A villain to 'granny-style' free-throw shooter: 10 players to know in men's NCAA Tournament

The men's NCAA Tournament bracket is set. Now college basketball fans can finally start filling out their own brackets. 

Here are 10 players to know as March Madness begins in the men's tournament:

Hunter Dickinson | Kansas

Gotta love this: The 7-foot-2 center loves playing the villain. Dickinson once called Michigan the "fake Midwest" after transferring from the U of M to Kansas in 2023.

"[Michiganders] were nice people but not as nice [as Kansans]," the 24-year-old told the "Rock Chalk Unplugged" podcast. That was a bold statement that earned him a lot of Wolverine haters. 

Cooper Flagg | Duke

Gotta love this: As a kid, college basketball's most talked about player studied clips of the 1986 NBA champion Boston Celtics. Per Baxter Holmes of ESPN, "Flagg would lie on the living room floor in front of the TV and watch the games on a loop, one full game after another."

Flagg, 18, is projected by ESPN and others to be the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. The 6-foot-9 offensive machine graduated a year early from high school to enroll at Duke.

Flagg broke the ACC's freshman game scoring record (42 points) and is the favorite to win the John Wooden Award, given to the sport's most outstanding player. He's also the first ACC player in the past 25 years to record at least 500 points, 100 assists and 30 blocks in a season.

Johni Broome | Auburn

Gotta love this: Per Yahoo's Jeff Eisenberg, "Broome grew up in a football-obsessed family known for producing pass rushers. His dad played defensive end. His older brother played defensive end. His cousin played defensive end. The expectation was that Johni would play defensive end, too."

Instead, the 6-foot-10 forward ended up excelling at hoops. Broome is the only player in the shot-clock era to finish his career with at least 2,500 points, 1,500 rebounds and 400 blocks. He was named the SEC Player of the Year and is also a finalist for the prestigious Wooden Award.

RJ Luis Jr. | St. John's

Gotta love this: Per Steve Serby of the New York Post, Luis said he's a "big-time" salt-water fisherman. The 6-foot-7 guard doesn't have to go fishing for compliments, however. He was named the 2024-25 Big East Player of the Year, the first from St. John's since Walter Berry in 1985-86.

The Red Storm took the conference, well, by storm this season. He is the team's leading scorer, averaging 18.4 points a game just months after he was unsure if he could play at a high level again.

Luis Jr. suffered dual shin splints last season that required surgery and a hand injury in the preseason this season. After receiving what he calls "new legs," he'll be looking to lead the program to its first national championship.

Walter Clayton Jr. | Florida

Gotta love this: Clayton Jr., a transfer from Iona, is the first Gator in program history to earn first-team All-American honors (Sporting News).

Clayton Jr. almost transferred to St. John's ahead of the 2023-24 season after playing for head coach Rick Pitino his freshman year. Instead, he chose Florida, where he has reinvigorated the program to levels not seen since its back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007.

LJ Cryer | Houston

Gotta love this: He has one of the biggest collections of championship rings in the Big 12.

After clinching a second consecutive Big 12 regular-season title this year on top of conquering the conference tournament on Saturday, Houston's Cryer will be looking to add his seventh championship ring to his collection.

He also won two regular-season titles with Baylor in 2021 and 2022, including a national championship in 2021.

He'll be running out of fingers to display his jewelry if the Cougars, the No. 1 in the Midwest region, can also make a run at the national championship this year.