There are five players from the Southwest Regional coverage area participating in. the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Here’s a look at them, in alphabetical order:
Rashuan Agee, Bogan
The 6-7 graduate student forward appeared in 32 regular-season games for Texas A&M and started all but one. He averaged 14.7 points on 48.9% shooting 8.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and one steal in 26.8 minutes per game.
James Brown, St. Rita
After playing three seasons at St. Rita, Brown transferred to Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, to finish out his high-school years. For the last two seasons, he has played for North Carolina.
The 6-10 sophomore saw a drop in games played this season, appearing in nine. Despite that drop, he saw an uptick in minutes played per game. This season, he averaged 1.2 points on 75% shooting with 1.4 rebounds in 5.6 minutes per game.
Tavari Johnson, Lyons
Johnson has played in all 34 games for the Akron Zips this season and has helped lead them to a 17-1 conference record and a MAC Tournament championship. Across three MAC Tournament games, he averaged 19.3 points on 46.8% shooting with 2.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.7 steals — good enough to be named tournament MVP.
For the season, the 5-11 guard averaged a career-best 20.1 points on splits of .512/.373/.870 with three rebounds, five assists, and 1.3 steals in 32 minutes per game. His performances earned him his second All-MAC first team honor.
His best game of the season came in a 104-89 conference win over Western Michigan on Jan. 17. He had 32 points while going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc with four rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Alec Millender, St. Rita
Millender joined Connecticut as a graduate student this season. Prior to playing for the Huskies, he played a season at IU Indy and four seasons at Division II Wayne State. The 6-1 guard has appeared in 16 games for the Huskies, all off the bench.
Niklas Polonowski, Lyons
Polonowski a 6-6 junior forward at Penn. This season, he appeared in 22 games for the Ivy League Tournament champion Quakers.
He averaged 1.2 points in 5.6 minutes coming off the bench. He ended the regular season scoring six points while going 2-for-2 from 3-point range and grabbing two rebounds in 10 minutes of a 82-61 win at Brown on March 6.