After a long regular season, the NCAA Tournament tips off Tuesday night with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
The field of 64 will be set after Wednesday night, and the first round will kick off the tournament in earnest on Thursday.
Given North Carolina’s status as an elite state for basketball, it should come as no surprise that many of the teams in this year’s field have players who spent all or part of their high school careers in gyms in the Tar Heel State.
Here are this year’s former North Carolina high school basketball players whose teams qualified for the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament.
Alabama – Davin Cosby Jr. (Word of God)
Arizona State – D.J. Horne (Cary)
Arkansas – Ricky Council IV (Southern Durham)
Charleston – Jordan Crawford (North Mecklenburg) and Ben Burnham (Carmel Christian)
Furman – Carter Whitt (Leesville Road), Davis Molnar (Terry Sanford) and Garrett Hein (Concord First Assembly)
Howard – Bryce Harris (Greensboro Day)
Illinois – Jayden Epps (Combine Academy)
Kansas – Bobby Pettiford (South Granville) and M.J. Rice (Prolific Prep CA via Durham Academy)
Kent State – Malique Jacobs (Bull City Prep/New Hanover)
Louisiana – Themus Fulks (Moravian Prep/North Davidson)
Marquette – Keeyan Itejere (GRACE Christian)
Memphis – Elijah McCadden (Greenfield School)
Mississippi State – Shakeel Moore (Moravian Prep/Piedmont Classical)
NC State – Terquavion Smith (Farmville Central), Breon Pass (Reidsville), Chase Graham (Athens Drive), Jordan Snell (Panther Creek), Gregg Gantt (Trinity Christian), Alex Nunnally (Cary Academy), L.J. Thomas (Bull City Prep), K.J. Keatts (GRACE Christian, Broughton)
Pittsburgh – Jamarius Burton (Independence) and K.J. Marshall (Trinity Christian)
Princeton – Vernon Collins (Greensboro Day)
Tennessee – Jonas Aidoo (Liberty Heights/Voyager Academy), Freddie Dilione (Word of God/Trinity Christian), Kent Gilbert (D.H. Conley)
Texas Christian – Tyler Lundblade (Greensboro Day)
UNC Asheville – Fletcher Abee (Freedom), Silas Mason (Ben L. Smith), Zaharie Maddox (Davie County), Nick McMullen (Ben L. Smith), Justin Stephens (Corinth Holders), Davion Cunningham (North Mecklenburg), Caleb Burgess (Moravian Prep)
Utah State – Connor Gillis (Gaston Christian)
Virginia – Jayden Gardner (Heritage) and Kadin Shedrick (Holly Springs)
Virginia Commonwealth – Josh Banks (Olympic) and Jarren McAllister (Heritage)