Let the madness begin.
Whether you’re picking from knowledge, or a favorite city or school, or maybe a team’s nickname, March Madness – or the 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament – is always a fun and interesting time of the year.
Because let’s face it, people that have never watched basketball in their lives are somehow glued to their office or online pools.
This year’s top seeds on the men’s side are the Auburn Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars and Florida Gators.
While the UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, USC Trojans and Texas Longhorns make up the top seeds in the women’s tournament..
Here’s a look at a number of Canadians playing in this year’s tournament.
Emanuel Sharp, a dual citizen whose mother is from Hamilton Ontario, plays for the aforementioned top seed (Midwest Region) Houston Cougars and averaged 12.6 points per season.
Aden Holloway, another dual citizen as his mother hails from Calgary Alberta. is a guard with the No. 2 seed (East Region) Alabama Crimson Tide. The transfer from the Auburn Tigers is averaging 11.4 points per game this season.
Ryan Nembhard, who’s brother Andrew plays with the NBA Indiana Pacers, hails from Aurora and is a starting guard from the Gonzaga Bulldogs who led the nation in assists with 9.8 per game. Gonzaga always seems to feature a number of Canadians. The Bulldogs are the No, 8 seed in the Midwest Region.
Kitchener’s Will Riley is a small forward with the Illinois Fighting Illini, and despite starting in just seven of the team’s 33 games this season, averaged 18.0 points on 55.6 per cent shooting in Illinois’ two outings in the Big Ten Tournament. The Fighting Illini are the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region.
Josh Omojafo, is a good-sized guard with the Robert Morris Colonial – ranked 15th in the East Region – who was playing Division II basketball at Gannon University last season. The Hamilton native averaged 11.4 points per season with the Colonials.
The six-foot-five, 200-pound junior guard from Hamilton was playing in Division II at Gannon University just a year ago. He started 32 of 33 games for Robert Morris in 2024-25, averaging 11.4 points, good for fourth on the team. The 15th-seeded Colonials face the Crimson Tide on Friday.
On the women’s side, Duke Blue Devils rookie forward Toby Fournier is garnering a lot of attention and rightfully so. The Toronto native averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks enroute to winning ACC freshman of the year and making the all-ACC first team.
The Blue Devils also feature Port Colborne’s Emma Koabel. The guard played a season-high 21 minutes and drained a season high eight points in Duke’s win over Radford back in November.
Another Canadian freshman features one of the greatest basketball names out there – Syla Swords. The Michigan Wolverine
averaged 16.1 points and 6.1 assists per game this season.
Rookies from north of the border seem to be the story line on the women’s side as USC Trojan Avery Howell is dual-citizen that represents Canada on the international level. Howell shoots almost 40-percent from three-point land.
Sarah Te-Biasu, a diminutive guard with the Maryland Terrapins, averaged almost 10 points per game this season.
The first four, as they call them, continue this week with both the men’s and women’s tournaments beginning Thursday night.
Make those picks wisely.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
