Simeon Wilcher #7 of the St. John's Red Storm dribbles against Ben Gold #12 of the Marquette Golden Eagles in the second half of a semifinal game during the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 2025 Photo: SARAH STIER
March Madness showcases the best of men's and women's US college basketballers in one of the biggest sporting events of the year in America across three weeks of action.
Back in 2019, former Tall Black Jack Salt has made history by becoming the first New Zealander to win the the United States' NCAA men's college basketball final with his University of Virginia Cavaliers.
March Madness is a knockout tournament that has 68 teams in both the men's and women's competitions. Teams are placed in a competition bracket.
Basketball fans, and some people who are not regular followers of the game, from across the world get caught up in the hype and the chance to fill out their own brackets for bragging rights. No one in history has got the bracket correct - the chance is one in 9.2 quintillion.
For the first time women's teams will be paid - like the men have been since 1991- but the players do not receive any of the prize money themselves, instead their schools' athletic departments reap the rewards.
Photo: Getty Images via AFP
WNBA player Caitlin Clark was one of the stars of last year's tournament and her participation with the Iowa Hawkeyes saw nearly 19 million people turn in to watch the competition's leading point-scorer take part in the women's final. At the time this final became the most watched non-American Football sporting event by Americans since 2019 MLB World Series.
Whereas the audience for last year's men's March Madness final was the second-lowest ever.
Here is who to watch out from a New Zealand perspective during the tournament:
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (University of California - San Diego)
28-4 (win-loss), Big West Champions
Tait-Jones was the first New Zealander to win the Big West Player of the Year award and he was showing why with a near triple-double performance in the Big West Championship Final in Sunday.
The guard's 14 point, 8 rebound and 8 assist night was enough to take the Tritons comfortably past UC-Irvine, 75-61, to secure the Conference Championship and an automatic bid into this year's March Madness tournament.
Despite winning the Big West they'll face a tough first round opponent in the University of Michigan.
Charlisse Leger-Walker (UCLA)
30-2, Big Ten Champions
Although red-shirting this year to recover from the ACL injury she sustained in January of 2024, Leger-Walker's UCLA Bruins will head to the tournament on the back of a dominant season in the Big Ten.
The season culminating in a Big Ten Championship game victory over rivals USC, sees the Bruins snatch a automatic bid into this year tournament.
UCLA's Big Ten victory gives Leger-Walker another Conference title to add to the Pac-12 title she won with Washington State in 2023, the same year where she was named Pac-12 player of the tournament.
Leger-Walker can return for the Bruins next season if she does not declare for the WNBA draft.
Mason Whittaker (American University)
22-12, Patriot League Champions
The former Canterbury Rams forward and his American University Eagles teammates have dominated Navy in their Patriot League Championship final to send themselves through to the tournament.
Should the 22-and-12 Eagles defeat Mount St. Marys in the First Four match up out East, they will face a tough first round when they match up with consensus number one draft pick Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils.
Kaitlyn Chen #20 of the Connecticut Huskies drives to the rim against Lilly Parke #45 of Fairleigh Dickinson Knights during the first half of an NCAA women's basketball game Photo: JOE BUGLEWICZ
Lilly Parke (Fairleigh Dickinson)
29-3, Northeastern Conference champions
In her second year at Fairleigh Dickinson the ever reliable Parke and her Knights teammates are headed to the tournament for the first time in their school's history.
Taking down Stonehill in the final of the NEC tournament, Parke and the rest of the FDU crew will face the tough task of taking down the two-seeded TCU Horned Frogs who boast USA 3x3 star Hailey van Lith.
Waiata Jennings (Baylor)
27-7, runners-up in Big 12
Jennings and the Baylor Bears are headed to the tournament following a stellar season in the Big 12, where they fell just short of conference championship.
Whilst it will be Jennings' first tournament, Baylor have been to the last 21 women's tournaments, tied 6th longest tournament appearances streak with Virginia and Duke.
They'll take on Grand Canyon in the opening round of the tournament, who boast an impressive 32-2 record.
Ben Gold (Marquette)
23-10, lost in Big East Tournament semi-final
Gold's Marquette Golden Eagles head to the tournament as the 7th seed in the South region.
Gold's 7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds has seen him be a steady contributor to the Golden Eagles season to date, something he'll look to continue to do for Coach Shaka Smart when they take on New Mexico in the first round.
Tafara Gapare (Maryland)
25 - 8, lost in Big Ten Tournament semi-final
The Scots College alum will be headed to the tournament with his Maryland Terrapins teammates as a fourth seed in the West.
Off the back of what was a heartbreaking loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semi-final, Tafare and the Terrapins will look to get their tournament off to a hot start when they take on Grand Canyon University.
Lilly Taulelei (Iowa State University)
22-11, lost in quarter-final of Big 12 tournament
Iowa State finds itself locked into what will be a fearsome first four battle with Princeton University.
Taulelei and the Cyclones will need to beat the Princeton Tigers in order to secure the 11th seed, if successful they'll take on the Michigan Wolverines in the first round.
New Zealand's Lilly Taulelei (right) celebrates with teammates Emily Ryan #11 and Aili Tanke #32 of the Iowa State Cyclones Photo: DAVID PURDY
