By: Emily Roberge
March Madness is back. But unlike previous seasons, there is no clear pick for who will win it all.
After defeating Iowa for the 2024 title, South Carolina could just about do it again, ranked as No. 1 going into the tournament. The Gamecocks are joined by No. 1 seeds Texas, UCLA, and USC.
But the Longhorns, Bruins, and Trojans are all coming out of historic regular seasons. After its first season in the SEC tournament, Texas reached its first No. 1 AP Poll ranking for two weeks since 2004. The Bruins have something to prove with their 30-win record and first appearance as a No. 1 seed. And USC resembles another roster looking to piece together more this go-around after a 2024 Elite Eight loss.
New England connections are scattered throughout the tournament’s 68 teams. Here are some schools with the most prominent local ties.
Regional 1
No. 4 Baylor (27–7)
The Bears feature 5-foot-8 guard Yaya Felder (Hartford, Conn.) a former star at Conard High who played two years at Ohio before transferring to Baylor. Felder is averaging 10.3 points in 25.1 minutes per game this season and has started the last seven contests. She scored a season-high 20 points on Nov. 24 against Indiana.
No. 8 Richmond (27–6)
There is no shortage of players from New England on the Spiders’ Roster. With its four players from New England, Richmond is attempting to win its first NCAA tournament game in program history.
Junior guard Rachel Ullstrom (Auburn, Mass.) set a Richmond record with 11 3-pointers against Oakland this season. Ullstrom attended Marianapolis, where she holds a school record with the most 3-pointers in a single game (10). Ullstrom was named to the Atlantic 10-Conference First Team and became the first Richmond player to score 35 or more points in a game since 2004.
Sam Dewey (Melrose, Mass.) graduated from the Brooks as a NEPSAC Class B champion. Before transferring to Richmond, Dewey appeared in 13 games for Illinois and had a career-high seven points against McNeese State. She post a career-high 15 points against Morgan State on Nov. 9.
Payton Richard (Bolton, Mass.) attended Rivers prior to Richmond, where she earned an ISL All-League Honorable Mention. As a freshman guard, Richard has a total of 15 points, five assists and one steal. Sophomore forward Courtney Swider (Portsmouth, R.I.) has 11 points and 31 minutes on the season. Before joining the spiders, Swider aided Tabor Academy in winning a 2022 NEPSAC Class AA Championship.
No. 10 Harvard (24–4)
The Crimson are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007 after winning Ivy Madness. Harvard’s 24 wins on the season surpass its previous single-season record of 23 wins from the 1997-98 season, when the Crimson defeated then-No. 1 seeded Stanford, 71–67, as a No. 16 seed.
Harmoni Turner, the Ivy League’s leading scorer and Player of the Year, scored 44 points in Harvard’s semifinal win over Princeton. Sophomore Abigail Wright (Newton, Mass.) played in high school at Newton North and earns major minutes off the Crimson bench.
THE JOURNEY:Â Inside Harvard's historic season that put the Crimson in Ivy League and at-large conversations
No. 15 Vermont (21–12)
The Catamounts make their second NCAA Tournament berth in three seasons after defeating top-seeded Albany, 62-55, for their eighth American East Championship win. Leading the team with 12.8 points per game is Anna Olson, a 1,600-point, fifth-year standout for the Catamounts. Vermont has three players on its roster from New England: Natalie Beaudoin, Catherine Gilwee, and Sarah Ericson.
Beaudoin (Lewiston, Maine), a freshman, was named first-team-all-conference and a Miss Maine basketball finalist in 2024. In high school at Lewiston, she averaged 17 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
Gilwee (Shelburne, Vt.) started in all 32 games during the 2022-2023 season, averaging 10.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per contest before missing the entire 2023-24 season because of injury. The redshirt junior was named the America East Rookie of the Year back in 2021-2022.
Ericson (Norwich, Conn.) transferred to Vermont in the 2023-24 season after playing at Division 2 St. Thomas Aquinas. Before transferring, she finished with 1,144 points, 712 rebounds, 278 assists and 138 steals in 88 games. Ericson has started in 14 of 22 games played at Vermont.
Regional 2
No. 2 Duke (26–7)
Starting junior point guard Taina Mair (Dorchester, Mass.) graduated from Brooks as a three-time NEPSAC champion (twice at Brooks, once at Holderness) and 2022 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year. Mair started in all 33 games during her freshman year at Boston College and was one of three players nationally to average at least 11 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. In her second year as a Blue Devil, Mair is averaging 7.1 points, 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Another Massachusetts native leading the Blue Devils is sophomore guard Oluchi Okananwa (Peabody, Mass.). Before becoming the first Duke women’s basketball player to win ACC Sixth Player of the Year last season, Okananwa graduated from Worcester Academy. This season, she's averaging 10.2 points and 5.1 rebounds.
No. 3 UNC (27–7)
Head coach Courtney Banghart, an Amherst, N.H., native and Dartmouth College graduate and assistant coach from 2003-2007, has long ties to New England. As a three-year starter at Dartmouth, Banghart was a two-time all-Ivy League selection and holds the Ivy career 3-pointers record with 273. Banghart was inducted into the Dartmouth Hall of Fame in 2004 and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. This season marks Banghart’s sixth at UNC and 18th as a head coach.
No. 7 Vanderbilt (22–10)
In 2000, head coach Shea Ralph led UConn to a national championship win before being named All-American, Big East Player of the Year and the MVP of the 2000 NCAA Women’s Final Four. Ralph returned to her alma mater by spending 13 seasons as an assistant coach to the Huskies, working with 21 WNBA draft picks while in Connecticut. Ralph has been at Vanderbilt for four seasons, with the 2024 tournament being the Commodores' second time in three seasons with a postseason berth.
No. 11 Columbia (23–6)
The Lions lost to Harvard in the Ivy League championship but earned an at-large bid and will play Washington in the First Four. Their roster includes freshman guard Nasi Simmons (Brockton, Mass.) who was part of Nobles' back-to-back NEPSAC Class AA title runs in 2023 and 2024. Simmons comes off the bench and is averaging 12.2 minutes per game.
Regional 3
No. 8 Illinois (21–9)
Junior forward Shay Bollin (Raynham, Mass.) spent her freshman season at Duke before transferring to Illinois. In high school at Bridgewater-Raynham, Bollin was ranked No. 26 nationally in the 2022 class. Appearing in 29 games during her first season at Illinois, Bollin averaged 2.1 points per game and 1.3 rebounds per game. She has not played this season and was reportedly battling an undisclosed injury.
No. 11 Princeton (21–7)
The Tigers earned a historic third bid for the Ivy League and will play Iowa State in the First Four. They're led by sixth-year head coach Carla Berube, who has helped the program to four consecutive March Madness appearances.
Berube, from Oxford, Mass., won a national championship as a player at UConn in 1995 and scored 1,381 points as a Husky. She was briefly an assistant at Providence before becoming head coach at Tufts. Berube built a stellar legacy with the Jumbos, winning 80 percent of her games, making two Division 3 Final Four runs and winning D3 National Coach of the Year in 2015.
No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson (29–3)
Kailee McDonald (Lowell, Mass.) is averaging 4.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game for the Knights, who beat Stonehill to win the NEC championship. This is FDU's first Round of 64 appearance in program history, and they'll be facing off against second-seeded TCU. McDonald, a freshman, graduated from Worcester Academy.
No. 16 William & Mary
W&M makes its first NCAA Tournament appearance ever and will play High Point in the First Four. The team features four New England natives, including leading scorer Bella Nascimento (Grafton, Mass.), who played in high school at Shepherd Hill and then Worcester Academy. Nascimento is averaging 16.3 points per game and scored 33 points in the CAA championship win against Campbell.
Aislinn Gibson (Hingham, Mass.) and Sophia LeGoullon (Bedford, N.H.) both played prep ball at Tilton. Anahi-Lee Cauley (Windsor, Conn.) is a Kent graduate.
Regional 4
No. 1 USC (28–3)
Despite leading a team on the other side of the country, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s collegiate roots started in New England. Graduating from Brown in 1999, she was both a player and a student assistant coach. Gottlieb has been the head coach of the Trojans for four seasons, leading her team to the program’s first No. 1 seed since 1986 last season and repeating this year.
No. 2 UConn (31–3)
UConn is searching for a national championship after an eight-year drought. This marks the 36th consecutive season that the Huskies have earned a March Madness spot. UConn has been ranked No. 2 seven times, with the most recent appearance being its 2023 loss to Ohio State in the Sweet 16. With Paige Bueckers, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, and a favorite for the National Freshman of the Year in Sarah Strong, the Huskies have some of the nation’s best shooters.
Redshirt junior Caroline Ducharme (Milton, Mass.) played at Noble & Greenough School. In high school, she was named the No. 5-ranked player in her 2021 class. Ducharme averaged 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore and has worked her way back from head and neck injuries in recent years. During her time in Storrs, she has been named to the 2022 All-Big East Second Team and 2022 Big East All-Freshman Team, while appearing in 54 games with 20 starts.
No. 12 Fairfield (28–4)
The Stags' tournament ranking ties its highest seed in program history and marks a second straight appearance (and second straight MAAC title). Fairfield ranks in the top-20 in 3-pointers per game (8.9), assists (17.7) and field goal percentage (46.4 percent). Sophomore Meghan Anderson, after breaking the school’s freshman scoring record last year, is averaging 15.1 points and 4.2 rebounds this season. Senior Lauren Beach (Medway, Mass.) graduated from Medway High in 2021 as the Tri-League Valley MVP.
