29 Minnesotans will play in the D1 NCAA Tournament
It is every college basketball player’s dream to compete in the NCAA national tournament, whether that’s at the Division 1, 2, or 3 level. The women’s March Madness event begins on Wednesday evening as 68 teams will vie for the right to call themselves national champions. The Women’s Final Four will be held in Minneapolis April 1-3 at Target Center.
Since the state has been producing high-level college players at a prodigious rate in recent years it shouldn’t be surprising that there would be more than a few of us in the tournament. By our count there are 29 including five on the roster of the University of South Dakota and three each at Nebraska, Creighton and Montana State.
- American University – Taylor Brown (Lakeville North)
- Arkansas – Destinee Oberg (Bloomington Kennedy)
- Creighton – Lauren Jensen (Lakeville North), Mallory Brake (Hastings), Molly Mogensen (Farmington)
- DePaul – Hannah Purcell (Annandale)
- Fairfield – Rachel Hakes (Woodbury)
- Iowa – Monika Czinano (Watertown-Mayer)
- Iowa State – Nyamer Diew (Worthington)
- Kansas State – Ayoka Lee (Byron), Rachel Ranke (Eastview)
- Montana State – Gabby Mocchi (Champlin Park), Taylor Janssen (Rosemount), Kenzie Stumne (Forest Lake)
- Nebraska – Sam Haiby (Moorhead), Annika Stewart (Wayzata), Kendall Coley (St. Louis Park) (photo above)
- Nevada-Las Vegas– Nneka Obiazor (Eden Prairie)
- North Carolina – Alyssa Ustby (Rochester Lourdes)
- North Carolina State – Sophie Hart (Farmington)
- South Dakota – Hannah Sjerven (Rogers), Liv Korngable (Rochester Mayo), Macy Guebert (Eastview), Cassidy Carson (Eastview), Natalie Mazurek (Eden Prairie)
- South Florida – Patience Williams (Benilde-St. Margaret’s)
- UConn – Paige Bueckers (Hopkins)
- Utah– Jenna Johnson (Wayzata), Gianna Kneepkens (Duluth Marshall)
Please let us know if we have missed anyone!
The ESPNW website has a nice schedule feature that provides the broadcast/streaming info to watch your favorite teams.
Top photo: Former teammates Lauren Jensen of Lakeville North and Paige Bueckers of Hopkins are both competing in the National Championship tournament.