The NCAA Tournament is now upon us, ready to give dreamers a chance — to reach the Final Four, to enjoy the final basketball experience of their life and for the lucky few, to enhance their profile enough to get the NBA’s attention.
It’s a weekly showcase between now and the championship game where the basketball world witnesses the players who rise to the occasion and flick away the pressure and urgency. Not everyone is built for this.
What’s surprising is a vast majority of NBA players never experienced long NCAA Tournament runs, and those who did were fortunate to play for the usual college basketball powerhouses: Stephon Castle (UConn), Al Horford (Florida) and De’Andre Hunter (Virginia) won championships while the likes of Cooper Flagg (Duke) reached the Final Four, all with highly-seeded teams, all quite expectedly.
As for players who truly qualified as Cinderellas? The tournament became their last dance; they either had very short NBA careers or none at all, though there are exceptions.