With the 2015 NCAA Tournament starting on Thursday, college basketball fans will be crowding around televisions to watch the games all over America. Included in that group with be the Thunder players, most of whom have their own NCAA Tournament histories and have a rooting interest for their respective alma maters.
In total, Thunder players made 26 NCAA Tournament appearances and played in 83 total games, combining for two National Championships, one Final Four Most Outstanding Player award, eight Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights and 14 Sweet Sixteens.
The players who will have a rooting interest in this year’s tournament include Kevin Durant (Texas), Russell Westbrook (UCLA), Nick Collison (Kansas), Kyle Singler (Duke) and Perry Jones (Baylor). In addition, Head Coach Scott Brooks will be cheering for UC Irvine, his alma mater.
Below, in order of most appearances and games played, is a breakdown of each Thunder players’ NCAA Tournament experience and how they and their teams fared.
Nick Collison – Four NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sweet Sixteens, two Final Fours, one National Championship Game appearance. Collison scored 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in two NCAA games during his freshman year. Collison scored 18.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in three NCAA games during his sophomore year. Collison averaged 15.8 points and 11.2 rebounds in five NCAA games during his junior year. Collison averaged 18.7 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in six NCAA games his senior year.
His freshman year, Collison’s Kansas team was an 8-seed and defeated DePaul in the first round in overtime before losing to 1-seeded Duke in the second round. During his sophomore year, Collison’s 4-seeded Jayhawks defeated Cal State Northridge in the first round, defeated the 5-seed Syracuse in the second round and fell to the 1-seed Illinois in the sweet sixteen. His junior year, Collison’s Jayhawks were a 1-seed and defeated Holy Cross, Stanford, Illinois and Oregon on the way to the Final Four, where it lost to the eventual champion, Maryland. His senior year, Collison’s Kansas team was a 2-seed, defeated Utah State, Arizona State, Duke, Arizona and Marquette to make it to the National Title game, where it lost to Syracuse 81-78.
Kyle Singler – Four NCAA Tournament appearances, Three Sweet Sixteens, One Final Four, One National Championship, One Final Four MOP. Averaged 14.9 points and 6.6 rebounds in 14 games.
In Singler’s freshman year at Duke, the Blue Devils entered the tournament as a 2-seed, defeating Belmont in the first round as Singler scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds. Duke lost to West Virginia in the second round, as Singler scored six points and grabbed four rebounds. During his sophomore year, Duke was again a 2-seed, defeating Binghamton in the first round as Singler scored ten points and grabbed nine rebounds. In a win in the second round against Texas, Singler scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. In a sweet 16 loss to Villanova, Singler scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. During his junior year, Duke was a 1-seed and defeated Arkansas Pine Bluff in the first round as Singler scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. In the second round against California, Singler scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. In the sweet 16 against Purdue, Singler scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds. In the elite eight against Baylor, Singler scored five points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out four assists. In the Final Four against West Virginia, Singler scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists. In the National Championship game, a win over Butler, Singler scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He was named the 2010 Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, averaging 20 points, nine rebounds and 3.5 assists over the two games. During his senior year, Duke was again a 1-seed and defeated Hampton in the first round as Singler scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds. In a second round win over Michigan, Singler scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. In a sweet 16 loss to Arizona, Singler scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Russell Westbrook – Two NCAA appearances, two Final Fours. In 5 NCAA games his sophomore year, Westbrook averaged 13.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals.
In Westbrook’s freshman year, UCLA entered the 2007 tournament as a 2-seed, defeating Weber State in the first round as Westbrook scored three points. In the second round against Indiana, Westbrook scored four points. In the sweet 16 against Pittsburgh, Westbrook scored two points. In the elite eight against Kansas, Westbrook scored four points. In the Final Four, a loss to eventual champion Florida, Westbrook scored two points. In Westbrook’s sophomore year, UCLA entered the tournament as a 1-seed, defeating Mississippi Valley State in the first round as Westbrook scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out seven assists. In the second round against Texas A&M, Westbrook scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists. In the sweet 16 against Western Kentucky, Westbrook scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds (6 offensive) and dished out five assists. In the elite eight against Xavier, Westbrook scored 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting and grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists. In a Final Four loss to Memphis, Westbrook scored 22 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists.
Jeremy Lamb – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, one National Championship victory. In seven tournament games, he averaged 16.6 points per contest. During his freshman year, Lamb scored 16.2 points per game in the NCAA tournament, including a career-high 24 against San Diego State in the Sweet Sixteen. Lamb shot 11-for-15 from three-point range in the four games prior to the Final Four, the highest all-time percentage by a player in the four games leading up to the Final Four.
In the first round against Bucknell, the freshman Lamb scored 16 points for UConn. In the second round against Cincinnati, Lamb scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds. In the sweet sixteen, Lamb scored a career-best 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting, including a 3-for-3 mark from behind the arc against San Diego State. In the elite eight, Lamb played all 40 minutes and scored 19 points to go with four rebounds. In the final four against Kentucky, Lamb scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists. In the National Title game, a win over Butler, Lamb scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. During his sophomore year, UConn made the NCAA tournament but lost to Iowa State in the first round. In that game, Lamb scored 19 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Steve Novak – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Final Four, six games. Averaged 11.0 points per game.
In Novak’s freshman year, his Marquette team entered the 2003 tournament as a 3-seed, defeating Holy Cross (Novak had 8 pts), Missouri (Novak had 14 points), Pittsburgh (Novak had 9 points) and Kentucky (Novak had 16 points) before falling to Kansas (Novak had 2 points) in the Final Four. In five games that year, Novak shot 14-for-25 (56.0 percent) from three-point range and went 4-for-4 from three, including three in overtime, in the second round victory over Missouri. In Novak’s sophomore year, his Marquette team went to the NIT, defeated Toledo and Boise State before losing to Iowa State. In his junior year, Marquette lost in the first round of the NIT to Western Michigan. During his senior year Marquette entered the tournament as a 7-seed but lost to Alabama in the first round, as Novak scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds.
D.J. Augustin – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite Eight. Averaged 13.7 points and 6.3 assists per game in 6 contests.
During his freshman year, alongside Kevin Durant, his Texas team made the 2007 NCAA Tournament as a 4-seed and defeated New Mexico State in the first round. Augustin scored 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line to go with seven assists. In the second round, the Longhorns lost to the 5-seed University of Southern California. Augustin scored six points to go with five assists.
During his sophomore season, Texas entered the 2008 NCAA Tournament as a 2-seed and defeated Austin Peay in the first round. Augustin scored 6 points and dished out eight assists. In the second round the Longhorns beat the University of Miami, as Augustin played all 40 minutes and scored 12 points to go with eight assists. In the sweet sixteen, Augustin led his team with 23 points and seven assists as the Longhorns defeated Stanford. In the Elite Eight, Texas lost to Memphis as Augustin scored 16 points.
Dion Waiters – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite Eight, averaged 12.5 points in six games.
During his freshman year, Waiters’ Syracuse team was a 3-seed and defeated Indiana State in the first round, as Waiters scored 5 points. In the second round, a loss to Marquette, Waiters scored 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting. His sophomore year, Syracuse was a 1-seed, defeating UNC Ashville in the first round as Waiters scored 12 points. In the second round against Kansas State, Waiters scored 18 points. In the sweet 16 against Wisconsin, Waiter scored 13 points and in the elite eight, a loss to Ohio State, Waiters scored 9 points.
Anthony Morrow – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, three games, averaged 9.3 points.
In Morrow’s freshman year, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets entered the 2005 tournament as a 5-seed and defeated George Washington in the first round. Morrow scored eight points off the bench. In the second round, a loss to Louisville, Morrow scored nine points. During Morrow’s junior year, the Yellow Jackets made the tournament as a 10-seed and lost to UNLV in the first round. Morrow scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Andre Roberson – Two NCAA Tournament appearances, three games, averaged 11.3 points and 10.7 rebounds.
During his freshman year, Colorado made the NIT and defeated Texas Southern, California and Kent State before falling to Alabama in the semifinals. During his sophomore year, Colorado made the 2012 tournament as an 11-seed and defeated UNLV in the first round as Roberson scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. In the second round, Colorado lost to Perry Jones’ Baylor squad but Roberson scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals. His junior year, Roberson’s Colorado team made the 2013 tournament as a 10-seed, losing to Illinois in the first round where Roberson scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Mitch McGary – One NCAA Tournament appearance, one Final Four, one National Title game appearance. He averaged 14.3 points and 10.8 rebounds over the six games.
His freshman year, Michigan entered the tournament as a 4-seed, defeating San Diego State in the first round as McGary made just his third start of the season, scoring 13 points to go with nine rebounds. In the second round, McGary registered 21 points on 10-for-11 shooting and 14 rebounds against VCU. Against Kansas in the sweet sixteen, McGary scored 25 points to go with 14 rebounds, shooting 12-for-17 for the game. In the elite eight, McGary scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Florida, as McGary was named to the South All-Regional Team. In the final four, McGary scored ten points and grabbed 12 rebounds while dishing out six assists in a win over Syracuse. In the championship game, a loss to Louisville, McGary scored six points and grabbed six rebounds, while making the seven-man All-tournament team.
Perry Jones – One NCAA tournament appearance, one Elite Eight, averages of 10.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in four games.
His freshman year, Baylor did not make the NCAA tournament. His sophomore year, Baylor entered the tournament as a 3-seed, defeating San Diego State in the first round, when Jones scored two points and grabbed 11 rebounds. In the second round Baylor defeated Andre Roberson’s Colorado team, as Jones scored seven points and added four rebounds. In the sweet sixteen, Baylor defeated Xavier as Jones scored 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. In the Elite Eight, Baylor fell to eventual National Champion Kentucky, but Jones scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Kevin Durant – One NCAA Tournament appearance, two games, averaged 28.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.
During his freshman year, playing with D.J. Augustin, his Texas team made the 2007 NCAA Tournament as a 4-seed and defeated New Mexico State in the first round. Durant led his team with 27 points on 6-for-13 shooting and eight rebounds, while shooting 15-for-16 from the free throw line. In the second round, the Longhorns lost to the 5-seed University of Southern California. Durant scored 30 points on 11-for-24 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
Steven Adams – One NCAA Tournament appearance, one game.
His Pittsburgh team made the 2013 NCAA Tournament as an 8-seed, falling to Wichita State in the first round. As a freshman, Adams led his team in scoring, rebounding and blocks with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.