAA Division I Tournament Draws have been announced and there will be four New Zealand representatives at the Men’s Tournament although it could be argued five as Oscar Goodman is training with the University of Michigan Wolverines ahead of his debut in the 2025-26 season.
Patriot League champions Mason Whittaker and his American team will play a First Four tie against Mount St Mary’s on March 19 with the winner having the unenviable task of meeting #1 seed Duke in the First Round.
Ben Gold and #7 ranked Marquette will face #10 New Mexico on March 21. Also from the Big 10 Conference Tafara Gapare and #4 Maryland will face #13 Grand Canyon on March 21.
On March 20 Big West Conference MVP Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones and #12 UC San Diego will debut at the NCAA Tournament against #5 Michigan with Oscar Goodman looking on.
In the Women’s NCAA Tournament:
Northeast Conference Champions #15 Fairleigh Dickinson with Lilly Parke a starter will play #2 Texas Christian on March 21.
Also on Friday Waiata Jennings and #4 Baylor will play #13 Grand Canyon.
First up will be Lilly Taulelei and #11 Iowa State who will face Princeton in a First Four tie on Wednesday March 19.
Unfortunately we won’t see Charlisse Leger-Walker in action as she continues her rehab from the ACL injury she suffered last year but her UCLA Bruins are the overall number one seed at the tournament.
A number of New Zealander’s missed out on the Big Dance but will still be involved in tournament play.
The Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) is an invite only tournament for teams that were regular season champions plus others including the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament.
All First round games will be played on Thursday March 20:
Portland (Emme Shearer) v #2 Stanford
Hawaii (Ritorya Tamilo and Rebecca Moors v UNLV
Gonzaga (Tayla Dalton and Lauren Whittaker) v UTSA
There is also Kiwi interest at the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
March 20
Saint Mary’s (Maia Jones) v Texas Southern
March 21
Siena (Zoe Richardson) v Howard
Date TBC
Central Arkansas (Leah Mafua) v Abilene Christian or Northwestern State
At the Men’s NIT UC Irvine (redshirt Akiva McBirney-Griffin) host Northern Colorado on March 19
Meanwhile at the inaugural College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas Georgetown (redshirt Julius Halaifonua) will take on Washington State on March 31.
LACEY LOWDOWN 