Pennsylvania
Who’s playing in the NCAA Men’s Tournament from Pennsylvania and New Jersey?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — After a week of upsets and games down to the wire on championship week, the field for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament is set. For the second straight year, zero men’s basketball teams from Philadelphia will be in the tournament.
In the women’s bracket, two local schools — Drexel and Princeton University — each punched their ticket to the big dance after winning their conference tournaments.
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But, there will be plenty of local players from Pennsylvania and New Jersey playing in the men’s tournament, which begins this week.
Here’s the full list by region:
South region
No. 3 seed University of Kentucky vs. No. 14 seed Oakland University
Thursday, 7:10 p.m. on CBS
Kentucky heads into its first-round matchup against Oakland with plenty of talent from the Philadelphia region.
Freshman guard Justin Edwards, a McDonald’s All-American, is a Philly native and played at Imhotep Institute Charter High School. He won two straight state titles in high school.
Freshman guard D.J. Wagner, the son of former NBA player Dajuan Wagner, and senior guard Kareem Watkins are both Camden, New Jersey, natives. Like Edwards, D.J. Wagner is also a McDonald’s All-American.
Freshman forward Aaron Bradshaw is from Roselle, New Jersey, and senior guard Tre Mitchell is from Pittsburgh.
No. 2 seed Marquette University vs. No. 15 seed Western Kentucky University
Thursday, 2 p.m. on CBS
Marquette junior guard Stevie Mitchell is a Reading, Pennsylvania, native and played at Wilson High School before college. He ranks fifth on the team in scoring and averages 8.8 points per game.
Marquette freshman forward Al Amadou is a Philly native and attended Chestnut Hill Academy. He’s played in 13 games for Marquette this season and also played at Quakertown and Bishop McDevitt High Schools before his final two seasons at Chestnut Hill Academy.
No. 8 seed Nebraska University vs. No. 9 seed Texas A&M University
Friday, 6:50 p.m. on TNT
The Cornhuskers have two players on their roster who call the Garden State home.
Junior guard C.J. Wilcher and sophomore guard Jamarques Lawrence are both Plainfield, New Jersey, natives.
No. 4 seed Duke University vs. No. 13 seed University of Vermont
Friday, 7:10 p.m. on CBS
Duke has two players from New Jersey on its roster.
Graduate student center Ryan Young is from Stewartsville, New Jersey, and played at Bethlehem Catholic High School. Junior guard Jaylen Blakes is a Somerset, New Jersey, native and played at Blair Academy.
Meanwhile on Vermont’s roster, redshirt junior forward Ileri Ayo-Faleye is from Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
No. 7 seed University of Florida vs. TBD
Friday, 4:30 p.m. on TBS
Florida freshman forward Thomas Hugh, who played at the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, has played in 35 games this season and averages 3.9 points.
Gators redshirt senior guard Alex Klatsky, is a Colts Neck, New Jersey, native and attended the Ranney School.
East region
No. 8 seed Northwestern University vs. No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic University
Friday, 12:15 p.m. on CBS
The matchup between Northwestern University and Florida Atlantic University includes two players with ties to the Philly region.
FAU senior guard Jalen Gaffney is from Columbus, New Jersey, and attended the Westtown School in high school.
In 33 games for the Owls, Gaffney averages 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds.
On the Northwestern side, sophomore guard Blake Smith is from Blue Bell, Montgomery County. He attended Germantown Academy and has played nine games for the Wildcats this season.
No. 12 seed UAB vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State
Friday, 1:45 p.m. on TNT
UAB junior forward Yaxel Lendeborg, a Pennsauken, New Jersey, native helped the Blazers punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament after scoring 13 points against Temple University in the American Athletic Conference championship.
In his first season at UAB, Lendeborg led the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game. After graduating from Pennsauken High School, he played at the Arizona Western College Matadors in junior college.
No. 10 seed Drake University vs. No. 7 seed Washington State University
Thursday, 10:05 p.m. on truTV
Drake University graduate student forward Darnell Brodie played at Newark East Side in high school before college. He averages 11.3 points per game.
No. 11 seed Duquesne University vs. No. 6 seed BYU
Thursday, 12:40 p.m. on truTV
The Duquesne University men’s basketball team is heading to their first NCAA Tournament in 47 years after winning the Atlantic 10 championship over Virginia Commonwealth University.
Freshman guard Seamus McDermott, who played at Holy Ghost Prep in Bucks County, played two games for the Dukes this season.
West region
No. 9 seed Michigan State University vs No. 8 seed Mississippi State University
Thursday, 12:15 p.m. on CBS
Michigan State senior guard A.J. Hoggard is a Coatesville, Pennsylvania, native who played at Archbishop Carroll in Philly’s Catholic League before finishing his high school career at Huntington Prep in West Virginia.
Hoggard ranks third on the Spartans in points per game at 11 and leads the team in assists.
No. 13 seed College of Charleston vs. No. 4 seed University of Alabama
Friday, 7:35 p.m. on truTV
Two players with New Jersey roots play for Charleston and Bama.
Crimson Tide graduate student guard Aaron Estrada, a Woodbury, New Jersey, native ranks second on the team in points with 13.4 per game.
Charleston junior guard Jack Miller is from Ocean Township, New Jersey, and played seven games in the 2023-24 season. Charleston graduate student guard Bryce Butler is a Latrobe, Pennsylvania, native, which is just outside Pittsburgh.
No. 11 seed New Mexico vs. No. 6 seed Clemson University
Friday, 3:10 p.m. on truTV
Clemson graduate student forward Jack Clark, who previously played at La Salle and N.C. State, appeared in 20 games for the Tigers and averages 4.2 points per game.
Clark is a Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, native.
New Mexico junior forward Deraje Agbaosi is from Union, New Jersey.
No. 14 seed Colgate University vs. No. 3 seed Baylor University
Friday at 12:40 p.m. on truTV
Colgate, winners of the Patriot League, has several players from Pennsylvania on the roster.
Junior forward Jeff Woodward, who scored 1,450 points at Methacton High School in Eagleville, is from Audubon, Pennsylvania.
Senior Colgate guard Alex Capitano played at Malvern Prep in high school and fifth-year forward Ryan Moffatt is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
No. 1 seed University of North Carolina vs. TBD
Thursday, 2:45 p.m. on CBS
North Carolina’s talented roster features freshman guard Elliot Cadeau, who is from West Orange, New Jersey.
Midwest region
No. 1 seed Purdue University vs. TBD
Friday, 7:25 p.m. on TBS
Purdue senior forward Ethan Morton is from Butler, Pennsylvania, which is just outside Pittsburgh. He’s played in 32 games this season for the Boilermakers.
No. 9 seed Texas Christian University vs. No. 8 seed Utah State University
Friday, 9:55 p.m. on TBS
Hoops fans across the Delaware Valley will recognize the name of one of TCU’s best players.
Jameer Nelson Jr., the son of the former St. Joseph’s Hawk great and NBA player Jameer Nelson, is a senior guard for the Horned Frogs. The older Nelson knows a thing or two about making a deep tourney run.
Nelson Jr., a Haverford, Pennsylvania, native, ranks second on TCU in scoring and averages 11.3 points per game.
No. 4 seed University of Kansas vs. No. 13 seed Samford University
Thursday, 9:55 p.m. on TBS
Jayhawks freshman guard Elmarko Jackson, a Marlton, New Jersey, native has made an immediate impact for Kansas this season.
Jackson has played in 32 games, including 17 starts, averaging 4.2 points per game. He was a McDonald’s All-American at the South Kent School in Connecticut before college.
No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s University vs. No. 2 seed University of Tennessee
Thursday, 9:20 p.m. on TNT
Several players from New Jersey currently play at Saint Peter’s, which is looking to upset Tennessee.
Junior guard Marcus Randolph played at Willingboro and Archbishop Wood High Schools. He was a former two-time All-Catholic League selection during his time at Wood. He’s a Willingboro native.
Like Randolph, senior guard Latrell Reid is also a Willingboro native.
Sophomore guard Elijah Perkins is a Middletown, New Jersey, native and played at Camden High School. Junior guard Jaheim Tanskley is from Edison, New Jersey.
First Four
No. 10 seed University of Virginia vs. No. 10 seed Colorado State University
Tuesday, 9:10 p.m. on truTV
Virginia freshman guard Elijah Gertrude is from Jersey City, New Jersey, and played at Hudson Catholic Regional High School.
Virginia sophomore guard Ryan Dunn and freshman guard Christian Bliss are both from New York, but played high school basketball in Pennsylvania. Dunn played at the Perkiomen School and Bliss played at the George School.
No. 16 seed Wagner University vs. No. 16 seed Howard University
Tuesday, 6:40 p.m. on truTV
Both the Seahawks and Bison’s rosters have players from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Wagner senior guard Rahmir Moore is a Philly native and played at St. Joe’s in college. Junior guard Tyje Kelton and redshirt sophomore Di’Andre Howell-South are also both from New Jersey.
On Howard, graduate student guard Isiah Warfield is from Monaca, Pennsylvania, which is in Beaver County, and freshman guard Jordan Atkins is from South Orange, New Jersey.
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania State Police is investigating an incident in Salisbury Township on Saturday.
Lancaster County dispatch confirmed that troopers were called to the 4900 block of Strasburg Road for an incident that was reported around 11 a.m.
Fire and EMS was called to the area but have since been cleared, dispatch said.
This is a developing story. CBS 21 is working to learn more.
Pennsylvania
What’s old is new again in Pennsylvania as the Penguins and Flyers renew a long-simmering rivalry
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Sidney Crosby would not take the bait, even though the smile on his face and the gleam in his eye hinted that maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins captain kind of wanted to.
Told that Philadelphia Flyers coach Rick Tocchet – an assistant with the Penguins when Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 – knew his current team was going to have to “get after” Crosby and longtime running mates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang when the cross-state rivals open their first-round series on Saturday night, Crosby just grinned.
“I mean, to be expected, what else can you expect me to say?” the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer said with a small laugh. “We’re all out there competing. We all are after the same thing. That’s how it works.”
Technically, that’s how it always seems to work whenever the Flyers and Penguins get together, regardless of circumstance. Things only figure to be ramped up considerably during the eighth – and perhaps most unlikely – playoff meeting between two teams separated by 300 miles geographically and considerably more in terms of postseason success.
The three Cups that Crosby has won during his 21-year career are one more than the Flyers have in the franchise’s nearly six-decade history, and yes some are still keeping track of Philadelphia’s long nuclear winter since its last championships.
The chances of either club being the last one standing when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hands the Cup to the victors in early June are slim. Oddsmakers put the resurgent Penguins in the middle of the pack to win it all, while the Flyers – who needed a 14-4-1 sprint to the finish to return to the postseason for the first time since 2020 – are among the longest shots in the 16-team field.
Not that any of that will matter when the puck is dropped and the venom that has long defined the contentious relationship between the clubs bubbles back up to the surface.
That venom on Philadelphia’s side has long been targeted at Crosby, who has beaten the Flyers three times in four playoff meetings, with the one loss coming during a frantic six-game series in 2012. Almost all the faces from those teams are gone.
Except, of course, for perhaps the most important one. Crosby, the only player in NHL history to average a point a game in 21 straight years, remains a threat and highly motivated by the return to the playoffs following a three-year absence.
“We have a ton of respect for Sid,” Tocchet said. “He’s an unbelievable person and player. But we’ve got to get him in the ditches right? We’ve got to make it hard on him.”
A long-awaited debut
Rasmus Ristolainen’s agonizing wait to feel the vibe of playoff hockey is over.
The Flyers defenseman will make the first postseason appearance of his 13-year, 820-game career when he hops over the boards at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.
Ristolainen’s wait before his playoff debut is the third-longest in NHL history. The 31-year-old even played in the Olympics before a postseason game. He won a bronze medal in February while playing for Team Finland at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
“Just really excited to play meaningful games this time of year,” said Ristolainen, who played in just 44 games this season while battling elbow injuries. “It’s been a really, really fun last month or so.”
Skinner or Silovs?
First-year Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse has flip-flopped between goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs since the Penguins acquired Skinner in a trade with Edmonton in December.
Whether that will continue in the postseason is anybody’s guess. Skinner has a decided advantage over Silovs in playoff experience, having backstopped Edmonton to consecutive Cup appearances in 2024 and 2025.
Yet Muse has kept his thoughts close to the vest, and statistically speaking, Silovs and Skinner posted nearly identical numbers, none of them particularly great. Silovs finished the year with a .887 save percentage and a 3.07 goals against average while Skinner had a slightly worse save percentage (.885) and a slightly better goals against (2.99).
“We’re looking at all factors,” Muse said. “As I’ve said multiple times, I think both guys have been great for us. Both guys are a big part of why we’re here today preparing for Game 1.”
What’s old is new again
Philadelphia forward Sean Couturier has played for the Flyers for so long that he was actually teammates with his boss, general manager Danny Briere.
Couturier was once a key cog during a previous rebuilding phase in Philadelphia, back when he was the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft. Couturier made his debut that season and has largely remained a steady presence in the lineup – save for back injuries that cost him the 2022-2023 season – and is the only Flyer still around from the franchise’s last home playoff series victory against, yes, the Penguins in 2012.
Couturier, Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny are the only three Flyers on the roster to have played in a home playoff game, back in 2018.
“We were for a lot of years kind of in the middle, competing hard,” said Courtier, who had 12 goals and 24 assists this season. “We had some good teams. Just always missing a little something to get to the next step. I think it was maybe time to take a step back and rebuild. I’m just glad with how everything’s gone, honestly.”
___
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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