By STEVE MEGARGEE<\/p>\n
Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd\u2019s NCAA Tournament experiences have run the gamut at his previous schools.<\/p>\n
Boyd reached the Final Four<\/a> with Florida Atlantic in 2023, endured an overtime loss in the round of 64<\/a> with the Owls a year later and then lost in the First Four<\/a> with San Diego State last season. Now at his third school, Boyd has a keen understanding of what it takes to thrive this time of year.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think it\u2019s all about the mental aspect for the team, coming in ready to leave it all on the line,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cThe last couple of teams I\u2019ve been on, when we lost in the first round, we were kind of overcoming some challenges as a team. Maybe our mental (outlook) wasn\u2019t in the best place in a sense. I feel like with this team right now, we have great momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n In this era of the transfer portal, plenty of players end up appearing in the NCAA Tournament with multiple schools. For instance, the most outstanding player in last year\u2019s Final Four<\/a> was Florida\u2019s Walter Clayton Jr.,<\/a> who previously had participated in the NCAA Tournament with Iona.<\/p>\n Boyd would love to follow a similar path.<\/p>\n Wisconsin (24-10) is seeded fifth in the West Region and will face High Point (30-4) in a first-round game Thursday at Portland, Oregon. The Badgers will attempt to advance beyond the NCAA Tournament\u2019s opening weekend for the first time since a Sweet 16 appearance in 2017.<\/p>\n Boyd will need to continue the momentum he established last week by averaging 25 points in three Big Ten Tournament games, including a 38-point performance in a quarterfinal victory over Illinois.<\/a> The 6-foot-3 guard has averaged 20.6 points and 4.2 assists \u2014 both career highs \u2014 in his lone season with the Badgers.<\/p>\n Boyd has played seven career NCAA Tournament games, though he didn\u2019t score more than 12 points in any of them. He\u2019s eager to lead Wisconsin on the type of long postseason run he enjoyed with Florida Atlantic three years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a good mental space, where we trust each other and believe in what we can do,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at some other notable players experiencing March Madness at new schools this year after previously playing multiple NCAA Tournament games for different programs.<\/p>\n Ryan Conwell, Louisville<\/p>\n Conwell is playing for his fourth school in as many years. The 6-foot-4 guard was at Xavier last season when he scored 11 points in a First Four victory<\/a> over Texas and had 12 points in a round of 64 loss to Illinois.<\/a> He also played for South Florida in 2022-23 and Indiana State in 2023-24, though those teams didn\u2019t earn NCAA Tournament bids. He has a career-high 18.7 points per game at Louisville this season while also averaging 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists.<\/p>\n Ja\u2019Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee<\/p>\n Gillespie came to Tennessee after helping Maryland reach the Sweet 16 last year. The 6-1 guard scored 17 points in a regional semifinal loss<\/a> to Florida and averaged 14.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games with the Terrapins. Gillespie had gone to Maryland after spending two seasons at Belmont, though he didn\u2019t make the NCAA Tournament either of his years with the Bruins. Gillespie has 18 points and 5.5 assists per game this season to set career highs in both categories. He\u2019s The Associated Press Southeastern Conference transfer newcomer of the year.<\/a><\/p>\n Tyon Grant-Foster, Gonzaga<\/p>\n Grant-Foster played three NCAA Tournament games for Grand Canyon the last two seasons and scored at least 22 points in each of them. He had 22 points in a first-round win over Saint Mary\u2019s<\/a> and 29 in a second-round loss to Alabama.<\/a> The 6-7 guard had 23 points in a first-round loss<\/a> to Maryland last year. Grant-Foster also played a total of 11 minutes in two NCAA Tournament games with Kansas in 2021. Grant-Foster has averaged 11.2 points and 5 rebounds with Gonzaga this season.<\/p>\n Malik Reneau, Miami<\/p>\n Reneau\u2019s last NCAA Tournament appearance came three years ago against Miami. Now he\u2019s finally back in March Madness while playing for the Hurricanes. The former Indiana forward played 12 minutes in a first-round win<\/a> over Kent State and 10 minutes in a second-round loss<\/a> to Miami. Reneau remained at Indiana two more seasons but didn\u2019t get back to the NCAA Tournament. He\u2019s averaging 18.8 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Hurricanes as an AP first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference<\/a> selection.<\/p>\n Bennett Stirtz, Iowa<\/p>\n Stirtz reached the NCAA Tournament at the Division II level with Northwest Missouri State in 2023 and 2024. When Drake hired coach Ben McCollum away from Northwest Missouri State, Stirtz made the same move and helped the Bulldogs<\/a> get to March Madness. Stirtz scored 21 points in each of his two NCAA Tournament games at Drake \u2014 a first-round win over Missouri<\/a> and a second-round loss to Texas Tech.<\/a> Stirtz is now at Iowa, again playing for McCollum.<\/a> He has averaged 20 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds.<\/p>\n Henri Veesaar, North Carolina<\/p>\n Veesaar transferred to North Carolina after reaching a regional semifinal with Arizona last season. He averaged 8 points in three NCAA Tournament games last year and had 13 points and six rebounds in a Sweet 16 loss<\/a> to Duke. Veesaar also played three minutes for Arizona in a first-round loss to Princeton<\/a> in 2023. The 7-footer is enjoying a breakthrough season at North Carolina by compiling 16.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By STEVE MEGARGEE Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd\u2019s NCAA Tournament experiences have run the gamut at his previous schools.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,325,231,772,1544,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-665132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-college-sports","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116251098071618550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}