For the past few years, we have published an article in our beloved newspaper about the weirdest and most ironic names of the NCAA men’s basktball tournament. Though the tournament is drawing to a close, tradition calls for us to give you a fun piece about players’ names.
To the casual NCAA fan, this year’s tournament did not have much excitement in the first two rounds like we wanted. We did, however, see some epic moments and some epic names through the process. Take the Duke-UCF Round of 32 game of Zion Williamson versus Tacko Fall. Now that is worth the price of admission, just for the names.
There are other teams out there who also possess players of noble names. Some of those teams made some notable accomplishments for themselves.
Gardner-Webb University made its first ever NCAA appearance this year, after winning the Big South Tournament. Its roster boasts the names of David Efianayi, Jaheam Cornwall, Kennedy Kincaid and Ludovic Dufeal. Nate Johnson is also a starter on that team, but that’s more for playing reasons than name aesthetics.
Some names can cause confusion if we’re not careful. Fans of St. Louis University might start thinking the announcers are referring to players by their sisters’ names, with the team having players like Brandon Courtney and Tramaine Isabell.
I feel that some names are entertaining to say or make somone instantly cool just by having it. Names can be fancy like Colin Castleton, Maxime Boursiquot or Ray Featherston.
Some names can output straight up swagger, like Ceasar DeJesus and Chance McSpadden. They both sound like a Disney Channel character middle-schoolers talk about being a “hottie.”
My favorite name is one that really increased in value over the last few years. I’m sure when all is said and done, Baylor’s Flo Thamba will be coming out with a rap single of his own to make some quick cash.
Now we can (Immanuel) Quickly jump to talking about Duke and the experience it was to watch that team, but there’s plenty of time to gush about Zion when he’s in the NBA. The only thing I have to say is that kid is strong as a (Danny) Hummer when he comes charging down the (Joey) Lane.
It (Jordan) Burns a little to see good teams like UNC fall early, mostly because they were going far in a lot of our brackets. It also hurt a little to see players like Wofford’s Fletcher Magee compete on the floor for the final NCAA game of his career. As the NCAA career leader in 3-point field goals made, his (Darius) Days of hitting the treys are over.
Some players who were really good, had some notable names as well.
We got to experience No. 12 seed Oregon reaching the Sweet 16 without their leading rebounder and scorer Bol Bol. Murray State, another 12-seed, tore it up in a 19 point upset win thanks to Ja Morant. That gave way to many Marquette fan, throwing (Malik) Fitts.
Some fans really want their team to win and will let the other team know it. Bradley’s fans did a great job making their presence known in Des Moines. The team had their (Kevin) Garrison of support behind them.
Bradley fans would’ve eaten up a win against the Spartans, probably with some (Andrew) Fava (Justin) Bean(s) and a nice chianti. That’s a “Silence of the (Anthony) Lamb(s)” reference, for those who don’t know.
But alas, Bradley fell and Michigan State moved on all the way to the Final Four. But hey, that Elijah Childs dunk was certainly the (Taeshon) Cherry on top.
