You know who should be really peeved his team didn’t make the NCAA tournament? Steve Lavin. Sure, St. John’s lost at home in the first round of the NIT to future Penn coach Andy Toole’s Robert Morris squad. But just look at the bounty of riches the Redmen have when it comes to names: Sir'Dominic Pointer, God'sgift Achiuwa, Rysheed Jordan, and perhaps most appropriate, Max Hooper. Think long and hard about what you did, selection committee. A kid named God'sgift is going to graduate from St. John’s this spring never having had the honor of appearing on this list. Consider a dream crushed.
Meanwhile, back in the actual tournament, below are the 20 finest names to represent their school in the Big Dance beginning today. As always, prior honorees are not eligible to make the list this year. Apologies to some of the greats from the past, including Je'lon Hornbeak of Oklahoma, Rem Bakamus of Gonzaga and Hippolyte Tsafack of Memphis. And of course you have to actually make it into the bracket to qualify, so sorry to play-in game losers Gregory Graves from Mount St. Mary’s and Christian McCoggle of Texas Southern. Really a tough break also for Myles Davis of Xavier. At least the kid has three more years of eligibility.
These are all real names of real players in the NCAA tournament:
First Team
Scoochie Smith, Dayton
Wanaah Bail, UCLA
Indiana Faithful, Wofford
Hayward Register, Louisiana-Lafayette
Deverin Muff, Eastern Kentucky
Second Team
Cady Lalanne, Massachusetts
Ashton Pankey, Manhattan
Cazmon Hayes, Delaware
Merv Lindsay, New Mexico
Titus Rubles, Cincinnati
Third Team
Anson Winder, BYU
Herb Harrison, Eastern Kentucky
Vieux Kandle, Louisiana-Lafayette
Okey Ukah, Iowa
Yilret Yiljep, American
Honorable Mention
Josh Fortune, Providence
Langston Galloway, Saint Joseph’s
Robbie Lemons, Stanford
Enoch Hood, North Carolina Central
Sam Malone, Kentucky**
One thing that isn’t confusing at all is brothers Kyle and Kade Kager who play for American. Nice going, parents. Also, if you’re scoring at home, Delaware has a guy named Devon, another guy named Davon, and a third guy named Devonne.
All-Hyphen Team
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Arizona
Colton Ray-St Cyr, Coastal Carolina
Marvin King-Davis, Delaware
Jaylen Babb-Harrison, Eastern Kentucky
Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida
Steve Moundou-Missi, Harvard
Sherron Dorsey-Walker, Iowa State
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
K.C. Ross-Miller, New Mexico State
Jalil Abdul-Bassit, Oregon
Ben Brown-White, Stephen F. Austin