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At 6-11 and 270 pounds, Jahlil is not your typical 19 year-old. He was a McDonald's All-American, and already played for Team USA. He averages 18 points and 9 boards per night, and most nights he makes it look easy. There are certain guys you look at in college and say, they're going to be stars in the NBA. Well, Okafor is a man in a boy's world and many times when I watch him, he isn't asserting himself as much as I feel he could. For that reason, I feel he could guide Duke to a championship, but even if he doesn't, I think he could go down as one of the great ones in the NBA. He isn't as emphatic as Shaq was in college, but as his confidence grows, I could see him flourishing. He sort of reminds me of Tim Duncan.
Note: His best season has been his rookie year. He's not nearly the man I thought he'd be, at all.| The Ducks played Wisconsin and again I felt they should have beat them. The Ducks had the game tied with just a couple minutes to go and just seemed to give it away. Disappointing. |
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After the first weekend of games, 2 mid-majors remained:
Lowest seeds to sneak into the Sweet-16:
Top seeds bounced before the Sweet-16:
2-seed Gonzaga knocked out the lowest seed 11-UCLA
4-seed Louisville beat the next lowest seed 8-NC State
With 7-MSU "upsetting" Oklahoma, that leaves Lou & MSU as the lowest remaining seeds (in the Elite 8).
 | THE UPSETS |
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Those were small schools from smaller conferences upsetting Big 12 programs.
Other upsets (not quite as monumental, but significant)...
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Jubilation of March...
 | With a monster win over 3-seed Iowa State, 14-seed University of Alabama Birmingham (the only team representing Conference USA) has reason to celebrate. That's the only glory they'd see as UCLA moppped the floor with em in the round of 32. |
 | UCLA upset SMU on a goaltending call, then ended UAB's cinderella run, making them the lowest seed alive (11). They fell to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. With Oregon playing Wisconsin well, Arizona in the Elite 8, and Utah and UCLA in the Sweet 16, the Pac-12 made a pretty good showing this year. |
 | 14-seed Georgia State celebrates after earning probably the 2nd biggest upset of the tournament, when they knocked off Baylor Bears. |
 | Wichita's fired up, as they should be after getting past Indiana, then upsetting Kansas. The 7-seed then got shown up by the Irish. |
 | The ref gets trapped in the celebration after NC State eliminated Villanova (the 1st 1-seed to fall; and it happened before the Sweet 16). |
...and the dejection
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| LandenLucas of Kansas |
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| Frank Booker of Oklahoma |
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| Alex Barlow - Butler |
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| Briante Weber didn't get to play for VCU |
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| Best dunk of the year by Jerian Grant of Notre Dame. He drove baseline, jumped over a guy, but seemed to get leverage off him, |
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 | Bobby Portis, Arkansas. He's only a sophomore, up for the Wooden Award, and will probably turn pro. Hoping not. 18 ppg, 9 boards, and a solid shot blocker. Shade under 7 feet tall. |
 | Nice picture huh? This is Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin. He led the badgers in scoring (18), rebounding (8), blocks (1.5), FG% (55), and 3-point percentage (41). At one point he was leading the team in assists as well. He is a 7-footer who exploded on the scene last year when he scored 43 points in a game when nobody really knew who he was. Now he looks like a polished pro. |
 | Georges Niang, Iowa State. Like Kaminsky, he does a bit of everything. He's 6-8 and a great team player, sets up teammates, shoots great. Love his game. And he's great in the post against guys taller than him. I'm sure he'd like to get that UAB game back. I hope he returns next year to play with former Beaver Hallice Cooke. |
 | Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky. This guy has improved mightily since his Freshman season. Many thought he'd be a 1-and-done and he's now finishing up his Junior season. I imagine if he were on a different team, he'd average more than 9 points per game. However, this guy is 7 feet tall, jumps like a shooting guard, blocks shots, grabs boards, and is quick as a cat defensively. It's rare to see 7 footers get up and down the court as fast as Cauley. His speed and defensive ability are why he has a shot to not only play in the NBA, but one day excel. |
| R.J. Hunter is 2-time conference POY, Ryan Hunter transferred from Kentucky, and Kevin Ware is the guy who made national headlines when he broke his leg while playing for Louisville. This trio helped Georgia State dance this year after just missing last year. Hunter and Harrow combined to average 40 points per game this year, which is the top duo in the nation. Georgia State beat Baylor on a game-winning shot by R.J. Hunter, despite Harrow not playing. Harrow returned vs Xavier, but was gimpy and ineffective. Hunter is a junior who will probably be a 1st round pick if he declares. If he returns he'll have Kevin Ware by his side, but Harrow's a Senior. Update: R.J. Hunter has declared for the NBA draft |
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R.J. Hunter |
Ryan Harrow |
Kevin Ware |
| Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet comprise one of the best backcourts in the nation. It's unfortuante they didn't have the assistance of Cleanthony Early and Chadrick Lufile this year; they needed them against Notre Dame. Baker and VanVleet are both Juniors and could very well return next year. Then again, they both could get drafted, but I don't imagine their stock is that high. Will be interested in seeing WSU next year if they do return. |
Ron Baker |
Fred VanVleet |
 | Buddy Hield, Oklahoma. Junior averaged 17 ppg and grabbed 5 boards. Good all-around player. |
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Shooters
 | Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga. Didn't play last year after transferring from Kentucky. Shot 47% from downtown. He's methodical, doesn't tend to take errant shots, always in control, and I'd call him the best shooter in the nation. |
 | Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame. He's the team captain and seems to have ice in his veins, as he shot 42% from downtown and made a lot of clutch shots. I love watching the Irish play because of Pat and Jerian Grant; they just love the game, have fun, and smile a lot. This picture is of him blocking a shot because it's one of the timeliest blocks ever. He swatted Kellen Dunham of Butler to force OT, then the Irish went onto win. #monsterblock. |
 | Davon Reed, Miami (#ItsAllAboutTheU). Davon missed November, and didn't really establish a role until January. He then went onto nail 49% of his 3 pointers, which was 4th best in the nation, and tops among players from the "elite" (top big) conferences. |
 | Tyler Haws, BYU. 22 ppg is 4th best in the nation, and he's the highest active scorer in NCAA basketball. Top 30 all-time. Does he have a future in the NBA? |
 | Justin Anderson, Virginia. The lefty worked on his game a lot this past offseason and his 3-point percentage rose from 29% to 45%. |
 | Joe Young, Oregon. He was on this list last year and after averaging 20 ppg, deserves to be here again this year after being named Pac-12 Player of the Year. He will be missed (he's a Senior). Just hoping he has a job at the next level. |
Others
| Mamadou N'Diaye, UC Irvine Anteaters. N-Ji is the tallest player in DI basketball, standing 7-foot-6. Irvine was on tv a handful of times over the past couple years and I've become a fan of Mamadou. All the pics below are from last year. Mamadou with Webb is the tallest/shortest players in 2014. | |
Charles Webb 5-foot-4 (not related to Spud) | |
Joe Young is 6-2; up to his elbows | |
Johnathan Loyd trying to check Mamadou | |
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Kevin Alter, Navy. At 5-6, he is the shortest known DI player this year. |
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Dillon Brooks (6-6 Duck) guarding Frank Kaminsky. Brooks is a Freshman and he's someone more people should have heard of but very few have. |
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For whatever reason, I guess I never felt Bo Ryan deserved a spot on this wall. To me he's a bit of a clown, and he's never won a championship, but after beating the most talented Kentucky team I've ever seen in my lifetime, I felt it was time to give him his due. Bo's got Wisconsin in the tournament every year he's been coach, dating back to 2001. With Frank Kaminsky in the post and all their experience, they stand a really good chance at taking down Duke on Monday. Note: #1 Wisconsin got past Kentucky to face Duke in the championship, but lost 63-68. |
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Mike Krzyzewski coached Duke for 42 years and retired in 2022. Coach K. He won 1,129 games, more than anyone, ever. He won back-to-back titles from 91-92 with Laettner, Hurley and company. Subsequent titles came in 2001, 2010 and now 2015 (over Wisconsin) -- this year 2015 was his last title. |
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Bobby Hurley, Buffalo. This is Hurley's 2nd year as a head coach and he's coached Buffalo both those years. This year they got some national recognition when they played Kentucky pretty well on national TV. Then they made it to the NCAA tournament, but lost to West Virginia in the "second" round. Hurley won titles when he played for Coach K at Duke. |
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Dana Altman, Oregon. Altman won Pac-12 Coach of the Year, and rightfully so after his team only returned 4 players, finished 2nd in the Pac-12, got to the NCAA tournament, and beat Oklahoma State. Not bad huh? I thought he should have got some National recognition. |
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Tom Izzo, Michigan State. Back in 2012 he got his team to the Final 4 when they were favored to do so. This year very few picked them to the Final 4 and they got there again. This guy is a future Hall-of-Famer. |
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Mark Gottfried, NC State. Former Murray State and long-time Alabama coach, he's now in his 5th year at NC State. NC State was a bubble team that knocked off 1-seeded Villanova before losing in the Sweet 16 to Louisville. |
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Matt Painter, Purdue. Many wondered if Painter's job might be in jeopardy this year, but then he got his Boilermakers into the NCAA tournament after finishing tied for 3rd in the Big 10. |
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John Calipari, Kentucky. Calipari earlier had implemented a platoon system in which he'd start 5 guys, then bench them all for 5 backups. It was pretty unprecedented, but he did so in order to get all his future NBA players sufficient minutes. The Cats were 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final 4. |
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Roy Williams, North Carolina. There was some controversy in Chapel Hill after reports surfaced about fake classes for athletes. Apparently Roy was cleared of any wrong-doing, so his legacy continues. He got his Heels to the Sweet 16 before losing to Wisconsin. Nearly everyone could return next year, so the Heels could be a force (just as Wisconsin was this year when everyone returned). |
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John Thompson III, Georgetown Hoyas. The son of John Thompson (who coached Georgetown for 27 years), John is now in his 11th season... he's led the Hoyas into the NIT or NCAA every year. |
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Bill Self, Kansas. The Jayhawks have won or shared the Big 12 title every year he's been coaching them. |
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Rick Barnes, Tennessee. He's been a head coach for 25 years and 17 of those with Texas. He got Texas into the NCAA tournament in 16 of his 17 years. In 2016, he will start his first season at the helm for Tennessee Vols (after being fired by Texas). |
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Scott Drew, Baylor. This year was his 12th year at Baylor and aside from an early exit at the hands of Georgia State, this might have been his best work, because 2 BIG men left after last season, and many did not predict this team to make it to the tournament. |