With the first weekend of March Madness in the books, only 16 teams remain as they will continue to battle toward the Final Four and, ultimately, the NCAA championship. Amongst those teams, there have been stars, some household names, and others seemingly coming out of the blue. Below we will highlight five stars during March Madness using ShotQuality data.
Markquis Nowell (Kansas State)
Nowell put on a clinic against Kentucky in the Round of 32. Despite entering the contest as the three-seed, the Wildcats were considered the underdog against their opponents from the SEC. Nowell has been a beast all season, averaging 16.8 points per game and placing in the 70th percentile in SQ, but he saved the best performance of his career for Sunday.
He played all 40 minutes, posting 27 points, nine assists, and three steals, on 7-of-14 from the field while playing lockdown defense. K-State has a lot of talented players on their team and is led by a budding superstar of a coach, but Nowell has been the March Madness hero so far.
Dylan Disu (Texas)
Disu is in the 34th percentile in SQ PPP this season but has exploded from a usage standpoint this March Madness. He has recorded 31 possession in Texas’ first two NCAAT games, an absurd amount considering he had never posted back-to-back games with at least 25 possessions. Against Colgate, Disu dropped 17 points, his third most in 34 games this season. However, his performance against Penn State in the Round of 32 has put him on this list. He dropped a season-high 28 points, using his midrange game to shoot an insane 70% from the field. He placed in the 9th percentile in SQ PPP, considering the difficulty and placement of his shots, but Disu cashed in regardless.
Adama Sanogo (UConn)
Sanogo has been world-class this March Madness, being almost unstoppable in the first two rounds as UConn moves into the Sweet Sixteen. He dropped a season-high 28 points against Iona in only 25 minutes before dismantling Saint Mary’s on Sunday. Pending the results from the SMC game, Sanogo has placed in the 51st percentile or better in eight straight games.
Jack Nunge (Xavier)
Nunge makes this list because there is no Sweet Sixteen for the Xavier Musketeers without him. With his team up by just one point with five seconds left to Kennesaw State in the first round, the big-bodied center blocked a Terrell Burden layup, ultimately sealing the game for his team while finishing with a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. He then has 18 points against Pittsburgh for good measure.
Jahvon Quinerly (Alabama)
Quinerly was a star for the Alabama Crimson Tide last season, ranking second in points and assists while helping lead his team to a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, he made it just three minutes into his team’s first game against Notre Dame before blowing his knee out and requiring season-ending knee surgery. It’s been a tough year for the former five-star as he recovered from a lengthy rehabilitation process, shooting just 41% from the field while playing on one of the best offenses in basketball.
He returned to the NCAA Tournament this year but this time with his team as the consensus number-one team in the bracket. However, all he has done is post his best SQ PPP game of the season, ranking in the 95th percentile against Texas A&M CC and recording seven good possession against zero bad ones. And then, he outscored his projected mark, 14 points, with a 22-point outing against Maryland.