City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
David Comer (@dhcomer-cobl)
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As usual, Philadelphia has its fingerprints all over March Madness. 

Several dozen area alumni are playing in the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s basketball tournament, from stars on blue-blood programs with a chance to make a run to a national title down through role players on Cinderellas just hoping for their One Shining Moment on the sport’s biggest stage.

Here are the Philly-area players in this year’s men’s tournament: 

Al Amadou (Soph. | Marquette)
The Springside Chestnut Hill Academy product, a 6-foot-9 forward, is redshirting this season after seeing limited time last year as a freshman. Seventh-seed Marquette meets 10th-seed New Mexico in a first-round game in the South Region.

Tyrel Bladen (Gr. | Norfolk State)
The 6-foot-10 forward out of Coatesville is in his second year at Norfolk State after spending five seasons at Rider. Bladen, who has transitioned from starter to key reserve as this season has progressed, is averaging 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game. MEAC champ Norfolk State, the 16-seed in the West, plays top-seed Florida in a first-round matchup. 

Mikeal Brown-Jones (Sr. | Ole Miss)
Brown’s had an interesting career, going from a role player for two years at VCU (3.2 ppg) to a star for two years at UNC-Greensboro (14.3 ppg) and now back to Ole Miss, where he’s once again become a role player (4.1 ppg), playing in 28 games off the bench. The 6-foot-8 forward who played at Girard College and IMG Academy is technically in the NCAA Tournament for the second time, though VCU’s appearance in 2021 was ended when a number of players came down with COVID just days before the first round.

Andrew Carr (Gr. | Kentucky)
A West Chester East grad, Carr is capping out a strong collegiate career with his second NCAA Tournament appearance, having been one of the main reasons Delaware won the CAA title in 2022. While the Blue Hens’ stay was short-lived that year, No. 3 seed Kentucky has expectations of a much deeper run. A 6-10 forward, Carr has started 26 of 32 games this season, averaging 10.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg while shooting .554/.328/.757. 

Jack Clark (Gr. | Virginia Commonwealth)
The 2018 Cheltenham grad has taken a circuitous route to VCU. He spent four years at LaSalle, one at NC State and one at Clemson before arriving at VCU. The 6-foot-10 forward has started all 34 games for the A-10 champ and is averaging 9.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game. VCU, an 11-seed in the East, plays six-seed BYU in the first round.

Thomas Haugh (Soph. | Florida)
The 6-foot-9 forward from the Perkiomen School has been a major contributor for the SEC champ, averaging 9.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in 23.9 minutes per game. Haugh has started five games this season but has mainly come off the bench for the Gators. He has scored in double figures in 12 games, including five of the last six, and finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in a win against Auburn, the tournament’s overall top seed. Florida is the seeded first in the West and plays 16-seed Norfolk State in the first round.

AJ Hoggard (Gr. | Vanderbilt)
The 6-foot-4 point guard, a Coatesville native, played his first two years of high school basketball at Archbishop Carroll and his last two at Huntington Prep in West Virginia before a terrific four years at Michigan State that included two All-Big Ten selections. His success continued in the SEC, where he averaged 9.8 points and 4.6 assists - fourth-best in the conference - in 26.1 minutes per game this season. Vanderbilt is a 10-seed and will meet seven-seed Saint Mary’s in the East.

Christian Ings (Gr. | Norfolk State)
The 6-foot-2 guard out of Neumann Goretti, where he won three state titles, spent two years at Rider and is now in his fourth season at Norfolk State. Ings, who missed much of the 2022-23 season because of an ACL injury, is averaging 11.9 points in 27.3 minutes per game this year and scored his 1,000th career point for Norfolk State in the MEAC championship game last weekend. Ings is a phenomenal dunker, evidenced by his two dunks in a span of 90 seconds from a game against Morgan State earlier this season that were the first and third top plays on the SportsCenter Top 10.

Gestin Liberis (Jr. | St. Francis)
The 6-foot-9 forward, who played at the George School, has not seen action this season due to an injury after contributing primarily off the bench as a freshman and sophomore. St. Francis, the Northeast Conference champ, is a 16-seed in the South and plays another 16-seed in the South, Alabama State, in a First Four matchup for the right to face top-seed Auburn in the first round.

Matt Mayock (Soph. | American)
The 6-foot-7 forward from the Westtown School started 17 games this season for the Patriot League champ before he became a key bench player in mid-January. Mayock, who was named to the All-Patriot League Rookie Team last year, is averaging 7.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game. His 41 three-pointers tie him for second on his team. American is a 16-seed in the East and plays another 16-seed in the East, Mount St. Mary’s, in a First Four matchup for the right to face top-seed Duke in the first round.

Ahmad Nowell (Fr. | Connecticut)
The 6-foot guard, who won three state titles while at Imhotep, has played in 17 games and is averaging 1.5 points per contest for the two-time defending national champion Huskies despite battling shoulder and ankle injuries for much of the year. Eight-seed UConn plays nine-seed Oklahoma in a first-round game in the West.

Will Riley (Fr. | Illinois)
The Canadian native who played high school basketball at the Phelps School is a 6-foot-8 wing and a projected first-round pick in many 2025 NBA mock drafts. He scored 31 points in his first collegiate game and has been excellent ever since. He has started the last five games for the Illini and is averaging 17.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 35.6 minutes per game over that span. For the season, Riley is averaging 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. Illinois is a six-seed in the Midwest and will play its first-round game against the winner of the First Four contest between 11-seeds Texas and Xavier.

Bobby Rosenberger III (Sophomore | St. Francis)
The 6-foot-5 wing, who helped Perkiomen School win the PAISAA state championship in 2023, started the first 23 games of the season for the Red Flash and has come off the bench in the last 10. Rosenberger, who is averaging 8.5 points in 22.2 minutes per game, has scored in double figures 14 times this season with two 20-point games.

Justice Williams (Sr. | Robert Morris)
The 6-foot-4 guard from Philadelphia, who spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Roman Catholic before transferring to Montverde Academy, has missed this year due to an injury. Williams averaged 12.3 points per game for Robert Morris last season, his first at Robert Morris after spending two years at LSU. 15th-seed Robert Morris, the Horizon League champ, meets two-seed Alabama in a first-round contest in the East.

Robert Wright (Fr. | Baylor)
The 6-foot-1 guard played his first three years of high school basketball for Neumann Goretti and last year for an undefeated Montverde Academy team that featured Duke’s Cooper Flag, Maryland’s Derik Queen and a host of other high-level Division I players. He is now firmly entrenched in Baylor’s starting lineup, starting 19 of 33 games, including the last 17. He is averaging 11.3 points in 29.4 minutes per game and leads the team with 143 assists on the season. He scored a team-high 24 points in a win over Kansas in February. Nine-seed Baylor plays eight-seed Mississippi State in a first-round game in the East.

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Here are the Philly-area players in this year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament: 

Anna Camden (Gr. | Richmond)
Camden played four years at Penn State without getting close to the NCAA Tournament, then spent all last year at Richmond sidelined by an ACL injury. So she’ll finally get her chance in March Madness this weekend as No. 8 Richmond takes on No. 9 Georgia Tech in the first round. A 6-3 wing out of the Shipley School, Camden plays a value reserve role for the Spiders, averaging 3.7 ppg and 2.5 rpg in 13.2 mpg for the A-10 regular-season champs.

Maggie Doogan (Jr. | Richmond)
The former Catholic League Player of the Year at O’Hara, Doogan outdid herself this year by winning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year honors at the culmination of an outstanding junior year. The 6-2 forward set new career highs in points (16.3 ppg), rebounds (6.9 rpg) and assists (3.6 pg) on 54.9% shooting and 39.0% from 3-point range, also both career highs; her 1,365 career points have her No. 12 on the Richmond scoring list.

Diamond Johnson (Gr. | Norfolk State)
Johnson has had quite the college career, going from Rutgers to NC State to Norfolk State, winning all sorts of accolades along the way, including the MEAC Player of the Year honors this year after averaging 19.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 4.1 apg and 3.6 spg. The Neumann-Goretti grad has 2,105 career points to her name, and she’ll need to score quite a few if she wants to lead No. 16 Norfolk State to what would be an earth-shattering upset over No. 1 Florida. 

Zahra King (Fr. | California)
A 5-10 guard from Brooklyn (N.Y.) by way of the Westtown School, King has played in 19 games as a freshman with the Bears, including just nine appearances during the ACC portion of the schedule. She averaged 2.8 ppg and 1.3 rpg while hitting 33.% of her shots. No. 8 Cal plays No. 9 Mississippi State in the opening round, with the winner almost certain to face No. 1 Southern Cal.

Destiney McPhaul (R-Jr. | Mississippi State)
Speaking of Ole Miss, the Bulldogs have their own local presence in McPhaul, who resurfaced at MSU this season after first starting at Virginia Tech then almost immediately coming home to Temple, then leaving the Owls, all without playing a game of Division I hoops, back in 2021. The West Catholic ended up at Northwest Florida State JUCO, then at MSU, for whom she has averaged 8.1 ppg and 2.7 rpg as the team’s top reserve. 

Lucy Olsen (Sr. | Iowa)
Olsen stepped into a big-time situation at Iowa, the country’s third-leading scorer as a junior (23.3 ppg) joining a Hawkeyes team that was losing the player two slots ahead of her in the sensational Caitlin Clark. And the Spring-Ford product has performed admirably, averaging 18.0 ppg on .441/.360/.379 splits, and 22.3 ppg over the final 10 games of the regular season. Iowa earned the No. 6 seed in the Spokane regional, facing No. 11 Murray state in the opening round in a game at Oklahoma. 

Ava Renninger (Fr. | Fairleigh Dickinson)
A three-time state champion at Archbishop Wood, Renninger brought that winning spirit right to Fairleigh Dickinson. The 5-6 guard started the year as a reserve but quickly moved into the starting lineup for the Knights, which went unbeaten in the Northeast Conference and then captured the NEC title to earn a No. 15 seed and matchup with No. 2 TCU in the opening round. The NEC Rookie of the Year, Renninger is averaging 13.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 2.7 apg in 32 games (29 starts).

Sydni Scott (Jr. | Fairfield)
Scott played 18 minutes in Fairfield’s opener but then didn’t appear in another game until Jan. 9, when she scored 11 points against Iona. The O’Hara grad didn’t hit double figures again until Saturday — when she was 6-of-6 from deep for 18 points in the Stags’ MAAC championship win over Quinnipiac. The No. 12 seed in the Spokane 4 region, Fairfield will play No. 5 seed Kansas State in the opening round on Friday.

Bella Smuda (R-Jr. | Liberty)
The Downingtown East product is getting her first NCAA Tournament appearance after Liberty won the C-USA championship over Middle Tennessee, contributing a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double in the title game. A 6-5 forward, Smuda averaged 11.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg this year for the Flames, seeded No. 13 and facing No. 4 Kentucky in the Spokane 4 region. 

Kaylene Smikle (Jr. | Maryland)
Coming out of Westtown, Smikle was a standout for two years at Rutgers (17.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and then came to Maryland, where she brought that exact same production to College Park. The 5-11 guard is averaging 17.7 ppg and 4.3 rpg for the Terrapins, hitting 35.8% of her 3-pointers and 81.5% from the foul line; No. 4 Maryland hosts No. 13 Norfolk State in the first round.

Bella Toomey (Soph. | Fairleigh Dickinson)
A 5-11 forward out of Penn Charter, Toomey has been a valuable reserve for Fairleigh Dickinson each of her first two years in Madison (N.J.),  with 63 career appearances thus far. This season, she’s averaging 2.3 ppg and 2.2 rpg in 11.3 minutes, playing 32 games as FDU’s gone 29-3 and captured the Northeast Conference title.