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While the latter stages of the 2024/25 NBA season are certainly on people’s minds, there is one other basketball showdown looming on the horizon that has caught the eye. The curtain-closing NCAA Tournament is just around the corner, and the fabled March Madness bedlam is almost here. This year, Auburn and Duke are the front runners. Johni Broome aims to bring a national championship to the Tigers for the first time. At the same time, freshman sensation Cooper Flagg hopes to rubber-stamp his number-one status in this year’s draft with yet another dominant display for the Blue Devils. But whose footsteps does he look to follow in?
What’s All the Fuss About?
You might be wondering why anyone would care about the collegiate game, especially when the NBA playoffs aren’t too far away. But the 128-team single elimination format known as the bracket does plenty to get the juices flowing. Unlike in the professional game where best-of-seven series’ are commonplace, March Madness has 64 games with a very simple premise: lose and you are out.
This creates a thrill like nothing else and has prompted people to predict their March Madness bracket, competing in leagues against friends, colleagues, and family members. These predictors are now available to top bookmakers, too. For example, Bovada’s March Madness Bracket competition will see $80,000 claimed by the player who racks up the most points throughout the month. Points are awarded for correct predictions throughout, with more points offered for deeper tournament runs. Over the years, many superstars have taken their teams into deep waters and even to the championship. But which current top stars are among them? Let’s find out.
Steph Curry
Before becoming a household name as a Golden State Warriors superstar, Steph Curry was a little-known sharpshooter for the rank outsider Davidson. But that was all about to change as the 2008 NCAA Tournament got underway. The Wildcats were a number ten seed, and no one gave them much chance. But they didn’t know what their leading man was capable of. It all began with a jaw-dropping 40-point effort in the first round to sink the seventh seed Gonzaga. Even as Davidson trailed by double digits, Curry caught fire, sinking eight three-pointers to lead a heroic comeback that made national headlines.
But neither Curry nor the Wildcats were finished there. He followed up with 30 points in an upset over second-seeded Georgetown. Once again, he left it late to kick into gear, rattling in 25 points in the second half to end any hopes the Hoyas had of progressing. The future four-time NBA champion still had plenty left in the tank, torching Wisconsin for 33 points in the Sweet 16. It looked as though Davidson was on for an almighty shocker in the elite eight against Kansas. Curry poured home 25 points, but ultimately, that wasn’t enough, and the top seed survived by the skin of their teeth and progressed to the final four by just two points. Despite the elimination, the current Warriors man lit up the NCAA tournament in a way few had before – or since – and his exploits will go down as some of the greatest ever.
Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis made headlines this season seemingly out of nowhere. The Dallas Mavericks had been on the hunt for a new big man all season, but no one could have predicted that would ultimately be Davis, nor could they imagine that they would trade away the face of the franchise, Luka Doncic, to seal the deal. 13 years before that blockbuster shift, AD was taking March Madness by storm, anchoring the Kentucky Wildcats’ run to their eighth national championship. The former Lakers defensive behemoth was on song all throughout the tournament, but he clicked into another gear once the final four got underway. Davis erupted in the semifinals against Louisville, dominating at both ends of the court as he hammered home 18 points at one end and 14 rebounds at the other. He followed that up with a defensive clinic in the championship game against Kansas. Though Davis scored just six points, his monstrous 16 rebounds, six blocks, three steals, and unmatched control of the paint powered Kentucky to victory. The experts couldn’t believe what they had seen, naming The Brow as the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament for his exploits and sealing his spot as the number one overall pick in the draft that followed shortly after.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant only played one college basketball season, but boy did he make it count. The Texas Longhorns forward became the first freshman to win the prestigious Naismith Player of the Year, averaging 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds during the season. His March Madness performance added an exclamation point to his incredible campaign. Durant led Texas to a first-round win over New Mexico State, where he dropped 27 points. Though the Longhorns fell to USC in the second round, Durant left everything on the court, posting a stat line of 30 points and nine rebounds. His dominance in just two games was enough to underline his generational talent.