This year’s Dallas-area representation in the men’s NCAA Tournament is missing the star power of a year ago, when first-round NBA draft picks Tre Johnson from Lake Highlands and Liam McNeeley from Richardson Pearce and Plano John Paul II were in the field with Texas and Connecticut, respectively.
The top D-FW returnee from last year’s field, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin from Oak Cliff Faith Family, also won’t be playing this year. Toppin was having a spectacular season, averaging 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds, before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee last month.
But there will still be plenty of top local talent competing in the Big Dance, including Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor from St. John’s, who has dominated his conference. Plus, there are former D-FW stars from Hofstra, Prairie View A&M and Wright State who will be in this year’s field who you might not be familiar with.
Here are six local men’s players to watch, along with notable others:
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
Class: Senior
Position: Forward
High school: Garland
The former Garland star is one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, and he is projected by ESPN to be a second-round NBA draft pick. Ejiofor became the second player in Big East history to be named the conference’s player of the year, defensive player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year in the same season, joining Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor in 2003-04.
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The team captain, who averages 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks, led St. John’s to back-to-back outright Big East regular-season championships for the first time since the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons. Ejiofor has 11 games with 20 or more points — including a career high-tying 33 against Providence — to go with seven double-doubles, and he became the fourth known player in St. John’s men’s basketball history to record a triple-double when he had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over Villanova.
Ejiofor averaged 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in the Big East tournament, and he had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in the championship game in a 72-52 rout of UConn, ranked No. 6 in the nation. Ejiofor broke the record for blocks in a Big East championship game and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player as St. John’s joined UConn in 1998 and ’99 as the only Big East programs to win both the regular-season and tournament titles in back-to-back seasons.
Ejiofor was a first-team All-Big East selection last season after he averaged 14.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for a St. John’s team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He led NCAA Division I in offensive rebounding with 4.4 per game.
Tre White, Kansas
Class: Senior
Position: Guard
High schools: Little Elm, Prolific Prep (Calif.)
White ranks second on the team in scoring (13.8 points per game) and rebounds (6.7 per game) while shooting 42.1% from 3-point range and 86.7% from the free throw line. White scored a season-high 23 points in a win over Houston, which was ranked fifth in the nation at the time, and then matched that with 23 points in a win over Kansas State on March 7.
White began his college career at USC and then spent one season each at Louisville and Illinois before transferring to Kansas for his senior year.
Rylan Griffen, Texas A&M
Class: Senior
Position: Guard
High school: Richardson
This is the third different school that Griffen has helped reach the NCAA Tournament. He played his first two college seasons at Alabama — where he was part of their 2024 Final Four team — and then was on the Kansas team that lost in the first round last year.
Griffen ranks second for Texas A&M in scoring (11.6 points) and is third in assists (79) while shooting a team-leading 41.7% from 3-point range. He scored a season-high 24 points in a triple-overtime win over LSU on March 7, hitting five 3-pointers, and that was after he scored 21 points in a win over Kentucky four days earlier.
Griffen was a four-star recruit at Richardson and was rated the second-best shooting guard in the nation in the Class of 2022. He helped Richardson reach the Class 6A state semifinals as a junior.
Cruz Davis, Hofstra
Class: Junior
Position: Guard
High schools: iSchool of Lewisville, Huntington Prep (W.Va.)
The Plano native is a former four-star recruit who played at Iona and St. John’s before ending up at Hofstra, and this season he was named the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Player of the Year. Davis is the leading scorer for Hofstra, averaging 20.2 points, and he also has a team-high 157 assists (4.6 per game) and is shooting 39.9% from 3-point range.
Davis has 18 games with 20 or more points, five games with 30 or more points and a career-high 36 points in a win over Pittsburgh. Davis had 12 points and five rebounds and made a pair of free throws in the final seconds as third-seeded Hofstra beat fourth-seeded Monmouth 75-69 to win the CAA championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Cory Wells, Prairie View A&M
Class: Graduate student
Position: Forward
High school: Wylie
Wells had 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks as Prairie View A&M beat Southern 72-66 in the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament. Prairie View A&M was the No. 8 seed in the tournament but won their first SWAC tournament title since 2019.
Wells averages 13.1 points and 7.1 rebounds, and he leads the team in blocks (40) while shooting 37% from 3-point range. In the last three games he has averaged 18.3 points, and for the season he has scored 20 or more points seven times.
TJ Burch, Wright State
Class: Sophomore
Position: Guard
High schools: Mansfield High, Texas Alliance of Christian Athletes
The former all-state player from Mansfield High was named the MVP of the Barbasol Horizon League tournament after helping Wright State earn its fourth Horizon League championship and make its fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the Division I era. Wright State rallied to beat Detroit Mercy 66-63 in the tournament championship game, and Burch scored eight of his team-high 19 points during a late 17-5 run that allowed Wright State to erase a 12-point deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Burch is averaging 12.3 points and a team-high 3.5 assists, and he scored a season-high 24 points in a win over Youngstown State and had a pair of 23-point games. He played his freshman year at Ball State before transferring to Wright State this season.
Others to watch
Karson Templin, Utah State: The former all-state player from Lovejoy averages 9.2 points and 4.2 rebounds and leads Utah State in blocks. He finished high school career with a record of 76-17 over three seasons and helped Lovejoy win three straight district championships.
Joey Madimba, Prairie View A&M: Madimba, who played in high school for Mansfield Lake Ridge and then Mansfield Timberview, has been a solid contributor for Prairie View A&M. He averages 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds. He played at Tarleton State and Idaho State before transferring to Prairie View A&M for this season. At Timberview, he set the school’s single-game scoring record with 40 points.
Alex Cotton, Howard: The Hebron product averages 8.7 points and 3.0 rebounds and has made a team-high 69 3-pointers while shooting 37.3% from 3-point range. He played two years at North Texas before transferring to Howard for this season.
Jaden Toombs, SMU: The four-star freshman from Dynamic Prep averages 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds. He is coming off a 13-point, nine-rebound, three-block performance in a 62-58 loss to Louisville in the ACC tournament.
Ace Buckner, Clemson: The Dallas native is the son of former Mavericks player Greg Buckner. Ace Buckner averages 8.4 points, which ranks fifth on the team, and his 60 assists are second on the team.
Chendall Weaver, Texas: The former Mansfield Timberview star is averaging 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds. He led Timberview to a state runner-up finish in Class 5A as a senior in 2022 before starting his college career at UT-Arlington.
Jermaine O’Neal Jr., SMU: The four-star freshman from Dynamic Prep averages 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds. His father, Jermaine O’Neal Sr., had an 18-year career in the NBA and was a six-time All-Star.
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