{"id":545190,"date":"2026-03-17T01:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545190\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:33:13","slug":"latter-day-saint-players-ready-to-tip-off-in-ncaa-march-madness-church-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545190\/","title":{"rendered":"Latter-day Saint players ready to tip off in NCAA March Madness \u2013 Church News"},"content":{"rendered":"

As college basketball\u2019s March Madness prepares to tip off, several teams feature members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are ready to showcase their skills on the basketball court. <\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s NCAA tournament, Brigham Young University, a No. 6 seed, will play either Texas or North Carolina State in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, March 19. Team members who served missions include:<\/p>\n

Saunders and Baker both suffered season-ending injuries during the season. <\/p>\n

\"\"TCU guard Tanner Toolson, right, drives to the basket against BYU guard Richie Saunders (15) during a game on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Provo, Utah. | AP <\/p>\n

Utah State University, a No. 9 seed and the Mountain West Conference champs, will match up with No. 8 seed Villanova on Friday, March 20, in San Diego, California. <\/p>\n

Aggie junior guard Mason Falslev<\/a>, the conference player of the year, served in the Arizona Scottsdale and the Brazil Santos missions.<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah State guard Mason Falslev (12) dribbles the ball as Nevada guard Corey Camper Jr. defends on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Logan, Utah. | Eli Lucero\/Herald Journal <\/p>\n

Dallin Hall\u2019s No. 3-seed Virginia Cavaliers<\/a> will face No. 14-seed Wright State on Friday, March 20, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The former BYU guard, from Plain City, Utah, served in the California Fresno Mission.<\/p>\n

For No. 13 seed Hawaii, Hunter Erickson<\/a>, of Provo, Utah, served in the North Carolina Charlotte Mission, and Isaac Johnson<\/a>, of American Fork, Utah, served in the Ohio Cincinnati Mission. The Rainbow Warriors will take on No. 4 seed Arkansas on Thursday, March 19, in Portland. <\/p>\n

\"\"Virginia guard Dallin Hall (30) plays during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Florida State on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Tallahassee, Florida. | AP <\/p>\n

Tanner Toolson<\/a>, of Vancouver, Washington, began his college career at BYU before transferring to Utah Valley University and now plays for TCU. His ninth-seed Horned Frogs will face No. 8 Ohio State on Thursday, March 19, in Greenville, South Carolina. Toolson, the son of former BYU star Andy Toolson, served in the Florida Jacksonville Mission. <\/p>\n

\"\"TCU guard Tanner Toolson (55) shoots a free throw during an NCAA college basketball game against Iowa State on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. | AP <\/p>\n

Jake Wahlin<\/a>, a native of Provo, served his mission in Lithuania. His No. 8 seed Clemson Tigers will play No. 9 Iowa on Friday, March 19, in Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n

\"\"Clemson forward Jake Wahlin (10) drives to the basket against Pittsburgh in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Clemson, South Carolina. | Scott Kinser, Associated Press <\/p>\n

Collin Chandler<\/a>, of Farmington, Utah, served his mission in West Africa\u2019s Sierra Leone and in London, England. His No. 7 seed Kentucky Wildcats, led by former BYU coach Mark Pope, will open the tournament against No. 10 Santa Clara on Friday, March 19, in St. Louis, Missouri. <\/p>\n

Senior forward Jaxon Kohler<\/a>, of American Fork, is a Latter-day Saint<\/a> who plays for Michigan State. The No. 3-seeded Spartans play No. 14 North Dakota State in the first round in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday, March 19.<\/p>\n

\"\"Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler, right, drives against Indiana’s Race Thompson during an NCAA college basketball game on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Al Goldis, Associated Press <\/p>\n

Utah Valley received a No. 4 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and will host George Washington on Wednesday, March 18, in the tournament\u2019s first round. UVU players who served missions include:<\/p>\n

Isaac Hawkins<\/a>, Puerto Rico San Juan Mission.Jackson Holcombe<\/a>, California Sacramento Mission.Braden Housley<\/a>, Texas Fort Worth Mission.Trevan Leonhardt<\/a>, who served in the Arizona Scottsdale Mission and in Chile.Tyler Medaris<\/a>, who served in Houston, Texas, and in Peru.A.J. Riggs<\/a>, England Leeds Mission.Jaxson Roberts<\/a>, Spain Madrid South Mission. Tyler Weaver<\/a>, Brazil Porto Alegre Mission.Hayden Welling<\/a>, Arizona Gilbert Mission.\"\"Utah Valley guard Jackson Holcombe, center, puts up a shot against Cal Baptist during the WAC tournament championship game at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Courtesy Utah Valley Athletics <\/p>\n

The BYU women\u2019s basketball team is headed to the Women\u2019s Basketball Invitation Tournament where the Cougars will host Alabama A&M in the first round on Thursday, March 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As college basketball\u2019s March Madness prepares to tip off, several teams feature members of The Church of Jesus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,153455,85],"class_list":["post-545190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-byu-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}