NBA players who shone during their NCAA tournament runs

Welcome to March! Selection Sunday inches closer. The upsets, heart-racing moments and brilliant individual performances are also near. We’re looking at ten of the best individual NCAA Tournament performers of all-time, with one big qualifier — their teams actually won the national title.

This collection of players found a way to eat up opponents themselves without sacrificing their team’s feast and the ultimate goal of a national championship. The following players range from ones with dominant seasons that continued into March to ones that rose to the occasion of the tournament.

Few college teams are more legendary than the early-70s UCLA Bruins of the early 1970s, famed for their 88-game win streak, and few players from that era can define it so well as Bill Walton. The not-quite-seven-footer led UCLA to back-to-back NCAA championships in the pre-March Madness era in 1972 and 1973, racking up two Most Outstanding Player awards along the way as a sophomore and a junior.

In the 1973 championship game, Walton went 21-for-22 and put up 44 points and 13 rebounds. To this day, he still holds the record for most points scored in an NCAA championship game — and it actually would have been more if several of his baskets were not overturned because of the no-dunking rule that existed in the NCAA at the time.

Hate him or, well, hate him, Laettner racked up several memorable NCAA championship performances during his time at Duke in the early 1990s. Two overtime buzzer-beaters in regional finals in 1990 and 1992 cap off his highlight reel. He also shot a perfect game at the 1992 regional final against Kentucky, deemed by many as the greatest college game of all time, before going on to lead Duke to their second national championship in a row that year.

Due to his status as a four-year starter on a team that made the Final Four every year he was on the team, Laettner holds a great deal of NCAA tournament records, including points scored, games played, games won, free throws made, and free throws won. He was controversial in part because of his greatness, and his level of play in his junior and senior seasons allowed the Blue Devils to win it all back-to-back in ‘91 and ‘92, winning Most Outstanding Player in the former.

Before the ‘70s Bruins, there were the ‘60s Bruins — under John Wooden, UCLA took home five national championships in the decade, three of which (‘67, ‘68, ‘69) were made possible by the outstanding performance of 7-foot-2 Lew Alcindor, who also took home Most Outstanding Player for each of those tournaments (the only player to ever win the award three times) and, on top of that, got dunking banned for a decade in the NCAA.

In his three national championship games, he racked up 20, 34, and 37 points, respectively. He also grabbed 20 rebounds in his final game as a Bruin in the 1969 title game. His sheer size was a huge defensive asset for UCLA, as it allowed him to block shots with relative ease and close off opponents’ path to the rim.

Accompanying Laettner to the 91-92 back-to-back championship run was point guard Bobby Hurley, who took home the Most Outstanding Player award in 1992. As the NCAA’s all-time assist leader, it’s no surprise that Hurley also holds several records for assists in tournament history (helped by the fact that his team made it to the Final Four three of the four years he played).

Despite his small size and having to share the court with several all-star teammates including Laettner and Grant Hill, Hurley made his mark in ‘91 and ‘92 as a natural leader on the court, but couldn’t get the job done his senior year, losing in the second round of the tournament.

We’re throwing it way, way back (to 1955!) for this one, but we couldn’t leave out University of San Francisco legend Bill Russell, who won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, overcoming not only a shaky start to the sport, but widespread segregation and racism that affected his recruiting and playing experience throughout high school and college.

A defensive force on the court, Russell’s rebounding and shot blocking abilities helped his team to two national titles, racking up five 20-rebound tournament games (including a 27-rebound game in the 1956 natty), and won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award in 1955. He had four 20-20 games in his last five NCAA tournament matches. Russell was part of the first major NCAA team to start three or more Black players, and was snubbed for several awards during his dominant college years because of his race.

The future NBA Hall of Famer only spent one season in college and made the most of his only NCAA Tournament appearance. In five of Syracuse’s six NCAA Tournament victories in 2003, Anthony was the Orange’s leading scorer and rebounder, with his only omissions both coming in the second round against Oklahoma State. He averaged 20.1 points in the tournament as well as 9.8 rebounds per game, slightly below his season average in both categories of 22.2 points per game and 10 rebounds per contest, which is understandable with the rise in competition.

Anthony’s best tournament performance came in Syracuse’s Final Four victory over Texas. The soon-to-be Denver Nugget draft selection went off for 33 points, 14 rebounds and three steals. Anthony definitely had help throughout the only championship run of Jim Boeheim’s coaching career, like Hakim Warrick and Kueth Duany, but his motor pushed the Orange to be the nation’s best 19 years ago.

Three years before he was chosen No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, Ellison dazzled in the 1986 NCAA Tournament for Louisville, it’s most recent title by NCAA standards. Ellison was efficient in every game throughout the Cardinals run to the title, scoring in double figures in each contest. In Louisville’s first five games, Ellison scored between 11-16 points before his outburst in the championship game against Duke. He also had 57 rebounds in the ‘86 tournament.

A 25-point showcase from Ellison helped Louisville past the Blue Devils in its toughest test of the tournament. Ellison was named the tournament’s most outstanding player as he helped the Cardinals, then in the Metro Conference, become one of two teams ever to win the national championship from a non-power conference (UNLV being the other).

The current New York Knick was a scoring machine for UConn during the 2010-11 season and continued his superhuman form into the postseason, helping the Huskies to a Big East Tournament title and then, The Big Dance. Walker averaged 23.5 points per game in the tournament, an extraordinary total considering the defensive nature of that season’s Final Four.

In the Round of 32 and Sweet 16, Walker combined for 69 points in the victories over Cincinnati and San Diego State. The staggering part of Walker’s contributions was how he added to an undefeated record against nonconference opposition. The Huskies went 18-0 against non-Big East teams, while finishing an unimpressive 9-9 in league play. Walker’s ignition led UConn from obscurity to national champions.

The early stages of one of basketball’s best one-on-one rivalries. Magic versus Bird. Michigan State versus Indiana State. Spartans dueling with the Sycamores. And in the 1979 NCAA Tournament the future Laker and Celtic legends led their teams into the title game with Michigan State emerging victorious, thanks in large part to its 6-foot-8 guard.

In Johnson’s five games of the 1979 tournament, 21.8 points per game, including 53 combined points in the Final Four. Add in 10 assists per game, 8.8 rebounds per game and 13 overall steals, he looks nearly unstoppable. Johnson’s field-goal percentage was .523 and free-throw average was .891. Both incredible marks in win-or-go-home scenarios.

Kansas’ “Miracle” run to the title wouldn’t have happened without Manning’s presence in the low post. He scored at least 20 points in each of the Jayhawks six games. In the tournament game where he played the least, 29 minutes, Manning scored his tournament-high 38 points in the Sweet 16 against Vanderbilt. Manning averaged 27.2 points per game in the tournament.

Manning also had 14 blocks and 9.3 rebounds per game in the tournament, helping 6-seed Kansas to a national championship. In the championship game, Manning finished with 31 points and his tournament-high 18 rebounds.