City of Basketball Love

Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35)
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For the first time in six years, the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament returns to Philadelphia. But the city of Philadelphia has never left March Madness.

Every year, there’s always a heavy influence of local talent and coaches who partake in the big dance, and 2022 is no exception. Though there might not be a ton of locals on the court for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Philadelphia next weekend — though a few upsets could certainly bring some fan favorites home — there’s going to be recognizable names scattered throughout the field — not including the local talent at Villanova, which we’ll be featuring on its own this week.

Here’s a look at all the teams (and first-round matchups) that feature former Philly-area players on their rosters, in no particular order:

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Memphis
Penny Hardaway has led Memphis to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since he took over the program at his alma mater in 2018. The Tigers are the No. 9 seed in the West Region and they will be battling the No. 8 seed Boise State after the Broncos won the Mountain West Conference Tournament to earn the automatic bid. Memphis is one of two teams from the American Athletic Conference in the tournament, as they got an at-large bid after a 21-10 season. 

Former Roman Catholic big man Jalen Duren has been a key cog in the Tigers’ success this season averaging 12.2 ppg and 8.1 rpg during his freshman campaign. Duren had 21 points and a career high 20 rebounds in an 85-69 victory over UCF in the AAC Tournament quarterfinals on March 11. The freshman center, the AAC’s Rookie of the Year, is being projected as a lottery pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. John Camden, who played at both Westtown and Archbishop Carroll before a pandemic-forced move to Brewster Academy (N.H.) as a senior, and Ayomide Onu (Phelps School) are on the Tigers roster as well, but are redshirting this season. 

UConn vs. New Mexico State
UConn is coming into this tournament as a No. 5 seed, after earning their highest seed since 2011 when they were a No.3 seed and they won the National Championship over Butler. The Huskies will be playing the No. 12 seed in the West Region, New Mexico State who won both the regular season and conference tournament championship in the WAC this year. UConn has their best regular season under Dan Hurley going 23-9, finishing third in the Big East during the regular season including wins over Villanova, Marquette, and Auburn. 

There are multiple players from the Philadelphia hoops scene in this matchup, with two being members of the Huskies program and one being a member of the Aggies. UConn has former PCL POY Rahsool Diggins (Archbishop Wood) who saw action in nine games this season. They also have Westtown alum Jalen Gaffney, a reserve guard who averages 4.1 ppg and saw action in all 32 games this season. 

New Mexico State has 6-10 sophomore center Will McNair Jr. (Martin Luther King), who averages 6.7 ppg and 4.9 rpg for the Aggies. 

Michigan State
The Spartans are headed to their 24th straight NCAA Tournament under head coach Tom Izzo, as they will be the No. 7 seed in the West Region and will face off against No. 10 seed Davidson. Michigan State posted a 22-12 record on the year, earning an at-large bid after securing four top 25 victories, including wins over UConn, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Davidson received the lone at-large bid out of the A10 and are searching for their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2008 when Stephen Curry led them to the Elite 8. 

Coatesville native, as well as former Archbishop Carroll point guard A.J. Hoggard is one of the main guards for this years’ Michigan State roster. The 6-4 sophomore, who played as a freshman and sophomore at Carroll before transferring to Huntington Prep (W.Va.), is averaging 6.8 ppg and 4.9 apg this season. Hoggard posted a double-double in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals against Purdue when he had 17 points and 10 assists. 

Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech comes into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country after winning four games in four days to win the ACC Tournament and get the ACC autobid after defeating Duke in the title game on Saturday night. The Hokies are the No. 11 seed in the East region and will play the No. 6 seed Texas who received an at-large spot out of the Big 12. 

Justyn Mutts, a St. Augustine Prep and South Jersey native is one of the more integral parts to head coach Mike Young’s lineup as he does a little bit of everything for the Blacksburg school. Mutts averages 10.1 ppg, on 53.6 % shooting from the field, while collecting 7.4 rpg. The 6-7 forward is a multi-positional defender who posted a 11 point, 10 rebound double-double in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal victory over Notre Dame. 

Yale
Yale earned the No. 14 seed in the East Region and will face the No. 3 seed Purdue Friday afternoon after the Bulldogs defeated Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final Sunday roughly five hours before the bracket was unveiled. To have a chance at pulling off the upset, Yale is going to have to contain the dynamic offense of Purdue that averages 79.8 ppg, led by potential lottery pick Jaden Ivey and the interior duo of Zach Edey and Trevion Williams. 

The Bulldogs get contributions from Vorhees native and Eastern Regional alum, Matthue Cotton on the perimeter. Cotton, a 6-5 junior wing, averages 7.3 ppg, including a 23-point performance earlier in the season against UMass where he also shot 5-10 from 3-point range. Cotton also had 14 points against Auburn back in January; the Tigers earned a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region. 

Kentucky
Kentucky enters this year’s tournament seeking their ninth National Championship and first since 2012. The Wildcats earned the No. 2 seed in the East region and will play against No. 15 seed St. Peters who won the MAAC Tournament and earned the auto-bid. The Peacocks bring a stout defense to the table as they only allow 61.8 ppg, but face their biggest test yet in a Kentucky team that has potential National Player of the Year, Oscar Tshiebwe who averaged 17.0 ppg on 60.2% shooting from the field, while grabbing a nation’s best 15.1 rpg this season.

The Wildcats have a few Philadelphia connections to their team, starting with 6-9 sophomore forward Lance Ware who went to Camden High School. Ware averaged 1.6 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 6.5 mpg this season. On John Calipari’s staff is longtime Drexel head coach, Bruiser Flint who guided the Dragons from 2001-2016 and won four CAA COY awards. 

Miami
Miami earned the No. 10 seed in the Midwest region getting an at-large bid out of the ACC and will play the No. 7 seed USC on Friday afternoon. The Hurricanes went 23-10, including wins over Duke and North Carolina. USC went 26-7, but struggled against top 25 teams going 1-4 on the year. 

The Hurricanes second leading scorer is Bonner-Prendergast alum and sophomore guard Isaiah Wong who puts up 15.2 ppg. Wong scored 20 or more points eight different times this year, including 27 in a victory over Boston College. Nisine “Wooga” Poplar, is a 6-4 reserve guard for Miami who attended Math, Civics, & Sciences during his high school days. Poplar appeared in 30 games this season averaging 2.6 ppg. D.J. Irving, a former Roman Catholic star, as well as Roman/Team Final coach is in his first year as a member of the Hurricanes’ staff. 

Colgate
After putting a real scare into Arkansas in last year’s tournament, trailing by only three at halftime as a No. 14 seed in the first round, Colgate enters this year as a No. 14 seed again aiming to upset No. 3 Wisconsin in the Midwest region. The Red Raiders out of Hamilton (N.Y.) won the Patriot League regular season and conference championship and have won 19 of their last 20 games. Wisconsin has potential first team All-American and Big Ten POY Johnny Davis leading the way. 

The Red Raiders are led by head coach and former Penn star Matt Langel. Langel, scored 1,191 points during his Penn career and led the Quakers to two NCAA Tournament appearances during his playing career from 1996-2000. He also held assistant coaching positions under Fran Dunphy at both Temple and Penn. 

Former Methacton star big man Jeff Woodward is one of the main offensive pieces for the Red Raiders that makes their offense a hard unit to contain. The 6-11 sophomore averaged 6.5 ppg and 4.1 rpg for Colgate and had a stellar performance in the Patriot League semifinals with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 3 steals in the 81-61 win over Lehigh. Episcopal Academy product Alex Capitano is also on the roster but has played in just one game this year. 

Iowa State
Iowa State, who was picked to finish last in the Big 12 this season exceeded expectations and went 22-12, earning four wins over top 25 teams and earning a No. 11 seed in the Big Dance. The Cyclones are set to go to war against the No. 6 seed in the Midwest region LSU in what figures to be a defensive battle between two teams who only allow 63 ppg each. LSU just fired head coach Will Wade on Saturday after a few years of NCAA violations.

The Cyclones are led by Izaiah Brockington (Archbishop Ryan), the Penn State transfer who leads the team at 17.2 ppg and 7.1 rpg as a 6-4 guard. 

The Tigers have reserve guard Justice Williams (Roman Catholic/IMG Academy) in their rotation, as the freshman plays 10.8 mpg and is one of their better perimeter defenders. 

Providence
Providence is coming off the best regular season in program history, as Ed Cooley led the Friars to their first-ever Big East regular season title. Providence went 25-5 this season, including wins over other tournament teams in Texas Tech, UConn, Wisconsin, Marquette, and Creighton. The Friars are the No. 4 seed in the Midwest region and will play the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State as the No. 13 seed in the first round. This matchup is being looked at as the most trendy upset pick of the first round due to South Dakota States’ elite offense that scores 86.7 ppg, second best in the country. 

The Friars have some Philadelphia flavor on their roster, most notably with Saint Joseph’s transfer guard Jared Bynum who averages 12.7 ppg and has scored 25 or more points in three different games this season. PC also has La Salle transfer forward Ed Croswell (St. Joseph’s Prep) who is one of their top reserves. Croswell averages 5.2 ppg off the bench, shooting 66.7% from the field. 

Iowa vs. Richmond
Richmond needed a Cinderella run and to win four games in four days in the A-10 tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament and they did just that, knocking off Davidson in the conference title game and keeping Dayton out of the field in the meantime. The Spiders earned the No. 12 seed in the Midwest region and are led by two 2,000 point scorers in Grant Golden and Jacob Gilyard, the latter is the NCAA all-time steals leader. Iowa won the Big Ten tournament, earning the No. 5 seed in Midwest on the backs of All-American Keegan Murray who averages 23.6 ppg on 55.5% shooting from the field as a 6-8 wing. Iowa has won 12 of their last 14 games heading into the tournament. 

This matchup is a coaching battle between two former PCL and Ivy League players in Chris Mooney (Archbishop Ryan/Princeton) of Richmond and Fran McCaffrey (La Salle/Penn) of Iowa. Mooney is making his third trip to the NCAA Tournament as head coach of the Spiders, with it being the first since 2011. Mooney is the Spiders’ all time wins leader and also made coaching stops at Lansdale Catholic and Beaver College (Arcadia University). McCaffrey has been head coach at Iowa since 2010 and is looking for his first appearance in the Sweet 16. 

Archbishop Wood graduate and PCL champion, Marcus Randolph is a member of the Spiders roster and appeared in eight games this season. 

Texas A&M-CC
Texas A&M Corpus-Christi will play Texas Southern in the first game of the tournament on Tuesday night in the First Four matchup. The winner will receive the No. 16 seed in the Midwest region and play No. 1 seed Kansas. 

The Islanders of Texas A & M CC’s campus is 1,759 miles away from Philadelphia, but they have 6-5 senior guard and former Upper Dublin star Simeon Fryer on the roster. Fryer averages 7.8 ppg and 3.2 rpg for the Islanders. 

Michigan
To the surprise of many, Michigan earned a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and avoided having to play in the “First Four” round after going 17-14 on the season. The 17 wins were the fewest amongst any of the teams in this year’s tournament. The Wolverines will be playing the No. 6 seed in the South region, Colorado State who went 25-5 and has the Mountain West POY David Roddy, who averaged 19.6 ppg this season, including a 36 point performance against Creighton. 

Michigan has former Saint Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli on their staff as their associate head coach. Martelli held the head coaching position on Hawk Hill from 1995-2019 winning 444 games and going to 8 NCAA Tournament’s, and notably led the Wolverines through a late-game stretch when Juwan Howard was suspended.

Bryant
Bryant will play Wright State on Wednesday night in the No. 16 seed play-in game for the right to play No. 1 seed Arizona on Friday. Bryant is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history after winning the NEC Tournament and Wright State is this year’s representative out of the Horizon League.

Phil Martelli Jr. is the associate head coach for Byrant. Martelli Jr. played under his father Phil Martelli at Saint Joseph’s from 2000-2003, as well as served as the program’s director of program administration from 2017-2018 after a stint as an assistant coach at Delaware. 

Norfolk State
The Spartans earned the No. 16 seed in the East region after winning the MEAC Tournament and will play the reigning NCAA Tournament champions, the No. 1 seed Baylor Bears of the Big 12. Norfolk State is led by senior guard, Joe Bryant Jr. The 6-1 guard averaged 16.6 ppg and 20 or more points on ten separate occasions this season. The Bears went 5-3 this season against top 25 teams and won a share of the Big 12 title.

Norfolk State has former Neumann-Goretti guard, Christian Ings on the roster. The 6-1 junior guard averages 9.1 ppg and shoots 43.8% from 3-point range. 

Delaware
After going on a run as the No. 5 seed in the CAA Tournament, the Blue Hens will be headed to the Big Dance to play against Villanova, where Delaware will be the No. 15 seed in the South region and Villanova will be the No. 2 seed. Villanova, who was the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament defeated Creighton 54-48 in the conference title game. The Wildcats only allow 63.1 ppg. 

Delaware has several players on their roster with Philadelphia area connections, starting with Jameer Nelson Jr. (Haverford School), who leads the team with 13.7 ppg and 1.6 spg. Former West Chester East standout, Andrew Carr is a key player for the Blue Hens as he averages 9.9 ppg and 5.2 rpg. Also on the roster is former Villanova big man Dylan Painter, who averages 11.9 ppg and a team-high 6.6 rpg. Former Westtown forward Anthony Ochefu is also on the roster. 

The Blue Hens are led by head coach Martin Ingelsby, who played his high school ball at Archbishop Carroll and his father Tom Ingelsby was a standout guard for Villanova.