The NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments have reached the “Sweet 16” stage and there a group of St. Louisans will take the court when play resumes this week.
The STL trio remaining in the men’s NCAA Tournament mix are Caleb Love of Arizona (CBC), Keshon Gilbert of Iowa State (Vashon) and Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton (Trinity Catholic.)
Aijha Blackwell of Baylor (Whitfield) helped guide the Lady Bears to a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
The 6’4” Love will be playing in his second Sweet 16 in three years. He was a starting guard for North Carolina’s national runner-up team in 2022. He had a great season with Arizona, which saw him win Pac 12 Conference Player of the Year honors.
In two NCAA Tournament games, Love is averaging 18.5 points, seven rebounds and five assists in Arizona’s victories over Long Beach State and Dayton. He had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Long Beach State and 19 points and five assists against Dayton.
Arizona, the No. 2 seed in the West Regional, will face No. 6 seed Clemson on Thursday night (March 28) in Los Angeles.
Gilbert, a talented 6’4” guard, was the Most Outstanding Player of the Big XII Conference Tournament after leading the Cyclones to the championship last week.
He is averaging 12.5 points, three rebounds and two steals in Iowa State’s two tournament victories over South Dakota State and Washington State. He had 15 points, five rebounds and three steals against South Dakota State. He was six of nine from the field.
Iowa State, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 seed Illinois in the East Regional semifinals on Thursday night in Boston.
Kalkbrenner, a 7’0” center is averaged 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks a game in the Bluejays respective victories over Akron and Oregon. He had a team-high 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks against Akron, then followed up with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in Creighton’s thrilling double overtime victory over Oregon. Kalkbrenner hit a key 3-pointer in the double overtime, which gave the Bluejays a six-point lead.
Blackwell, a 6’1” forward, has been a steady player throughout the season for Baylor, who is making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2019. She had a strong first game against Vanderbilt with eight points and seven rebounds in the Bears’ first-round victory. Baylor is the No. 5 seed in the West Regional. The Bears will face either USC or Kansas in the regional semifinal on Saturday.
*MBCA Player of the Year honors
The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association recently released its postseason honors for All-District, All-State and Player of the Year last week. There were seven players from St. Louis who received the state’s Player of the Year award in their respective classes.
For the girls, freshman Dasia Scott of Principia was named the Class 2 Player of the Year, senior Chantrel “Tutu” Clayton of Vashon was named the Class 4 Player of the Year, senior Allie Turner of John Burroughs was named the Class 5 Player of the Year and junior Nevaeh Caffey of Incarnate Word Academy was named the Class 6 Player of the Year.
On the boys’ side, junior Nicholas “Butta” Randall of Vashon was named the Class 4 Player of the Year, junior Zyree Collins of St. Mary’s was named the Class 5 Player of the Year and senior Clayton Jackson of Cardinal Ritter was named the Class 6 Co-Player of the Year. Jackson shared the award with senior Tyrese Brooks of Springfield Central.
