{"id":676234,"date":"2026-03-24T11:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/676234\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:57:23","slug":"most-teams-still-alive-in-ncaa-tournament-are-led-by-veterans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/676234\/","title":{"rendered":"Most teams still alive in NCAA Tournament are led by veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. LOUIS \u2014 Purdue was struggling to put away Miami in the second half of their second-round NCAA Tournament game on Sunday when Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kauffman-Renn combined to score the Boilermakers’ next 22 points, helping them to turn a three-point lead into a 79-69 victory<\/a> and a spot in the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

It was exactly what coach Matt Painter has come to expect<\/a> from his guys over the last four years.<\/p>\n

The antithesis of college basketball in the age of free transfers and name, image and likeness money, the Boilermakers are two wins away from a second Final Four appearance<\/a> in the last three years by keeping things decidedly old-school: They recruit players that fit their program, develop them over time, and then they lean on them when it matters the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to culture,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHaving what we have here in the last four years is really special. I think we’ve had maybe four transfers in my four years that we have had, and I think that\u2019s pretty special, and not a lot of teams ever have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unique in college basketball, to be sure, but not necessarily unique in the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

In fact, the NCAA Tournament this year has underscored the value of continuity within a program, and that simply restocking with a new wave of transfers each offseason is not necessarily the best way to build a championship roster.<\/p>\n

Five teams still alive have at least four starters who have played multiple seasons for their current coaches, according to a roster survey from The Associated Press, and nine of the 16 have at least three. Duke and Michigan State have starting lineups that consist entirely of guys who have played nowhere else in college, and 11 of the 16 teams have at least three such starters.<\/p>\n

Those numbers exist despite the fact that Iowa (Ben McCollum) and Texas (Sean Miller) have new coaches, and both were forced to mine the transfer portal after the typical and unavoidable outflow of players from the previous regime.<\/p>\n

At Purdue, Smith \u2014 now the NCAA career assists leader<\/a> \u2014 and Loyer have been starters the last four years. Kaufman-Renn, also a senior, has been in the starting lineup the last three. Together, they are tied for the winningest class in school history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want to stay?\u201d Smith asked. \u201cObviously if our situation was different, whatever. For us just being around a great group of people as a whole, the community at Purdue, the coaching staff, just staff in general \u2014 it just makes it super special.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of the Hawkeyes, four of the starters \u2014 Bennett Stirtz, Tavion Banks, Cam Manyawu and Kael Combs \u2014 followed McCollum from Drake, creating the same sort of continuity. The other starter, Jacob Koch, played for Fran McCaffery at Iowa last season.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got really loyal kids, and I knew that going in,” said McCollum, who two years ago was coaching Division II ball<\/a>. “Whether or not they’re perfect \u2014 they’re not. We’ve got our issues, I’ve got my issues, but what they’re perfect at is loyalty, and they’re tough, and they’ve established a foundation and a solid core.”<\/p>\n

The Hawkeyes’ in-state rival, Iowa State, is back in the Sweet 16 behind Tamin Lipsey, a fourth-year senior who grew up near its campus in Ames. Milan Momcilovic and injured forward Joshua Jefferson have been with T.J. Otzelberger for multiple years.<\/p>\n

Over time, they have embraced what it means to be a part of the Cyclones program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of pride that this program continues to do really well,\u201d Otzelberger said, \u201cand the consistency of it means a whole lot to us. We’re going to continue to have those work habits that reflect that day-in and day-out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spartans coach Tom Izzo doesn’t just have five starters that he recruited out of high school but four who have stuck with him at least three seasons. That includes Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler, a pair of college basketball unicorns: fourth-year seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you end up coaching and you have guys for three and four years, they do become like your own kids,\u201d Izzo said. \u201cIn fact, I spent more time with some of my players than I did my own kids as they were growing up. I’m not really proud of that, just the fact of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet it’s a somewhat pleasant way of life for those who remember what college sports was before administrators began chasing money above all else, and players followed suit. Teams were embraced by fans when March Madness rolled around because they had watched their players grow up; they had a vested interested after years of shared joy and suffering.<\/p>\n

In some ways, this year’s Sweet 16 is a throwback to an increasingly bygone era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of go back to just how we are right now, even in like, our meals in the hotel rooms, and just hanging out with the guys. I think that\u2019s something that we\u2019re all going to take for granted at some point,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cWhen we graduate, wherever the next step takes us, we\u2019re going to think back and wish that we were back there, being able to hang out with the guys.\u201d<\/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

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LOUIS \u2014 Purdue was struggling to put away Miami in the second half of their second-round NCAA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,7456,231,772,1400,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-676234","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-march-madness","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaa-tournament","14":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116284039912807580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676234","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=676234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}