Get to know the men's basketball teams headed to Milwaukee for March Madness
The 2025 NCAA tournament features first- and second-round games at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee this year, with contests taking place Friday and Sunday. Here's a bit about each of the teams who will be on hand, including four teams (North Carolina, San Diego State, Xavier and Texas) that must meet in Dayton for "First Four" games before reaching Milwaukee.
IOWA STATE
- Seed: 3
- Record: 24-9
- Conference: Big 12
- Mascot: Cyclones
- Coach: TJ Otzelberger (fourth year)
- Leading scorer: Curtis Jones, 17.1 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Joshua Jefferson, 7.4 rpg
Otzelberger, a graduate of St. Thomas More High School in Milwaukee, has built a formidable program in the Cyclones, who are no stranger to playing NCAA tournament games in Milwaukee. In 2022, Iowa State upset Wisconsin in the second round at Fiserv Forum, and Racine St. Catherine's alumnus Tyrese Hunter helped his team upset LSU in the first round.
Hunter is gone, but there are plenty of Wisconsin connections, including Pewaukee alumnus Milan Momcilovic, who averages 11.4 points per game this year, though he missed a chunk of the season with a hand injury. The 6-foot-8 sophomore has NBA upside, shooting better than 40% from 3-point range. He's also reached double figures in eight of his last nine games.
But he's one of five Cyclones in double-digit scoring, joining Jones, Keshon Gilbert (13.4), Jefferson (13.0) and Tamin Lipsey (10.8). The team's leading scorer Jones (the Big 12 sixth man of the year) has come off the bench in 22 of his 30 games this season but still earned first-team all-conference.
The coaching staff features former Dominican High School (Whitefish Bay) star J.R. Blount as a top assistant, and former Milwaukee Vincent and Iowa State standout Diante Garrett as an assistant, as well
LIPSCOMB
- Seed: 14
- Record: 25-9
- Conference: Atlantic Sun
- Mascot: Bisons
- Coach: Lennie Acuff (sixth season)
- Leading scorer: Jacob Ognacevic, 20.1 ppg
- Leading rebound: Ognacevic, 8.1 rpg
There's a lot of Wisconsin ties coming to Milwaukee from this school in Nashville, starting with the Atlantic Sun player of the year: Sheboygan Lutheran graduate Ognacevic. Hailing from the same school as Sam Dekker, it would be something if Ognacevic made waves in the NCAA tournament 10 years after Dekker and the 2015 Badgers reached the national championship game.
Ognacevic adds 1.4 assists per game, as well, a magnificent year after he missed all of last season with injury. Big man Grant Asman, a reserve, hails from Kimberly, and reserve guard Ross Candelino redshirted with the Wisconsin program last year.
Lipscomb is a team that'll take a lot of 3-pointers and also happens to be among the best shooting teams in the country, especially at the free-throw line, part of what helps the program score nearly 80 points per game. It heads into the tournament winner of 11 of 12.
Yes, by the way, their mascot is Bisons with an "s" on the end.
OLE MISS
- Seed: 6
- Record: 22-11
- Conference: Southeastern
- Mascot: Rebels
- Coach: Chris Beard (second season)
- Leading scorer: Sean Pedulla, 14.9 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Malik Dia, 5.7 rpg
Ole Miss appeared in the national rankings for the vast majority of the season, hovering between 16-25, but the Rebels fell on hard times late in the year, losing five of the last eight. In fairness, that stretch included losses to Auburn twice (ranked No. 1 and No. 3 at the time) as well as Florida (No. 5), plus a win over No. 4 Tennessee. This is the magic of the SEC this year; a team with a 10-8 record in conference is still a no-doubt tournament qualifier, marking the first trip for the program since 2019.
This is a team with wins over Louisville, Alabama, Kentucky and Gonzaga, with only one loss outside Quad 1 (a home loss to a ranked Mississippi State team). Pedulla runs the show, leading the team in assists (3.6 per game) in addition to his scoring total, all while easily leading the team with 32.8 minutes per game.
Beard coached Texas in Milwaukee the last time Fiserv Forum hosted NCAA games in 2022.
NORTH CAROLINA
- Seed: 11
- Record: 22-13
- Conference: Atlantic Coast
- Mascot: Tar Heels
- Coach: Hubert Davis (fourth season)
- Leading scorer: RJ Davis, 17.0 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Ven Allen-Lubin, 5.6 rpg
What a wild journey it has been for Hubert Davis since taking over for legendary coach Roy Williams. In his first season, his team shocked Duke in the Final Four and lost narrowly to Kansas in the title game. In Year 2, the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the nation at one point and missed the tournament. In Year 3, it was a regular-season title in the ACC and a trip to the Sweet 16. In Year 4, it's a sweat-it-out bubble case.
But they're here, narrowly, led by returning All-American R.J. Davis, who bumped down to second-team all-conference in the ACC after winning the league's player of the year honor last year. Scoring more than 80 points per game, North Carolina also gets big contributions from Ian Jackson (12.4 ppg) and Seth Trimble (11.6), a native of Menomonee Falls whose older brother J.P. Tokoto played in the NCAA tournament with North Carolina and faced the Badgers in the Sweet 16 in 2014.
Trimble also brings in a ton of rebounds (5.1) for a 6-3 guard. The junior initially indicated he was heading into the transfer portal before the season but then returned to Chapel Hill, and he's seen a massive bump in minutes from 17.1 last year to 28.8 this season.
UNC has gone 1-8 against ranked teams this year, with a 76-74 win over UCLA in December as the lone outlier. UNC must beat San Diego State in Dayton in a "First Four" game to reach Milwaukee.
SAN DIEGO STATE
- Seed: 11
- Record: 21-9
- Conference: Mountain West
- Mascot: Aztecs
- Coach: Brian Dutcher (eighth season)
- Leading scorer: Nick Boyd, 13.4 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Magoon Gwath, 5.2 rpg
By the skin of its teeth, San Diego State reached the NCAA tournament for fifth straight season and sixth time in the eight seasons under coach Brian Dutcher, who led the program to the national title game two years ago and back to the Sweet 16 last year. This year's team helped itself with early wins against Creighton and especially Houston, a 73-70 overtime victory over one of the best programs in the field. But a fourth-place finish in the Mountain West, including a first-round conference tournament exit at the hands of Boise State, had the Aztecs squarely on the bubble.
The 7-0 sophomore Gwath is certainly a presence to know, with 2.6 blocks per game among the top five in the nation. He won the Mountain West's defensive player of the year nod, as well as the league's rookie of the year, with 8.5 points per game accompanying his 5.2 boards. He's a pretty big reason why the Aztecs rank top-five nationally in opponent field-goal percentage.
Boyd, oddly enough, was on the Florida Atlantic team that faced San Diego State in the Final Four two years ago, tasked with defending Lamont Butler in the final moments when Butler rose up for the buzzer beater to send the Aztecs to the championship game. Two years later, Boyd now leads the team in scoring and adds 4.0 assists per game.
San Diego State and North Carolina will meet in Dayton in a "First Four" game before getting to Milwaukee.
KENTUCKY
- Seed: 3
- Record: 22-11
- Conference: Southeastern
- Mascot: Wildcats
- Coach: Mark Pope (first year)
- Leading scorer: Otega Oweh, 16.2 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Amari Williams, 8.5 rpg
John Calipari's departure didn't signal that steep of a decline for the Wildcats, who don't rely on the bonus-baby freshmen this time around and instead lean on a lineup filled with senior newcomers to forge one of the nation's three best offensive attacks.
That includes a bevy of double-digit scorers, including Jaxson Robinson (13.0 ppg), Lamont Butler (11.5), Koby Brea (11.5), Williams (11.0) and Andrew Carr (10.5). But there's a catch; Robinson is out for the season with a wrist injury and Kerr Kriisa, another anticipated contributor, is also done for the year after foot surgery. Butler didn't play in the Wildcats' last tournament game, and leading scorer Oweh left that game to get stitches.
But the Wildcats still finished the regular season strong, going 7-4 to close the year with three of those losses against the No. 1 team in the country (Auburn) and No. 4 and 5 (Alabama), plus a win at No. 15 Missouri. UK twice defeated top-10 finisher Tennessee and logged wins over No. 6 Florida, No. 6 Duke, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 14 Mississippi State and No. 7 Gonzaga.
The Wildcats also have some puzzling losses, namely to the likes of Clemson, Georgia, Vanderbilt and against old coach Calipari and Arkansas. Still, as a team that scores 85.8 points per game, they're bound to turn an NCAA game into a track meet.
TROY
Seed: 14Record: 23-10Conference: Sun BeltMascot: TrojansCoach: Scott Cross (sixth season)Leading scorer: Tayton Conerway, 14.3 ppgLeading rebounder: Thomas Dowd, 6.8 rpg
The Trojans have been a consistent 20-game winner over the past four seasons but never broke through in the league tournament until this season, with a trio of convincing wins en route to the Sun Belt championship. Located in Alabama, the school shared the conference regular-season crown with three other teams but got hot late in the season and prevailed in the big games to reach the tournament for the first time since 2017. The squad played Arkansas, Houston and Oregon in the preseason but didn't land any victories against the bigger schools.
The 6-3 senior Conerway, the Sun Belt player of the year, is one of the three best players in the nation at racking up steals, with 2.94 per game. As a team, Troy is one of the 15 best in Division I with 9.4 thefts per contest. This is the same conference that produced James Madison, which upset Wisconsin in the first round of last year's tournament.
ILLINOIS
- Seed: 6
- Record: 21-12
- Conference: Big Ten
- Mascot: Fighting Illini
- Coach: Brad Underwood (eighth season)
- Leading scorer: Kasparas Jakucionis, 15.0 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Tomislav Ivisic, 7.7 rpg
Illinois has quietly been one of the more reliable Big Ten programs in the NCAA tournament in recent years, making each of the past four tournaments (and it would have been five straight were it not for COVID-19), with a 4-3 record in those tournaments. After a run to last year's regional final, this year's team retooled quickly, backed by a 7-1 freshman center from Montenegro (Ivisic) and a 6-6 freshman guard from Lithuania who played his high school ball in Spain (Jakucionis).
Jakucionis will be one of the biggest names in the forthcoming NBA draft, possibly a top-three pick. He's a 33% shooter from deep who also hands out 4.6 assists per game, helping Illinois operate with one of the highest-scoring offenses in NCAA Division I (83.8 points per game). The Illini also have former Milwaukee Washington standout Tre White, who scores 10.7 points per game with 5.4 rebounds, though he's in his third power-conference program in as many years after stops at USC and Louisville.
The Illini finished strong with wins over Michigan and Purdue to close down the year, but they've also experienced some deeply lopsided losses, including to Wisconsin and Duke late in the season. The Illini also fell to Maryland in the Big Ten tournament, 88-65.
XAVIER
- Seed: 11
- Record: 21-11
- Conference: Big East
- Mascot: Musketeers
- Coach: Sean Miller (third season)
- Leading scorer: Zach Freemantle, 17.4 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Freemantle, 7.1 rpg
As Marquette saw first-hand in the Big East tournament, the 6-9 veteran Freemantle may have the stats, but Ryan Conwell (16.2 ppg, 2.5 apg) is just as much a force on the offensive end. He's played for South Florida and Indiana State and started 91 career games, with a career 3-point percentage of 39% (and 41% this year). In general, this is a team that will get hot from deep, with a 38.5% mark as a team ranking among the top 20 schools in the nation. Dante Maddox (41%), Marcus Foster (39%) and especially Conwell will all take ample shots from deep.
The Musketeers got white-hot late in the season, winning seven straight and eight of nine heading into that loss against Marquette, a game Xavier led by double digits in the second half. But their late-season success hasn't come against any elite teams in the Big East, with only Creighton figuring into the tournament picture.
Xavier will face Texas in the "First Four" in Dayton and will have to win to reach the Milwaukee games.
TEXAS
- Seed: 11
- Record: 19-15
- Conference: Southeastern
- Mascot: Longhorns
- Coach: Rodney Terry (third season)
- Leading scorer: Tre Johnson, 19.8 ppg
- Leading rebounder: Arthur Kaluma, 7.6 rpg
It's now three NCAA tournaments in three seasons for Terry, who leads a program that Chris Beard took to Milwaukee in the 2022 NCAA tournament. This year's team starts with Tre Johnson, the SEC freshman of the year who's averaging nearly 20 points per game. The 6-6 guard is a likely NBA draft lottery pick, shooting 39% from 3-point range and also handing out 2.8 assists per game. There's some variance here; he did, after all, go 0 for 14 from the field in a loss to Oklahoma to close the regular season.
Wins in the SEC tournament have helped to propel Texas into the tournament, including a double-overtime triumph over Texas A&M. You need no other indication of just how strong this conference is than seeing a team that finished 13th, at 6-12 in league play, making the field. Not only that, but the Longhorns didn't beat any ranked teams outside of conference, playing only one team (No. 25 UConn) that fit the bill.
Former Creighton and Kansas State player Kaluma is next on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game, followed by Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope and Arkansas transfer Tramon Mark. It's an entire new lineup of top-four scorers, with last year's big four gone.
Texas was among the last teams into the tournament and will have to beat Xavier in Dayton to reach Milwaukee.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: These are the teams coming to Milwaukee for the NCAA tournament
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