The 2011 NCAA basketball tournament is officially underway and the Bay Area is more or less absent from the proceedings. All the Bay Area basketball teams failed to make this year’s NCAA tournament, ending up in the NIT, CBI and CIT postseason tournaments. As the Bay Area Sports Guy pointed out, Bay Area college basketball finds itself in quite the slump right now.
Fortunately we do have another angle related to the Bay Area: players! California produces a large number of quality basketball players and a run through the 68 tournament teams reveals several that call the Bay Area home. Of course, even in that contingent the number is not that large. As the NCAA tournament proceeds, we have ten college basketball players that are listed at ESPN.com as having a hometown in the Greater Bay Area (reaching out to Sacramento and Stockton). Here is a rundown of those players, their hometown, and their college:
UC-Santa Barbara
Justin Joyner, Antioch
Will Brew, Oakland
James Nunnally, Stockton
Lucas Devenny, Santa Rosa
UCLA
Brendan Lane, Rocklin
Reeves Nelson, Modesto
San Diego State
Chase Tapley, Sacramento
Princeton
Dan Mavraides, San Mateo
Louisville
Terrence Jennings, Sacramento
Bucknell
Enoch Andoh, San Jose
Coincidentally enough, all these players will be playing tomorrow. We’ll provide updates on how their respective teams perform and also their own individual performances. Of those teams, San Diego State, Louisville, and UCLA would appear to have the best chances of advancing.