Let's dance, shall we?
Wisconsinites and Wisconsin-connected athletes once again populate a number of rosters for teams invited to the NCAA Division I men's and women's tournament.
Starters for NCAA Tournament teams
Seth Trimble (Menomonee Falls), North Carolina
The honorable-mention all-conference pick in the Athletic Coast has had a strong senior year, scoring 14.0 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists for a Tar Heels team that finished among the top four in the league. He hit a memorable buzzer-beater earlier this year to beat Duke, and he'll be needed with star freshman Caleb Wilson lost for the season with an injury.
Milan Momcilovic (Pewaukee), Iowa State
A second-team all-conference pick in the Big 12, the junior has started every game this year for the Cyclones, scoring 16.9 points per game and hitting 49.6% of his 3-pointers to lead the nation (127 of 256 through the regular season). He now owns the ISU single-season record for 3-pointers made in a season.
Amari Allen (Ashwaubenon), Alabama
The all-freshman selection in the Southeastern Conference playing for Wisconsinite head coach Nate Oats leads the team with 7.1 rebounds per game, plus 3.1 assists and 11.7 points as a regular starter for the second half of the season. He has five double-doubles this year.
Amari McCottry (St. Thomas More), St. Louis
Playing for a Billikens team that won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title, he averaged 10.3 points per game and 5.2 rebounds in his sophomore season.
Andrew Rohde (Brookfield Central), Wisconsin
The transfer back to his home state after stops at Virginia and St. Thomas leads the Badgers with 1.3 steals per game and also scores 5.7 points with 2.8 assists per contest as a senior.
Leon Bond III (Wauwatosa East), Northern Iowa
The junior started his career at Virginia but helped his Panthers make a surprise run to the NCAA Tournament, earning a spot on the Missouri Valley Tournament team in the process. The all-defense selection in the MVC scores 12.1 points per game with 4.6 rebounds
Will Hornseth (De Pere), Northern Iowa
The sophomore forward was named to the Missouri Valley's "Most Improved" team, going from 5.0 points and 2.3 rebounds last year to 11.9 and 4.8 this year. He's a regular starter for the Panthers.
Max Weisbrod (DeForest), Northern Iowa
The senior guard began his career at Northern Michigan but scores 7.1 points per game in his second season with the Panthers, shooting 41% from 3-point range.
Noah Feddersen (Menomonie), North Dakota State
OK, he's not a full-time starter, but we'll make an exception for the player voted Sixth Man of the Year in the Summit League. The junior leads the team in blocks and scores 9.4 points per game.
Jayden Jackson (Whitefish Bay), Cal Baptist
After three seasons at Northern Arizona, he became a graduate transfer for the Western Athletic Conference champion, averaging 9.3 points per game with 3.1 rebounds per contest. His teammate, Dominique Daniels Jr., is the WAC player of the year and one of the highest scorers in the tournament at 23.2 points per game. It's the final year of the WAC as we know it, which will rebrand next season with the Atlantic Sun as the United Athletic Conference.
Themus Fulks (UW-Milwaukee), Central Florida
The 2024-25 Panther is the UCF point guard and second-leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, landing him a spot on the Big 12 third-team all-conference and the league's all-newcomer team. Fulks, who had two previous stops before playing for Milwaukee last year, averaged 14.6 points and a Horizon League-leading 5.9 assists last year.
Jamichael Stillwell (UW-Milwaukee), Central Florida
He averages 11.7 points and 8.0 rebounds for UCF, with 33 steals among the best on the team. He was with UW-Milwaukee last year, when he led the league with 10.7 rebounds per game, plus 13.0 points per game.
Other Wisconsin-tied players on rosters
- Jamarion Batemon (Milwaukee Academy of Science), Iowa State. The freshman averages 6.9 points per game this year and has appeared in all 34 contests.
- Connor Essegian (University of Wisconsin), Nebraska. After two years at Wisconsin, the senior guard has spent the past two years with the Huskers, but he missed most of this season with injury.
- Myles Herro (Whitnall), Ohio State. The brother of NBA all-star Tyler Herro did not see the floor for the Buckeyes this year.
- Davion Hannah (Nicolet), Alabama. The freshman has played in 10 games this season for the Crimson Tide.
- Isaac Gard (Oregon), Wisconsin. The walk-on and coach's son had an unforgettable moment on Senior Night.
- Will Garlock (Middleton), Wisconsin. Backup big man has seen the floor in 30 games this year as a freshman.
- Zach Kinziger (De Pere), Wisconsin. Backup freshman guard has played in 16 games for the Badgers this season.
- Brandon Lee, Illinois. The freshman is the son of Marquette University legend Butch Lee.
- Xzavion Mitchell (Oshkosh North), Iowa State. The 2025 Mr. Basketball recipient has played in only seven games this year for the Cyclones as he's battled injury
- Anthony Rise (Brookfield Central), Iowa State. He's appeared in 10 games for the Cyclones this season.
Head coaches with Wisconsin ties
- Greg Gard, Wisconsin. The native of Cobb and Iowa-Grant alumnus has been head coach of the Badgers since taking over for Bo Ryan early in the 2015-16 season; this will be his eighth NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons.
- Grant Leonard, Queens. The Martin Luther High School alumnus and former Shorewood High School assistant has a penchant for crazy sweaters and just led Queens University to its first NCAA Tournament.
- Sean Miller, Texas. Miller was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in 1992-93.
- Nate Oats, Alabama. The native of Watertown attended Maranatha Baptist and is back in the tournament with a Wisconsinite among his starters.
- T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State. The graduate of St. Thomas More in Milwaukee led the Cyclones past Wisconsin four years ago in his first year as the program’s head coach, and now to a fifth straight dance with a team that can make a Final Four run. Otzelberger's coaching career included a start at Catholic Central High School in Burlington.
- Mark Pope, Kentucky. The second-year coach has had his struggles in Kentucky this year, but the Wildcats still earned a berth. Pope played two seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks. He started 45 games for the squad that reached the 2001 NBA Finals, then another 12 for the Bucks in 2001-02.
- Kelvin Sampson, Houston. He was an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks from 2008-11. He's now leading a team regularly competing for NCAA championships, including last year when it reached the NCAA final.
Assistant coaches with Wisconsin ties
- Tony Benford, TCU. Benford served as the assistant and later associate head coach at Marquette from 2008-12.
- JR Blount, Iowa State. The assistant coach was a two-time state champion playing for Dominican High School in Whitefish Bay, and he was just hired head coach at San Diego.
- Justin Gainey, Tennessee. The assistant coach spent two stints at Marquette, including as an associate head coach from 2020-21, and he's now on staff with Tennessee for a fifth season.
- Diante Garrett, Iowa State. The Milwaukee Vincent alumnus is in his second season as an assistant with the Cyclones. He played for the program from 2007-11.
- Pat Monaghan, Nebraska. He was an assistant for one season at UW-Green Bay in 2023-24 and an assistant at UW-Milwaukee from 2017-19.
- Derek Rongstad, South Florida. The former standout player at Middleton High School played two seasons at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and two more at Wisconsin-Whitewater; this is his first season at South Florida.
- Nearly everyone at Wisconsin. Former Badgers players Joe Krabbenhoft, Sharif Chambliss, Greg Stiemsma and Brad Davison populate the Badgers coaching staff, and Lance Randall, a longtime name in Wisconsin coaching who had stops at Beloit College, Oshkosh West High School and Stevens Point, is in his second year on staff.
Who'd we miss? Let us know at jradcliffe@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin-tied players and coaches in men’s NCAA Tournament field