NCAA Tournament – Thursday Watch

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

New England is represented in 14 of the 16 NCAA tournament games on Thursday.  Here’s a game-by-game run-down of today’s games and where you can watch these familiar faces:

12:15 PM     (14) Valparaiso vs (3) Michigan State        CBS             

12:40 PM     (11) Bucknell vs (6) Butler            tru TV     

Bucknell brings two former New England products off the bench in Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Frazier.  Fitzpatrick is a senior transfer from Penn who graduated from Xavier before doing a post-graduate year at Northfield Mount Hermon.  Frazier is a freshman point guard from Salisbury School.      

1:40 PM    (9) Wichita State vs (8) Pittsburgh        TBS             

Former Notre Dame Prep product Steven Adams is holding down the Panthers starting center position in just his freshman season while former Brewster Academy forward Durand Johnson is seeing about 12 minutes per game off the bench in his freshman campaign.  Former South Kent swingman J.J. Moore provides an offensive spark off the bench with over 8 points in just 18 minutes.  

2:10 PM    (13) New Mexico State vs (4) Saint Louis        TNT     

St. Louis used a ten man rotation to win the Atlantic 10 championship, and three of those 10 players came from Notre Dame Prep.  Grandy Glaze has started 18 out of 23 games this year while Jordair Jett and Jake Barnett come off the bench together in the backcourt.          

2:45 PM    (11) Saint Mary's vs (6) Memphis        CBS     

Former Cushing Academy guard Treaven Duffy is a walk-on at St. Mary’s while another Notre Dame Prep product, Antonio Barton, averaged just under six points per game in 17 minutes off the Memphis bench this season.      

3:10 PM    (14) Davidson vs (3) Marquette            tru TV         

Marquette brings a pair of guards off the bench with roots in the New England prep schools.  Former Notre Dame Prep post-grad Todd Mayo provides instant offense while Derrick Wilson runs the point on the second unit.      

4:10 PM    (16) Southern University vs (1) Gonzaga        TBS

Tilton alum Gerard Coleman is currently sitting out for Gonzaga, per NCAA rules, after transferring from Providence following his sophomore season.              

4:40 PM    (12) Oregon vs (5) Oklahoma State        TNT             

6:50 PM    (16) North Carolina A&T vs (1) Louisville        TBS     

Russ Smith, a product of the South Kent School, was Louisville’s leading scorer and one of the best guards in the Big East this season.  Rhode Island native and NMH alum Mike Marra is currently a senior at Louisville, although inactive due to his injury.  Former Kimball Union Academy forward Waylan Siverand provides frontcourt depth off the NC A&T bench.        

7:15 PM    (13) South Dakota State vs (4) Michigan        CBS     

Michigan is loaded with New England products.  St. Mark’s alum Nik Stauskas played over 30 minutes per game in his freshman campaign while Brewster Academy alum Mitch McGary was the team’s leading rebounder in his rookie campaign.  Former NMH point guard Spike Albrecht, another freshman, saw action in all 33 games while Blake McLimans (Worcester Academy) and Josh Bartelstein (Phillips Exeter) are both seniors.  SKSU has former Proctor Academy guard Taevaunn Prince, who came off the bench for 14 minutes per game.          

7:20 PM    (11) Belmont vs (6) Arizona            TNT     

Another freshman out of St. Mark’s, Kaleb Tarczewski, held down the starting center spot for Arizona this year as a freshman while Kevin Parrom and Mark Lyons also starred in the NEPSAC.  Parrom, from South Kent, played 24 minutes per game, while former Brewster Academy guard Mark Lyons led the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game after transferring from Xavier.          

7:27 PM    (12) California vs (5) UNLV            tru TV         

Former Notre Dame Prep big man Khem Birch averaged 2.6 blocks, along with 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds, in just 22 minutes per game after becoming eligible at the semester break following his transfer from Pittsburgh.      

9:20 PM    (9) Missouri vs (8) Colorado State        TBS     

Mizzou is led by a familiar face in former Cushing Academy point guard Phil Pressey, who is one of the best passers in the country with 7.1 assists/game.  Tilton School alum Alex Oriakhi had 11 double-doubles following his transfer from UConn last year, while another Tilton product, Dominique Bull saw action in eight games this season.          

9:45 PM    (12) Akron vs (5) Virginia Commonwealth    CBS     

Former Brewster Academy forward Chauncey Gilliam was an offensive sparkplug for Akron this year with 5+ points per game in just 15 minutes.          

9:50 PM    (14) Harvard vs (3) New Mexico            TNT     

Harvard has a pair of NMH alums in Laurent Rivard and Evan Cummins.  Rivard averaged over 10 points per game while shooting 40% from the three-point line as the team’s starting shooting-guard while Cummins saw action in 5 games this season.  Former Brewster Academy big man Emmanuel Negedu is currently a senior at New Mexico, but unable to play due to a diagnosed heart condition.         

9:57 PM    (13) Montana vs (4) Syracuse            tru TV

Three of Syracuse top four scorers are New England products in Brewster Academy’s C.J. Fair, Notre Dame Prep’s James Southerland, and St. Andrew’s Michael Carter-Williams.  Fair averaged a team best 14.4 points and 7.1 rebounds while Southerland wasn’t far behind with 13.9 and 5.2.  MCW was one of the national leaders in assists with 7.7 while stuffing the stat sheet with 12 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.7 steals.  Another St. Andrew’s alum, and former Worcester Academy post-grad, Russ Deremer, is a senior walk-on who saw action in 10 games.  Montana has former Vermont Academy guard Keron DeShields, who averaged just under 7 points per game in 21 minutes.