March Madness is finally here, and this season’s superstars will be etching their names into NCAA Tournament lore.
Will Ali Farokhmanesh or Harold Arceneaux be in this year’s competition? What about Bryce Drew and, dare we say it… Stephen Curry? All it takes is one monster play or buzzer beater to become a March Madness legend.
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Our region-by-region breakdown highlights the Cinderellas worth watching, and all our predictions for the Championship can be found here. Who are the players to watch in the coming weeks? We have you covered too.
Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Make your choice, total prize money is $50,000
NCAA Tournament Players to Watch
eastern region
Duke forward Cameron Boozer
If Duke does advance to the Final Four and beyond, it will be with the support of Boozer, a leading candidate for numerous National Player of the Year honors. Boozer has done everything he could to exceed expectations from his time at Duke as the team’s leader on the court and in scoring.
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The 6-foot-9 versatile forward averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 56.5% from the field and 40.9% from three-point range. He’s an inside-out threat and is conservatively projected to be a top-five pick in the NBA draft.
With Foster and Ngomba likely to miss more games, Boozer’s burden will be even heavier in the NCAA tournament.
Will Kansas guard Darin Peterson play or miss the NCAA tournament? (Tammy Lungblad/Getty Images)
(Kansas City Star via Getty Images)
Kansas State guard Darin Peterson
Peterson is arguably the most important player for his team in the tournament. His performance determines how well Kansas does, which could mean a first-round upset or a trip to the Final Four or beyond.
Peterson is an elite talent who began the season as the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft. An up-and-down campaign has tempered that excitement, but Peterson is likely to be near the top of the lottery, if not still ranked No. 1.
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There is no doubt about his basketball ability. This season, he averaged 19.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, and shot 38.4% from three-point range. His overall efficiency has been below elite levels (44.2% from the field, 58.8% from the field), and his availability has become a liability.
Peterson, who has missed 11 of Kansas’ 33 games and failed to complete others, is unsure of the specific reason for his absence. If he’s available and in the game, Kansas will be dangerous. Failing that, the Jayhawks are in trouble.
Michigan State guard Jeremy Fiers Jr.
For better or worse, Jeremy Fiers is the heart and soul of Michigan State’s roster. Fiers is a talented competitor who was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team and averaged 15.7 points and a league-high 9.2 assists this season.
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He was an extension of Izzo on the court and set the tone for MSU’s methodical, efficient half-court offense.
He also likes to lose his cool and engage in non-basketball behavior that gets him excited. If he can stay on the field and be controlled, Michigan State will be a tough outing.
——Jason Owens
southern region
Houston guard Kingston Flemings
Houston returns starters Emmanuel Sharp, Joseph Tugler and Milos Uzan from last season’s national runner-up team. Neither is the best player on Houston’s roster. Flemings is an explosive 6-foot-4 scoring point guard who dominates a veteran lineup with Final Four experience.
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Flemings, projected to be a top-five pick in the NBA draft, leads the Houston Rockets in averaging 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He is a third-level scorer who attacks the basket ferociously and shoots 39.2% from three-point range. He could be the difference between the team that lost last year’s national championship game and the team that wins it this year.
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler
In addition to Flemings, Wagler is another explosive scorer among the NCAA’s phenomenal freshmen this season, and he could hear his name called in June’s NBA draft lottery. Wagler, a 6-foot-6 elite shooter who can also finish at the rim, was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and the biggest reason Illinois earned the No. 3 seed.
Wagler averaged 17.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, averaging 5.8 three-pointers per game and shooting 40.2% from the field. He set the Illinois freshman scoring record and has the ability to take over any game he plays in. Just ask second-seeded Purdue, which struggled in Wagler’s 46-point offense, shooting 9 of 11 from 3-point range.
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Florida State forward Thomas Howe
Howe has evolved from a valuable sixth man on Florida State’s championship roster to a first-team Southeastern Conference forward and No. 1 option for the Gators. Howe entered the NCAA tournament this season after entering the starting lineup as a junior, averaging a team-high 17.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
In the process, he has developed into an NBA first-round pick. If Florida State advances to its second straight Final Four, Hoe will be a big reason why.
——Jason Owens
western region
Arizona guard Brayden Burris
We could pick multiple Wildcats here; that’s how deep Arizona’s starting lineup is. Senior Jaden Bradley hits the game-winning buzzer-beater against Iowa State in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Freshman forward Keya Pitt scored 21 points in the Wildcats’ championship game victory over Houston.
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But we’ll go with another freshman from Burris. He also scored 21 points in the win over Houston, shooting 60 percent from the field and making all seven of his free throw attempts. Previously, Burris scored 21 points against UCF in the tournament opener and 31 points against Colorado at the end of the regular season.
The guard is Arizona’s leading scorer, averaging nearly five rebounds per game and shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc. If Burris chooses to turn pro, he could be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
Purdue guard Brayden Smith
Smith should break the long-standing men’s basketball record in the Boilermakers’ first-round game against Queens. Smith needed just two assists to break Bobby Hurley’s career assist record after dishing out 11 assists in Purdue’s win over Michigan State in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game.
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From 1990 to 1993, Hurley had 1,076 assists at Duke. Smith is now ranked 1,075. In the 2025-26 season, he averaged 9 assists and 14 points per game, while last season he averaged nearly 16 points and 8.7 assists per game.
Purdue may have discovered something in the Big Ten Tournament, too. The team ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 enters the conference tournament with four losses in its last six regular-season games. In Chicago, the Boilermakers won all four games with multiple possessions, and Smith dished out a whopping 46 assists in those games.
Gonzaga forward Graham Ek
The West Coast Conference Player of the Year averaged more than 10 points per game in his five college basketball seasons. This season, Ike averaged 19.7 points per game and shot 57% from the field.
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Believe it or not, this was his worst shooting percentage as a Zags. In his first season after transferring from Wyoming, Ike shot 61% from the field. A season ago, he shot less than 60%. He’s improved his three-point shooting this year (35 percent from beyond the arc) and is taking more than two more attempts per game than he did in either of his first two seasons in Spokane.
—Nick Bromberg
Midwest Region
Michigan forward Axel Lundberg
The UAB transfer has been one of the best players in college basketball this season. Lundborg shot 51% from the field and averaged 14.4 points and 7 rebounds per game. He scored 20 points in the Wolverines’ Big Ten Conference Championship loss to Purdue and dropped 27 points on 67 percent shooting from the field in the final regular-season game against Michigan State.
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Michigan’s size is a mismatch against most opponents, as the frontcourt trio of Lindbergh, Moretz Johnson and Aday Mara averages nearly 30 points and over 20 rebounds per game. Can anyone slow down the Wolverines’ big men before the second weekend of competition?
Iowa State forward Milan Momchilovic
The junior has been absolutely ridiculous from behind the arc this season. Momsilovich averaged 17.1 points per game, leading Iowa State, and shot 51% from the field. But less than half of his shots came inside the three-point line.
Momsilovic averaged 7.5 three-pointers per game this season and shot nearly 50% from the field. He’s taken essentially two-thirds of his total field goal attempts from beyond the arc — he’s shooting 55 percent from 2-point range — and is probably the best long-distance shooter in college basketball.
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That was on full display Friday in the Cyclones’ loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. Momsilovich made 8 of 14 three-pointers and 10 of 18 field goals, scoring 28 points and ultimately losing 82-80.
Virginia forward Ugunna Oyanso
There’s a very good reason to highlight a player in this section who averages 6.7 points and 5 rebounds per game.
During the ACC Tournament, Oyenso was an absolute destroyer in the paint and could be a consistent defender in the tournament. He set an ACC Tournament record with 21 blocks in three games (that’s not a typo) and was 50 percent better than the previous mark.
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In the Cavaliers’ ACC Championship Game loss to Duke, Oyenso scored just six points but had eight rebounds and nine blocks. Just two days earlier, he had eight blocks in a win over NC State. In the semifinals against Miami, although he performed poorly and only blocked 4 shots, he scored 17 points to help the Cavaliers win by 22 points. The Nigerian, who played at Kentucky and Kansas State before transferring to Virginia this season, could earn the attention of NBA teams with his shooting ability. Perhaps most impressively, Oyenso only committed three fouls in those 21 blocks.
—Nick Bromberg