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      N.B.A. Draft Preview: A Deep Field Could Yield Surprise Stars

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      Fans may have heard of Chet Holmgren and Shaedon Sharpe, but others are ready for their shot: “I knew if I got good enough, the N.B.A. would find me,” one said.When the Orlando Magic hand their draft card to N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver, on Thursday night at Barclays Center, they’ll settle a debate that has raged in draft circles for the better part of a year: Who should be the No. 1 pick?The front-runner is Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, a rail-thin but nail-tough seven-footer who can shoot, dribble, pass and defend with aplomb. But there are equally strong cases to be made for the Auburn big man Jabari Smith, who spent this past season sinking seemingly impossible shots, and for Duke’s Paolo Banchero, a creative shotmaker who is as polished in the paint as he is on the perimeter.“All three guys are incredibly talented,” said Jonathan Givony, founder of the scouting service DraftExpress an N.B.A. draft analyst at ESPN. “This draft has really great players at the top and really good depth, too.”Here are five more prospects to know.Nikola Jovic doesn’t mind being compared to Nikola Jokic. After all, Jokic is a two-time most valuable player, he said.Darko Vojinovic/Associated PressNikola Jovic6-foot-11, 223 pounds, forward, Mega Mozzart (Serbia)People ask Nikola Jovic about Nikola Jokic all the time. And it makes sense. Jovic and the Denver Nuggets star have quite a bit in common: They’re both Serbian big men who played for the same club, Mega Mozzart, and only a single letter separates their last names. But the comparison doesn’t bother Jovic, who is expected to be the first international player taken on Thursday.“People bring that up all the time,” he said. “I’m really cool with that. I think it’s pretty funny also because the chances of something like that happening are really low. At the same time, I feel good because people are comparing me to a two-time league M.V.P.”As a boy, Jovic wanted to be a professional water polo player. He spent his summers with his mother in Montenegro and loved swimming in the Adriatic Sea. When he was 13, his father introduced him to basketball. What started as a backyard hobby soon became an obsession and a profession. “I was getting bigger and bigger,” Jovic said, “and it was pretty easy to see that basketball would be a better choice than water polo.”Although many N.B.A. teams track European stars from their early teenage years, Jovic didn’t become a big name on draft boards until he broke out at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Belgrade in March 2021. Offensively, he could develop into a floor-spacing 4 who can shoot 3s, lead fast breaks and make smart passes. He said he is willing to remain in Europe after being drafted, but he hopes to land with a team that wants him to play right away.“Even if I need to play in the G League, that’s cool,” he said, referring to the N.B.A.’s developmental league. “But right now, I think the perfect fit for me is the N.B.A.”Dominick Barlow has gone from overlooked three-star prospect to a potential first-round pick.Kyle Hess/Overtime Elite, via Associated PressDominick Barlow6-foot-9, 221 pounds, forward, Overtime EliteWhen N.B.A. evaluators visited Overtime Elite this year, it was with an eye toward the future. The start-up league has potential top-10 players in the 2023 and 2024 drafts. But one player from the 2022 draft class took advantage of all that extra scouting attention and has worked his way from being an unheralded 3-star high school prospect to a potential first-round draft pick: Dominick Barlow.“The fact that this was OTE’s first year intrigued scouts,” Barlow, 19, said. “And once the scouts were in the building, they were able to see what I could do.”Barlow played for Dumont High School, a small public high school in Dumont, N.J. He didn’t land with a powerhouse Amateur Athletic Union program until the summer before his senior year, when a coach for the New York Renaissance spotted him playing at a public park. He surprised most basketball insiders in September when he left a prep program and declined several high-major offers to sign with Overtime Elite. It offers a six-figure salary to boys’ and men’s basketball players who are at least in their junior year of high school.Barlow hopes his story inspires other overlooked players to keep working. “I came in as a 3-star kid, and I’m leaving as an N.B.A. draft pick. Some 5-star kids struggle with getting to the N.B.A. one year after high school,” he said.Keegan Murray, who played for Iowa, was described as the “most productive player in college basketball this year.”Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressKeegan Murray6-foot-8, 225 pounds, forward, IowaWhen Keegan and Kris Murray were going through the recruiting process for college basketball, the twin brothers told every coach that they weren’t a package deal. Their father, Kenyon, had played college basketball at Iowa in the early 1990s, and he encouraged them to each find their own path.Their father’s faith and knowledge helped the brothers remain buoyant even when they ended their high school careers with just one scholarship offer, to Western Illinois, a Summit League school that has never been to the Division I N.C.A.A. tournament.“Having a D-I player be your coach and teach you everything and guide you through the recruiting process is really helpful,” Keegan, 21, said of his father, who was an assistant on his high school team in Iowa. “He told us we were going to be pros, and we believed him.”After declining the Western Illinois offer and decamping to Florida for a year at a prep school, Keegan and Kris signed with their father’s alma mater, Iowa. Keegan showed remarkable efficiency as a freshman and started garnering N.B.A. draft buzz, but he wasn’t considered a top-flight talent until this past season. As a sophomore, Murray was the top scorer among Power 5 conference players, he had the second most rebounds in the Big Ten, and he shot 55.4 percent from the field and a solid 39.8 percent from 3.“He was the most productive player in college basketball this year,” Givony said, adding that he was good in transition and on defense. “Everybody’s looking for a player like him.”Keegan is projected to be a top-five pick, while Kris has decided to return to Iowa for another season. “Thinking about where I was three years ago and where I am today is surreal,” Keegan said. “I didn’t always know where or when all this hard work would pay off, but I knew it would pay off eventually.”Ryan Rollins, in blue, who played for the University of Toledo, is looking to follow the path of other mid-major players, like Ja Morant, to the N.B.A.Al Goldis/Associated PressRyan Rollins6-foot-3, 179 pounds, guard, ToledoRyan Rollins has heard people say that he should have returned to the University of Toledo for his junior season. With another year of experience, he would project as a likely first-round pick in 2023. But Rollins rejects that idea. He doesn’t see any reason to wait.“I feel like I’m one of the better players in the draft,” Rollins said. “If I don’t get picked first round, that’s fine. In the long run, I’m going to be very good for a very long time in this league. Whenever and wherever I end up going, I’ll be proud to be there.”A Detroit native, Rollins played for a prominent A.A.U. program, the Family. But the stacked roster, combined with some nagging injuries and his decision to commit to college early, kept him under the recruiting radar. “I always had the mind-set that I was where I was for a reason,” he said. “I kept working, kept trying to perfect my craft. I didn’t worry about the politics of basketball. I knew if I got good enough, the N.B.A. would find me.”Over two seasons at Toledo, he emerged as a mid-major showstopper, with a smooth handle, fluid footwork and a deadly midrange game. Now he’s likely to be a second-round pick with the potential to sneak into the first round. But he’s more worried about what he does when he arrives in the N.B.A. He hopes he can be the next mid-major player to become a superstar.He’s inspired by former mid-major players who are in the N.B.A., such as Ja Morant (Murray State), Damian Lillard (Weber State) and CJ McCollum (Lehigh University).“They went to small schools but have been able to make names for themselves,” Rollins said. “I feel like I’m next.”Shaedon Sharpe is expected to be a top-10 pick, even though he hasn’t played competitively in almost a year.Todd Kirkland/Getty ImagesShaedon Sharpe6-foot-5, 198 pounds, guard, KentuckyThere is no player more mysterious in the 2022 draft than Shaedon Sharpe. Although he’s listed as a Kentucky prospect, Sharpe never suited up for the Wildcats. In fact, he hasn’t played in a competitive basketball game in almost a year.The Ontario, Canada, native moved to Kansas to play for Sunrise Christian Academy in his sophomore year of high school, then transferred to Arizona’s Dream City Christian in 2020 for his junior season, when he was unranked in the class of 2022. Then a dominant performance with the UPlay Canada team in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League last summer made everyone take notice. The tournament is often a proving ground for future N.B.A. stars, and Sharpe averaged 22.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 28.3 minutes per game over 12 games.Sharpe graduated from high school a year early and enrolled at Kentucky this spring. Although there were rumors that he would join the team on the court, or return for the 2022-23 season, he has instead entered the N.B.A. draft. And there’s good reason: He will almost certainly be taken in the top 10.“In terms of physical ability and sheer talent, it’s all there,” Givony said. “He’s a dynamic shot maker, an aggressive defender, a smart passer.”N.B.A. teams haven’t been able to see much from him, but his 6-foot-11 wingspan, explosive athleticism and polished shooting stroke could have most N.B.A. teams outside of the top five ready to take the risk. More

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      He Saw. He Believed. Now He Can Be an N.B.A. Star.

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      MIAMI — The training drill is named after LeBron James. Most people would be better off if they just let him do it.Dribble a basketball while sprinting full court. Dunk it. Rebound. No time to catch your breath. Turn around and do it again.Ten times.Is that how to spend a morning in Miami?Mark Williams walked into a gym tucked beside the bustling Interstate 95 in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami on a recent Thursday. The glowing lights of the gym were a poor substitute for the sunny skies in South Beach, where he could have been instead. But when you’re trying to make it to the N.B.A., some things have to wait.He sat on the first row of bleachers inside the gym and exchanged his slides for splashy Nikes — a little blue, a burst of purple, a lot of neon orange. He wrangled the shoelaces and made his way to a video room, slipping his 7-foot-2 frame through the doorway. Williams, 20, is tall enough to touch a basketball rim just by shifting onto his toes.He joined a handful of N.B.A. hopefuls to watch video of a pre-draft workout by the Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo from several years ago. The message? While Adebayo, now an All-Star and all-defensive team member, did not sink every one of his shots, his energy never wavered.Williams got the message.Williams is best known for his rim protection skills, but he’s been working on his shooting.Mary Beth Koeth for The New York TimesBaseline, sprint, dunk. Baseline, sprint, dunk. His black T-shirt and black shorts didn’t show it, but his face couldn’t hide the sweat. The LeBron James drill seemed to exhaust him. But Williams had enough in his tank to display some of the jaw-dropping athleticism that has him pegged as a potential first-round draft pick. Standing at the baseline, he jumped, rotated the ball under his legs and slammed it into the hoop.N.B.A. prospects a generation ago were largely on their own after either declaring for the draft or exhausting their college eligibility. Their agents scheduled workouts with teams before the draft, and the players, often by themselves, flew out for the visit. They did not think of altering their diet or agonize about how to answer questions from N.B.A. personnel. They often trained for the auditions of their life by joining whatever pickup games they could find.But the best players in Williams’s generation have little downtime while dangling on the cliff between childhood and adulthood, amateurism and the N.B.A. Their Thursdays are spent training. Their Mondays and Fridays, too, are at the gym. The hopefuls who sign with the same agent — in Williams’s case, Jeff Schwartz at Excel Sports Management — can become a team of their own. They may live with one another, attending workouts, recovery sessions and media training all aimed at preparing them for those fateful auditions and the complicated life that awaits an N.B.A. star.It can be an anxious time, a monthslong Christmas Eve.“I think it’s just the uncertainty about where I’m going to be,” Williams said. “When I get there, got to find somewhere to live. I got to find a car. I’m going to have new teammates, so just building a relationship with them, coaches. Just not knowing what’s going to happen. I feel like I embrace the uncertainty. It’s not like I’m nervous, but I’d say that’s the biggest thing.“You don’t know what’s going to happen.”Williams thought about entering the N.B.A. draft after his freshman season at Duke, but “I just wanted to go back and really prove myself.”Mary Beth Koeth for The New York Times‘Places where people can’t see’Williams grew up in Norfolk, Va., the youngest of three children. His mother, Margaret, was a nurse, and his father, Alex, is a gastroenterologist. Mark went to golf camp as a child. He played tennis for a summer. He dominated flag football for a while. No sport held his imagination like basketball did.Mark was almost 10 years old and already nearing 6 feet tall when he started shadowing his older sister Elizabeth, who at 17 was a basketball star in Virginia. She trained with Nadine Domond, a former W.N.B.A. player, who is an assistant coach for Rutgers’ women’s basketball team. Domond indulged the curious younger brother by letting him box out and practice his footwork in the post.“I’d be messing around looking, and she would teach me little tips and tricks,” Mark said.Mark started to envision his own basketball future when he attended the McDonald’s All American Game for top high school players in Chicago in 2011. Elizabeth had been chosen for the girls’ team.Mark surveyed the tall, young players on the boys’ team and asked one of them — the future eight-time N.B.A. All-Star Anthony Davis — to sign his basketball. He considered the path players such as Davis were taking toward the N.B.A. That’s what he wanted to do, too.He enjoyed watching James, who was with the Big Three in Miami, and Kevin Durant, who was beginning to harness his talents as a deadly marksman in Oklahoma City. Both were dominant, multifaceted players who seemingly did everything possible on the court. But Williams had no local N.B.A. team to follow.He could expend most of his energy being Elizabeth’s biggest fan.Mark Williams blocked the shot of a Virginia Tech player during a game in March.Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via ReutersElizabeth Williams blocked the shot of a Stony Brook player during a game in 2014.Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty ImagesElizabeth finished high school in Virginia and began her 2011-12 freshman season at Duke, where she became the program’s first four-time all-American. Mark was a vocal fixture at her games. “He was super loud,” Elizabeth said. “It didn’t bother me. I loved it.”Elizabeth had figured her brother would be tall. She is 6 feet 3 inches tall, and they have a couple of uncles who are around 6-foot-9. But Mark did not simply have a growth spurt — it really never stopped. “I like being tall,” Mark said. “It’s nice. You get to see over everything, places where people can’t see.”A rising basketball star needs that kind of vision, both physically and metaphorically. Williams became a McDonald’s all-American like his sister — although the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the game — and he chose to play basketball at Duke, too. Elizabeth’s No. 1 jersey was retired at Cameron Indoor Stadium after the Connecticut Sun took her with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 W.N.B.A. draft. She’s in her eighth W.N.B.A. season, her first with the Washington Mystics. Mark has his sights set on that kind of professional path as well. But others don’t always see what we see.Williams debated declaring for the N.B.A. draft after his freshman season, but returned when he was pegged as a borderline first-round selection.“I just wanted to go back and really prove myself and make it not up for debate anymore,” Wiliams said.Williams is learning how to navigate the increased recognition that comes with playing high-stakes basketball.Al Drago for The New York TimesHe flashed dominance as a rim protector and rebounder as a sophomore and grew more confident with each game. By the time North Carolina outlasted Duke in a memorable Final Four appearance in early April, he had known for a while that he would be off to the N.B.A. “Throughout the year, I really felt like I could be a pro,” Williams said.‘Setting a tone’The voices of Kanye West, Drake and DJ Khaled blared through the speakers of Core Fitness Miami, but Williams was tuned in to Andy Luaces.Luaces owns the gym on Northeast 25th Street in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami. It’s near a juice bar and is lined with framed jerseys of some of the professional athletes Luaces has trained, including Terry Rozier and John Wall. The space has fake grass, rows of weights and no room for messing around.“If I let people start to get away with half-ass reps, then you’re setting a tone for your gym that quality here doesn’t matter,” Luaces said.Williams watches film with other N.B.A. hopefuls. One video showed a yearsold predraft workout of the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo.Mary Beth Koeth for The New York TimesFueled by a bagel sandwich and a smoothie, Williams was there with four other N.B.A. prospects for an afternoon workout after the morning drills at the Overtown gym several miles south.Williams tossed a football back and forth with Ousmane Dieng, a French prospect who last played for the New Zealand Breakers, a professional men’s team based in Auckland. Luaces gathered Williams, Dieng and three others for what he called a feel-good workout. For the next hour, the group cycled through exercises that targeted their hamstrings and glutes.They started working out with Luaces at his gym a couple of months earlier. At the time, most still had lingering aches and pains from their seasons in college or overseas. Luaces had hoped to help them become healthy, stronger and faster to make their bid for the N.B.A.Now, with team tryouts on the horizon, he steered the workouts toward preserving their progress.Luaces watched closely as Williams collapsed before finishing the final repetition on a Nordic hamstring exercise. He told Williams to do it again. Williams grimaced and complied, letting out a long exhale upon finishing.Getting ready for the N.B.A. involves plenty of weight lifting and basketball, but there is more. It’s about learning to find time for balance — Williams and the hopefuls took a trip to the beach — and deciding how to craft an image. Williams picked his draft-night suit earlier that week, debating how flashy he wanted to be and what accessories he wanted to wear. He went to an Eastern Conference finals game between the Boston Celtics and the Heat in downtown Miami the day before.“I saw A-Rod at the game last night,” Williams told Luaces, referring to the former Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.Some fans asked Williams for selfies at the game. His height has always made him noticeable, but he also has a quick smile. Now he stands out by name, especially after the Final Four run. Williams hopes he can stir some of the same inspiration in children that his 2011 run-in with Davis spurred in him.The best big men in the N.B.A. are able to dunk and shoot from outside.Mary Beth Koeth for The New York TimesHis oldest sister Victoria Oloyede has a 2-year-old son named Tristan. “He’s a lot of fun,” Williams said. “Being an uncle is fun.”Just before leaving the gym to spend an hour in physical therapy next door, Williams asked Luaces if he had a tape measure.Luaces found one in a drawer. Williams held out one long arm and asked Luaces to measure his wrist. He planned to buy a new bracelet soon.“I would go 8 ½ or 8 ¾,” Luaces said. “Are you a bracelet guy?”“He’s about to be,” Dieng chimed in.‘Something I never experienced’Williams returned to the Overtown gym for another hour of shooting to close the day’s sessions. The final workout was shorter and looser, designed to develop a shooting rhythm and confidence by seeing the ball repeatedly splash home.Andrew Moran, a skills coach who works with Williams, sees him as more than a dunker and rim protector and said that N.B.A. teams would be surprised by the fluidity and accuracy of his outside shot.Ten years ago, a 7-foot-2 center wouldn’t need to spend months working on 3-pointers. But the demands are different now. The best big men are shooters — Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns — so prospects want that edge.And in this enlightened era of load management, they also want to rest sometimes.Williams has been projected to be drafted in the middle-to-late first round. The N.B.A. invited him to attend the draft in person.Mary Beth Koeth for The New York TimesAfter dunking and sprinting and activating his glutes, Williams planned to spend the rest of the day recuperating, possibly starting on a new show. He recently finished “Ozark” on Netflix.“It was crazy,” he said of the show’s final season.He thinks about how he would fit on various N.B.A. teams, the combinations cycling through his mind. He is projected to be drafted in the mid-to-late first round. Williams said he didn’t care where he went.Elizabeth will be at Barclays Center for the draft on Thursday after getting permission from the Mystics to miss a game to attend with her parents and sister.Mark is ready. He can already see it. “I’m looking good in my suit, and then when Adam Silver calls my name, it’ll just be surreal,” Williams said, referring to the N.B.A. commissioner. “It’ll be, I don’t know. I can’t even put into words that feeling. It’ll just be something I never experienced. A life-changing moment.”On most evenings, Williams asks himself if he had a good day before drifting to sleep. Soon, he will be living the dream. More

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      Derrick White’s Celtics’ Run Has His Group Chat Going Crazy

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      There was lots of talk about “beautiful basketball,” said one friend of the Boston Celtics guard, who is competing — improbably — in the N.B.A. finals.SAN FRANCISCO — After his junior season at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Derrick White knew he needed to have a difficult conversation with Alex Welsh, his best friend and teammate. And Welsh, for his part, knew the conversation was coming, not that that made it any easier.It was the spring of 2015, and Welsh had become acutely aware that White was too good of a player for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference — at least one opposing coach had begun calling him “the R.M.A.C. LeBron” — and for Division II basketball. It was time for White to transfer in order to play against tougher competition.“I remember when he told me, and it was like he was super nervous,” Welsh said. “And he asked me, ‘Are you mad at me?’ And I was like: ‘No, I’m not mad. But I’m sad!’ ”The N.B.A. finals are cluttered with former lottery picks who long ago seemed bound for greatness. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two of White’s teammates on the Boston Celtics, were can’t-miss stars coming out of high school. Golden State teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry grew up watching their fathers play in the N.B.A.And there is White, a guard who was overlooked by Division I coaches coming out of high school and was offered only a preferred walk-on spot at U.C.C.S. because the team had run out of scholarships. His college debut was a 27-point loss in front of 211 fans in Winona, Minn., roughly speaking, about a billion miles from the N.B.A.But late bloomers can thrive, even on the glitziest of stages, and with Jay-Z and Barry Bonds sitting courtside, White made an immediate impact in the finals, scoring 21 points off the bench for the Celtics in their Game 1 victory over the Warriors on Thursday night.“He fits in so well with the rest of their personnel,” said Jeff Culver, the coach at U.C.C.S. “He scores when he needs to, and he plays just as well off the ball as he does with the ball.”Ahead of Game 2 on Sunday night, White’s friends from U.C.C.S. reflected on the old days, as White emerged from obscurity to become one of the most decorated Division II players in the country. There were early flashes of brilliance, said Alex Koehler, one of his former teammates.“We always knew he had a shot,” Koehler said. “But I didn’t know he would be this type of player.”White, playing at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2014.University of Colorado Colorado SpringsBefore arriving on campus, White joined several of his future teammates for a game in a pro-am league outside Denver. He showed up with chipmunk cheeks because his wisdom teeth had been removed that morning. He insisted on playing, Welsh said, and wound up scoring about 25 points. One of the referees made a point of getting in touch with Culver to pass along his scouting report.“Hey, your new guy has been the best player in the gym,” the referee told him.Culver needed clarification: Which new guy?“I didn’t know who he was talking about,” he said.Culver had every intention of redshirting White as a freshman so that he could add some bulk to his lanky frame. (He had had a late growth spurt.) Culver even emailed White’s father, Richard, to make sure they were on the same page. Without White, U.C.C.S. played in a preseason exhibition game against Northern Colorado, a Division I program, and got “spanked,” Welsh said. At the same time, it was becoming clear at practice that White was one of the team’s best players. Culver had a quick chat with Jeff Sweet, one of his assistants.“We can’t redshirt this kid,” Culver recalled telling him.By the time U.C.C.S. made the trip to Minnesota for its season opener against Bemidji State University, White was in the starting lineup. A crowd of dozens turned out to watch the Mountain Lions get drubbed. It was not the most auspicious start to a season. White shot 5 of 12 from the field and scored 14 points.U.C.C.S. went on to finish with a 5-21 record, losing seven games by three points or fewer. Many of the team’s narrow losses had a similar feel. White and Welsh would lead the way for 38 minutes, Culver said, then muck up the final two minutes by doing “dumb freshman things.” But their potential was enticing.“We just couldn’t finish,” Welsh said. “We were so young, and we didn’t have any experience, and we would crumble in crunchtime.”Yet, the season set the foundation for White’s rise. As a sophomore, he led the team to a 21-9 record and became the program’s first all-American selection. He christened his junior season by dunking over a newly arrived transfer at the team’s first practice, prompting Culver to blow his whistle — “That’s a wrap!” he yelled — before White could inflict any more psychological trauma on his teammates.“It was like a preview of what was to come,” Welsh said.Koehler recalled trying to defend White at practice that season.“It was a nightmare,” Koehler said. “He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.”During games, Welsh said, he would set “100 ball screens” for White, who would dissect his defenders (plural) in a variety of ways, depending on how they were playing him. He could launch a 3-pointer, or drive to the basket, or find Welsh rolling for an open shot. So many open shots.“He made my life really easy,” Welsh said.Jeff Culver, White’s first college coach, intended to redshirt him his freshman year so he could bulk up, but White proved too talented for the bench.University of Colorado Colorado SpringsAs the Mountain Lions sailed to a 27-6 record, White’s mother, Colleen, supplied the team with freshly baked cookies for its road trips. In the first round of the N.C.A.A. Division II tournament that year, White collected 50 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists in a win over the Colorado School of Mines.Having outgrown Division II basketball, White left to play his final season of his college eligibility at the University of Colorado Boulder. Welsh felt his absence on the court.“He would draw so much defensive attention,” Welsh said. “I remember texting him after a preseason tournament: ‘Dude, this is so much harder without you.’ ”Transfer rules meant White had to sit out for a season, and he spent months working to add weight. He set alarms on his phone so that he remembered to eat meals at odd hours. White was in attendance when Welsh broke U.C.C.S.’s record for career scoring. After the game, they posed together for a photograph, as White held a sign that Welsh’s family had made for the occasion: “NO. 25 IS MY HERO.”After a standout season at Colorado, White joined the San Antonio Spurs as the 29th pick in the 2017 draft, and soon developed into a rotation player. The Celtics traded for him in February.“Derrick is such a smart basketball player,” Tatum said. “He could fit in anywhere.”White is part of a group chat with eight of his former teammates from U.C.C.S. They sent each other enthusiastic texts during Thursday’s series opener. There was lots of talk about “beautiful basketball,” Koehler said. White was busy during the game, so he responded afterward by thanking his friends — “He usually says something like, ‘Y’all are crazy,’ ” Koehler said — and sending three fist-bump emojis.On Friday morning, he chatted via FaceTime for an hour with Welsh, who asked him about appearing on NBA TV’s postgame show with Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Smith and Grant Hill.“He was mad they put him in a short chair,” Welsh said.Culver said he was hoping to be in Boston for Game 3, while Welsh and his wife, Brooke, are planning to be in Boston for Game 4. Welsh’s dream of a Celtics sweep was still alive after the series opener.“He wants them to win so he can be in the parade,” Culver said.For White, it would be the latest step in an improbable journey. More

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      Bob Lanier, a Dominant Center of the 1970s and ’80s, Dies at 73

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      Playing for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, he held his own against titans of the era like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed.Bob Lanier, who as a center for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970s and ’80s parlayed a deft left-handed hook shot, a soft midrange jumper and robust rebounding skills into a Hall of Fame career, died on Tuesday in Phoenix. He was 73.The N.B.A. said he died after a short illness but provided no other details.Lanier, who stood 6-foot-11 and weighed about 250 pounds, excelled in an era of dominant centers like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond and Wes Unseld.“Guys didn’t change teams as much, so when you were facing the Bulls or the Bucks or New York, you had all these rivalries,” he told NBA.com in 2018. “Lanier against Jabbar! Jabbar against Willis Reed! And then Chamberlain and Artis Gilmore and Bill Walton! You had all these great big men, and the game was played from inside out.”He added: “It was a rougher game, a much more physical game that we played in the ’70s. You could steer people with elbows. They started cutting down on the number of fights by fining people more. Oh, it was a rough ’n’ tumble game.”As a Pistons rookie in the 1970-71 season, Lanier shared time at center with Otto Moore. In his second season, as a full-time starter, he averaged 25.7 points and 14.2 rebounds a game, putting him in the league’s top 10 in both categories.“He understood the small nuances of the game,” Dave Bing, a Pistons teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, said in a video biography of Lanier shown on Fox Sports Detroit in 2012. “He could shoot the 18-to-20-footer as well as any guard. He had a hook shoot — nobody but Kareem had a hook shot like him. He could do anything he wanted to do.”Lanier wore what were believed to be size 22 sneakers. In 1989, however, a representative of Converse disputed that notion, saying that they were in fact size 18 ½. Whatever their actual size, a pair of Lanier’s sneakers, bronzed, is in the collection of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.During nine full seasons with the Pistons, Lanier played in seven All-Star Games. He was elected most valuable player of the 1974 All-Star Game, in which he led all scorers with 24 points.But the Pistons had only four winning seasons during his time with the team and never advanced very far in the playoffs. The roster was often in flux. Coaches came and went. Lanier dealt with knee injuries and other physical setbacks.“It was like a life unfulfilled,” he told Fox Sports Detroit.In early 1980, with the Pistons’ record at 14-40, the team traded Lanier to the Milwaukee Bucks for a younger center, Kent Benson, and a first-round 1980 draft pick. Frustrated by the Pistons’ lack of success, Lanier had asked to be sent to a playoff contender.“I’m kind of relieved, but I’m kind of sad, too,” he told The Detroit Free Press. “I’ve got a lot of good memories of Detroit.”Lanier averaged 22.7 points and 11.8 rebounds a game with the Pistons.Lanier in his college years at St. Bonaventure, resting during a game against Marquette in 1969. A pair of his exceptionally large sneakers is in the collection of the Basketball Hall of Fame.AP PhotoRobert Jerry Lanier Jr. was born on Sept. 10, 1948, in Buffalo to Robert and Nannie Lanier. Young Bob was 6-foot-5 by the time he was a sophomore in high school, and he played well enough there to be wooed by dozens of colleges. He chose St. Bonaventure University in upstate Allegany, N.Y.He was a sensation there, averaging 27.6 points and 15.7 rebounds over three seasons.In 1970, the Bonnies defeated Villanova to win the East Regional finals of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament, sending them to the Final Four. But Lanier injured his knee during the game, forcing the Bonnies to face Jacksonville in the national semifinal game without him. St. Bonaventure lost, 91-83.“I didn’t even know at the time I tore my knee up,” Lanier told The Buffalo News in 2007. “But when I ran back down the court and tried to pivot, my leg collapsed. I didn’t know at the time I had torn my M.C.L.”Lanier was still recuperating from knee surgery when the Pistons chose him No. 1 overall in the N.B.A. draft; he was also chosen No. 1 by the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets of the American Basketball Association. He quickly signed with Detroit.Although he had statistically better years with the Pistons, Lanier enjoyed more team success with the Bucks (and also played in one more All-Star Game). Under Coach Don Nelson, the Bucks won 60 games during the 1980-81 season, and they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in 1982-83 and 1983-84.Lanier was also president of the players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association, and helped negotiate a collective bargaining agreement in 1983 that avoided a strike.Lanier at an N.B.A. roundtable discussion before Game 5 of the 2005 finals between the Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. In retirement, he worked with the N.B.A. as a global ambassador and special assistant to the commissioner.Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty ImagesEarly in the 1983-84 season, his last as a player, Lanier became angry with Bill Laimbeer, the Pistons’ center, for riling him under the boards at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Lanier retaliated with a left hook that leveled Laimbeer and broke his nose.The act not only earned Lanier a $5,000 fine; it also delayed the retirement of his No. 16 jersey by the Pistons until 1993. The Bucks retired his number in late 1984.He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.In retirement, he owned a marketing firm and worked extensively with the N.B.A. as a global ambassador and special assistant to David Stern, the league’s longtime commissioner, and Adam Silver, his successor. Lanier was also an assistant coach under Nelson with the Golden State Warriors during the 1994-95 season and replaced him as interim coach for the final 37 games of the season after Nelson’s resignation.Information on survivors was not immediately available.Lanier said that after he retired, he was less likely to be recognized by the public than when he was a player. After Shaquille O’Neal, one of the league’s most dominating centers, came along in the early 1990s, people figured he must have been O’Neal’s father, he told NBA.com in 2018.“‘You’re wearing them big shoes,’” he said people would tell him. “I just go along with it. ‘Yeah, I’m Shaq’s dad.’” More

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      W.N.B.A. Draft: Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard Goes No. 1 to Dream

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      Howard, a senior guard, was the top pick after Atlanta made a deal with the Washington Mystics to move up in the draft.The Atlanta Dream, looking for a versatile player to help rebuild their roster, selected guard Rhyne Howard from the University of Kentucky as the No. 1 pick in the W.N.B.A. draft on Monday at Spring Studios in New York.Ahead of the draft, Dream General Manager Dan Padover said the team was looking for a player who brought “fresh energy and sparks something underneath our franchise.”The Indiana Fever selected NaLyssa Smith, a senior forward from Baylor University, with the No. 2 overall pick. At No. 3, the Washington Mystics chose Shakira Austin, a center from the University of Mississippi.Howard said she planned to bring to the Dream the same “competitive spirit” she had with Kentucky, where she made sure to stay “calm, cool and collected.”“I think that’s what really helped me to become successful, and I just really want to have an impact on the team,” Howard said, adding that she will “continue to make everyone better” in Atlanta.There is very little Howard can’t do. She is in the top 10 of almost every statistical category at Kentucky, and has scored the second-most points in program history for women and men. Last month, Howard led Kentucky to its first Southeastern Conference tournament title since 1982 when the team handed South Carolina, the 2022 national champion, its second and final loss of the season. Howard, who is from Chattanooga, Tenn., finished her senior year at Kentucky averaging 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.Kentucky, a No. 6 seed in this year’s N.C.A.A. Division I women’s basketball tournament, lost to No. 11 Princeton in the round of 64. But Howard’s career at Kentucky has helped draw attention to the women’s basketball program at a university best known for its powerhouse men’s team.“I’m very versatile, so whatever position I’m playing, I like to match for those positions,” Howard said.The Washington Mystics, who traded the No. 1 pick to the Atlanta Dream, used the third overall pick to select Shakira Austin, a center from the University of Mississippi.Adam Hunger/Associated PressTo be able to select her, the Dream shook up the draft last week by acquiring the No. 1 pick in a trade with the Washington Mystics. In return, the Mystics received the Dream’s No. 3 and No. 14 overall picks. The Mystics also have the right to swap first-round picks in the 2023 draft, which is expected to draw deep talent from around the country.Atlanta finished last season 8-24, the second-worst record in the W.N.B.A., and has missed the playoffs for the past three seasons. Adding Howard to the Dream’s roster immediately bolsters their perimeter game, which should help after the team traded guard Chennedy Carter to the Los Angeles Sparks in the off-season.“Some drafts are top-heavy; some are deep,” Padover said. “This one is probably the most deep more than anything.” He added that this year’s draft offered the best talent since 2018 or 2019.The Liberty selected Nyara Sabally, a 6-foot-5 forward from University of Oregon, at No. 5 overall. Sabally, who is from Berlin, scored a career high 31 points in Oregon’s final game of the season, a first-round loss in the N.C.A.A. tournament. She averaged 15.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in the 2021-22 season.“It’s amazing to be drafted by New York. It’s very surreal,” said Sabally, who joins the league two years after Dallas drafted her sister and college teammate, Satou. “I love that women’s basketball is growing and people recognize it, especially in such a big city like New York. I’m just happy that I get to play on a team like that.”Nyara Sabally, a 6-foot-5 forward from the University of Oregon, was the first pick for the Liberty, at No. 5 overall.Adam Hunger/Associated PressNyara Sabally averaged 15.4 points per game for Oregon during the 2021-22 season.Wade Payne/Associated PressThis year, 108 college players renounced their remaining N.C.A.A. eligibility to be considered for the draft, more than double than in 2021. International players and those who are no longer eligible to play in the N.C.A.A. will also be considered. But the chances of getting a spot on a roster are slim: There are 36 draft slots for the W.N.B.A.’s 12 teams, which have just 12 roster spots each. With only 144 roster spots in all, many players and fans are calling for bigger rosters and more teams, wishes the W.N.B.A. has resisted.One reason for the increase in college-eligible draft prospects may be the pandemic. College athletes are normally eligible to play four seasons over the course of five years. After the pandemic disrupted schedules, the N.C.A.A. added a special bonus year of eligibility for any athlete who lost playing time during the 2019-20 season.Should they not make it to the W.N.B.A. this year and still have a season of eligibility, athletes can return to their college (assuming there is still a place for them on the roster).Julie Roe Lach, the commissioner of the Horizon League, said this year’s draft class mimics the parity seen in the 2022 N.C.A.A. women’s basketball tournament, which saw six double-digit-seeded teams make it to the round of 16. None of the three top draft picks advanced beyond the round of 16.“You’ve got some of the names you would expect to see, but we’re seeing more schools with players that look like strong draft prospects,” she said. “That speaks to the increase of talent we’re seeing across the country of these great women basketball players.”Kierstan Bell, a guard from Florida Gulf Coast University, was drafted No. 11 overall by the Las Vegas Aces.Adam Hunger/Associated PressW.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert opened the draft by acknowledging Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who has been held in Russia since mid-February on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years if she is convicted. “Getting her home is a top priority,” Engelbert said.This was the first in-person draft since 2019, and players and guests did not hold back from celebrating. Colorful pantsuits, rhinestone jackets and plenty of high heels and sneakers alike filled the TriBeCa event space. The Hall of Famers Dawn Staley, the South Carolina head coach, and Lisa Leslie posed with draft prospects before the ESPN coverage began. Oregon’s Sedona Prince lived up to her TikTok fame and was capturing scenes throughout the night.The draft capped a weekend of W.N.B.A. events across New York City, including shoot-arounds at neighborhood playgrounds and a visit to one of the city’s top sneaker shops. As the W.N.B.A. tries to increase its visibility, the league got the strongest New York City boost of all: The Empire State Building lit up Monday night in orange, the signature color of the W.N.B.A.The 2022 season starts May 6 with eight teams in action, including the reigning champion Chicago Sky. More

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      Are Super Seniors the Secret to N.C.A.A. Tournament Success?

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      A number of the most successful teams in the 2022 tournaments feature athletes who are older than their N.B.A. counterparts.If this year’s N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments look a little bigger — a little older — your eyes are not deceiving you.Call it a silver lining of the pandemic.Before the pandemic intervened, college students had five years to complete four seasons of play. For various reasons — among them injuries, one-time transfers or competition waivers — athletes were always able to find ways to extend their eligibility. But after the pandemic eliminated many conference tournaments and the entire 2020 national tournament, the N.C.A.A. added a special bonus year: Any athlete who lost playing time during the 2019-20 season could extend their college career by a full season.Now, every team heading into the Final Four this weekend, both in the men’s and women’s tournaments, will include players who have taken advantage of this option.The additional season was meant to even the playing field, but some rosters are more stacked with super seniors and graduate students than others, and the trickle-down effect may linger for years.“I don’t think there’s any question that any of us in college athletics would see the benefits of a more experienced squad,” said Tom Burnett, the commissioner of the Southland Conference and the chairman of the Division I men’s basketball selection committee.A handful of athletes this year are older than their N.B.A. counterparts. Just look at Kansas. Last Friday against Providence, Mitch Lightfoot, 24, a veteran bench player and sixth-year student, had four blocks, and Remy Martin, a 23-year-old Arizona State transfer, came off the bench to lead the Jayhawks in scoring with 23 points. Both wouldn’t have returned to college if not for the pandemic, Coach Bill Self said last weekend, adding, “I actually think Mitch is the best he’s been.”Jalen Coleman-Lands, a super senior guard for Kansas, is 25. So is Devin Booker, who is in his seventh season with the Phoenix Suns.And there are more seasons remaining. “If you look at just our starters, those starters have eligibility left,” Self said. “Even though we’re an old team, they technically could all come back next year.”Self noted that Providence also had a handful players who were playing past the standard eligibility period.“If they didn’t have those four cats, they would look a lot different,” Self said. “If we didn’t have Remy, we’d look a lot different. If Villanova didn’t have Gillespie, they’d look a lot different.”Villanova guard Collin Gillespie averages 15.6 points per game. He won the Big East Conference Player of the Year Award for a second consecutive season.Scott Wachter/USA Today Sports, via ReutersCollin Gillespie, a 22-year-old guard, is the youngest of the three Villanova graduate students playing this weekend.But, parity concerns aside, Self said the bonus year had contributed to the “great quality of ball this year.”That was the case in the Horizon League, where Macee Williams, 23, a super senior center for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, won her third straight league Player of the Year Award in the 2020-21 season. She chose to come back for the 2021-22 season — her fifth year — and once again won the award.“That’s an example of how our women’s basketball programs really capitalized on that opportunity,” said Julie Roe Lach, the commissioner of the Horizon League.I.U.P.U.I., a No. 13 seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament, lost by only 6 points in the first round to No. 4 Oklahoma.Depending on who you ask, the additional year of eligibility can be viewed as a glass half-full, half-empty issue. It allows college athletes to reclaim their lost year of play, and a bigger, older team can mean an extra layer of cohesiveness.“Once athletes are upperclassmen, there’s a certain maturity that comes with leading the team and handling the pressure once you are in those end-of-season moments,” Roe Lach said, adding that “younger students and their teammates can benefit from their senior leadership.”But some officials are worried about the long-term effect padded rosters will have on recruiting. If athletes choose to use their extra year of eligibility, that could limit spots for fresh faces.“A lot of us are asking that question: Are the opportunities still there for high school student-athletes?” Burnett said.Macee Williams, right, returned to I.U.P.U.I. for a fifth season and won her fourth Horizon League Player of the Year Award.Mitch Alcala/Associated PressThat’s exactly what worries Adam Berkowitz, the associate executive director of New Heights Youth, a sports-based youth development nonprofit in New York. The additional season of eligibility added to an already complex system in light of the N.C.A.A.’s 2021 decision to eliminate the rule that had required athletes to sit out a season upon transferring, which had the effect of “doubling and tripling” the number of players in the transfer pool, Berkowitz said.Both those factors have created a “changed landscape” when it comes to college recruiting, he added, resulting in an all-out “scramble.”“Last year was the most difficult year I’ve ever experienced placing students at schools,” said Berkowitz, who has worked with transfer students for 20 years. “If you have an offer on the table, you have to strongly consider it, because it otherwise may not be there.”As a result, Berkowitz said, students are increasingly feeling “under-recruited” and opting to attend lower-ranked schools, both in Division I and Division II, before attempting to transfer. Berkowitz said that when he spoke to college coaches last year, many were not even looking at high school students, preferring to turn to the transfer portal and then junior colleges.Berkowitz said he anticipated this being the case for several more years, as athletes’ option to play an extra year lingers. High school sophomores will be the first class not affected by the change.“It’s just logjam at a lot of places,” he said. “If 200 guys are taking their fifth year, that’s 200 fewer spots for high school graduates.”Mitch Smith More

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      Louisville Clinches the Last Spot in the Final Four

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      The Cardinals, playing in their fourth straight regional final, became the third No. 1 seed to reach the national semifinals by beating No. 3-seeded Michigan.WICHITA, Kan. — Olivia Cochran sat most of the first half with foul trouble. She reacted incredulously when what she thought was a clean block was whistled as a foul, and she played the final five minutes of Monday night’s game knowing that one miscue would foul her out for good.But when No. 1-seeded Louisville needed her most, when its offensive stars could not get free, Cochran, the team’s defensive anchor, broke through a stubborn Michigan defense for three layups in the final three minutes to send the Cardinals to the Final Four, defeating Michigan, a No. 3 seed, 62-50.Louisville knew the rematch would not be as easy as the teams’ game in December, when the Cardinals blew out Michigan by 22 points at home. They knew Michigan would better cope with the pressure defense, and that they would have to win a dogfight.Louisville’s Emily Engstler had 16 rebounds and six steals.Andy Lyons/Getty Images“We can look at it for things that went well for us, but it’s March,” Louisville’s star guard, Hailey Van Lith, said before the game.It is indeed March, and what unfolded at Intrust Bank Arena on Monday night before a largely pro-Louisville crowd was a dogfight, one that played out much closer this time around, yet still ended in a Louisville victory.The Cardinals were led by Van Lith, who scored 22 points, and Chelsie Hall, who tied a season-high with 15 points, mostly coming from behind the 3-point arc.Michigan had the ball down just 2 points, 52-50, when Laila Phelia committed an offensive foul. “52-50, with the ball,” said Kim Barnes Arico, Michigan’s coach. “I’m going to have nightmares about that for the next eight months until we play again.”The next few possessions would prove decisive. Louisville’s Emily Engstler found a cutting Cochran with just under three minutes left to take a 4-point lead. Michigan thought it was about to have a 3-point play, but Naz Hillmon was called for an offensive foul on Cochran as her layup went through the rim. Cochran scored a nice driving basket on the next possession after beating the press, and the Louisville defense shut down Michigan the rest of the way.“That look was there the whole fourth quarter and we couldn’t deliver it to her,” Van Lith said of Cochran’s layups. “We were rushing and letting their pressure speed us up.”Louisville led by as many as 9 points in the third quarter, but every time the Cardinals came close to putting the game away, Michigan found a way to draw closer, usually at the free throw line. Michigan shot 11 more free throws than Louisville.Monday night’s matchup was between teams that, on paper at least, had many similarities. Both teams try to cause chaos with intense pressing. In Hillmon and Engstler, both are led by rangy, defense-first forwards who could be selected in the first round of next month’s W.N.B.A. draft. And both have coaches, in Barnes Arico and Jeff Walz, who make clear that they are hard on their players and tell them blunt truths, but who also seem to be loved by their players.Players and coaches on both teams tried to downplay the importance of that December game, but Barnes Arico conceded that Louisville’s defensive intensity was probably the highest her team had faced all season. In the four months since that game, Michigan often practiced how to combat the double- and triple-teams Hillmon, an All-American last season, commanded.“That’s become a staple in our practice plan because they really kind of went at her and tried to take her out of the game plan,” Barnes Arico said.Michigan forward Naz Hillmon, center, had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds on Monday despite Louisville’s defensive efforts.Jeff Roberson/Associated PressLouisville’s pressure once again flustered Michigan, as each Wolverines starter turned the ball over at least three times. But Michigan did not melt down like it did in Louisville in December. Hillmon lived at the free throw line, scoring 10 of her 18 points there, and Phelia and Maddie Nolan took some of the offensive load on the perimeter. Michigan also outrebounded Louisville, though it helped that Cochran played only 20 minutes.Engstler was as advertised on defense for Louisville, pulling down 16 rebounds and nabbing six steals as she led the press. “It seemed like every big play they made, she was involved in,” Barnes Arico said. But Engstler struggled offensively, shooting 1 of 9 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3-point range as she mostly settled for outside jumpers.Louisville was the last team to punch its ticket to the Final Four, where it will face South Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed, which has lost just twice this season and just beat Creighton by 30. The other side of the bracket will see Stanford play Connecticut. The national semifinals will be played on Friday in Minneapolis. The final is on Sunday.Louisville’s Final Four appearance is its first since 2018, when it lost to the eventual runner-up Mississippi State. Michigan’s appearance in the round of 8 was the first time the team had ever advanced that far. More

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      St. Peter’s Defeats Kentucky in Basketball

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      The small Jesuit university in Jersey City is in high spirits after eliminating Kentucky, a basketball blue blood, from the N.C.A.A. men’s tournament.JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Farouk Sow, a junior at St. Peter’s University, was walking down a set of stairs from the university bridge running across John F. Kennedy Boulevard here on Friday morning when he spotted a blue “ABC 7 Eyewitness News” van on the street. Nearby, a video screen on a wall flashed an image of four members of the school’s men’s basketball team celebrating and holding a blue “March Madness” sign.Spotting a St. Peter’s classmate, senior Stephanie Radakovic, at the bottom of the stairs, Sow said with pride of the men’s basketball team, “They put us on the map.”Sow was referring to St. Peter’s gigantic upset of Kentucky in the first round of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament Thursday night in Indianapolis. It marked just the 10th time in tournament history that a No. 15 seed had upset a 2 seed.“It makes us feel good, because this is a small school, everybody knows everybody,” Sow told a reporter. “We weren’t known for sports. The fact that we beat Kentucky put us on the map. Basically, a small school beat a big school.”Kentucky has about 32,000 students, St. Peter’s approximately 2,300. Kentucky has won eight N.C.A.A. championships; St. Peter’s had never won an N.C.A.A. Tournament game before Thursday. St. Peter’s men’s basketball coach Shaheen Holloway made $266,344 in 2019; Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s base salary is $8.5 million. St. Peter’s basketball revenue was $1.6 million in 2019-20, while Kentucky’s was $29.3 million.Hence the news trucks and reporters descending on the tiny Jesuit university composed largely of red brick buildings in the heart of Jersey City. Chartered in 1872 and originally named St. Peter’s College, the school occupies a 30-acre campus just two miles west of New York City. The student body is 66 percent Black or Hispanic, and many who attend are first-generation college students.Raven Cordner, adviser to forward Hassan Drame, left, and forward KC Ndefo, at the university on Friday.Brian Fraser for The New York TimesEmpty mannequins in the campus bookstore.Brian Fraser for The New York TimesOn Thursday night, Radakovic, a senior on the women’s soccer team, was one of about 240 students in the “Sky Room” of the university student center watching the game on a big screen. There was pizza, popcorn, drinks, a cake, inflatable games, basketball hoops and other entertainment for the students cheering on the Peacocks. The school’s social media account is using the hashtag #StrutUp in honor of the Peacocks.“Everyone was freaking out. It was crazy,” Radakovic said. “There were a bunch of chairs set up, and at the end of the game, nobody was sitting on the chairs. Everybody was standing up.”Olyvia Smith, a junior outfielder on the school’s softball team and the girlfriend of junior guard Doug Edert, was also at the watch party.Dive Deeper Into the N.C.A.A. TournamentsA Catalyst for Change: A viral video by Oregon’s Sedona Prince led to a gender equity review in college basketball. Did the fixes go far enough?​​Throwback Big Men: In an era that prioritizes 3-pointers, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Illinois’s Kofi Cockburn are reminders of what the game used to be.Returning to the Big Stage: After years away from the tournament, these women’s teams made history before taking the floor.A Scout at Heart: Omar Minaya, a former Mets general manager, is a proud dad at Providence games. But he’s also watching for pro talent.“It was an unbelievable feeling. I felt like we were there with them the entire time,” Smith said.The 6-foot-2 Edert, a Nutley, N.J., native who played at the nearby powerhouse Bergen Catholic High School, scored 20 points against Kentucky, hitting a key basket to send the game to overtime, and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line. He has become a fan favorite on social media in part because of the mustache he has grown in recent weeks.He chose St. Peter’s over offers from Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner and New Hampshire. Daryl Banks III, the star guard who scored 27 points in the Kentucky game, also chose St. Peter’s over Wagner. Neither was the main option on his high school team or the McDonald’s All-American type that Kentucky routinely recruits.The Peacocks’ trophy case.Brian Fraser for The New York TimesBut neither would trade places with the Kentucky players right now.“Our school supports us so much,” Edert said. “We are a little school, and it’s awesome to put us on the map.”After the game, Edert called Smith to share the moment.“He was just so excited, it was awesome,” she said.Smith is aware that most people — even some who live in New Jersey — don’t know much about St. Peter’s.So, what does she want people to know about the school?“All of our athletic programs are definitely up-and-coming, and we have a lot of teams that are making a comeback right now,” Smith said. “I think this is huge, and I think that this brings a lot of energy to all the teams. We can all compete, and we can all be there with those other teams.”As of about noon on Friday, the St. Peter’s bookstore, which is undergoing renovation, had sold $2,500 worth of St. Peter’s T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies to Jersey City residents and alums.“Oh, yeah, that’s a lot for us,” said Kristyna Stukeo, who manages the bookstore.This wasn’t St. Peter’s first win over basketball royalty. In 1968, long before the internet made players like Edert famous, the Peacocks beat Duke in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. Tom Mac Mahon, who scored 902 points in his career at St. Peter’s and was one of the stars of that team, later became the chief executive and chairman of LabCorp and served as the chair of the board of trustees at his alma mater. He donated $5 million to help support the creation of the Run Baby Run Arena, which opened this season and where the Peacocks played an intense defensive style that made life tough on opponents.“St. Peter’s is good, and they’re also good defensively,” a somewhat dazed Calipari said in a television interview during the game.St. Peter’s success may not be enough to keep Holloway, 45, around as the coach. His is a hot name on the coaching carousel, and if Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard leaves for another job (he has been linked to Maryland), Holloway, who starred at Seton Hall and was an associate head coach under Willard, would be a natural fit. Iona coach Rick Pitino, who coached against Holloway in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, said Seton Hall “shouldn’t even make another call.”A student walks through the St. Peter’s University campus.Stefan Jeremiah/Associated PressMeantime, Edert and his teammates are focused on facing No. 7 Murray State — a team based in Kentucky that has won 21 straight games — in the second round on Saturday in Indianapolis.And the mustachioed maverick won’t be shaving anytime soon.“He’s not changing anything until this tournament is over,” Smith said. “I can tell you that.” More