By Dylan Butler
For Reggie Brown, it’s his last chance, while for Daon Merritt, it’s his first dance.
The two Queens natives, members of the Richmond men’s basketball team, are among a host of local players who will participate in the NCAA tournament, which starts Thursday.
Richmond, the 11th seed in the East Rutherford bracket, will take on No. 6 Wisconsin in Milwaukee Friday at 7:20 p.m. It is the Spiders’ first NCAA appearance since 1998.
Brown, a fifth-year senior out of Archbishop Molloy, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.4 points per game, while Merritt, a freshman from Jamaica who went to St. Raymond’s High School, is averaging 5.2 points per game for the Spiders.
Texas is the No. 3 seed in the Atlanta bracket and will be led by former Cardozo standout Royal Ivey, a four-year starting guard. The Hollis native averages 9.0 points and 4.3 assists per game for the Longhorns, who will take on 14th-seeded Princeton Thursday at 7:20 p.m. in Denver.
Fresh off winning the Big East championship, the University of Connecticut is the No. 2 seed in the Phoenix bracket and will take on 15th-seeded Vermont Thursday at 7:10 p.m. in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Huskies are led by a pair of former Queens standouts in senior point guard Taliek Brown, a LeFrak City native out of St. John’s Prep, and freshman forward Charlie Villanueva, a Woodhaven native who attended Newtown High.
Brown averages 5.9 points and 6.6 assists per game while Villanueva is fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 10 points per game, and has also grabbed 5.5 rebounds per game.
Uka Agbai and the Boston College Eagles, seeded sixth in the St. Louis bracket, will face No. 11 Utah in a first-round game Friday at 12:30 p.m. in Milwaukee.
The fifth-year senior out of Queens Village and Molloy High is third on the Eagles team in scoring, averaging 10.7 points per game, and averages 5.6 rebounds per game.
Mark McCarroll, a former Christ the King standout from Jamaica, is the sixth man on a Pittsburgh team that is the third seed in the East Rutherford bracket. The Panthers will face No. 14 Central Florida Friday at 9:40 p.m. in Milwaukee.
On the women’s side, four former Christ the King stars and one St. Francis Prep grad will compete in the women’s NCAA tournament.
Clare Droesch, a junior forward on the third-seeded Boston College women’s basketball team, will take on No. 14 Eastern Michigan in a first-round game March 20 in Columbus, Ohio.
The Belle Harbor native averages 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Eagles.
Amanda LoCascio and Corinne Turner, former Christ the King standouts and freshmen at George Washington, will head to Tallahassee, Fla. March 20 where the eighth-seeded Colonials will take on No. 9 DePaul.
LoCascio, a guard from Maspeth, averages 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game while Turner, a forward from Glen Cove, averages 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
No. 12-seeded Maryland, led by Shay Doron — the fourth former Christ the King standout freshman out of Great Neck — will take on No. 5 Miami in a first-round game March 21 in Baton Rouge, La.
The native of Israel averaged 13.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Terps.
Marist, the No. 14 seed in the Midwest Region, will take on No. 3 Oklahoma March 20 in Tempe, Ariz. The senior guard from Flushing who attended St. Francis Prep averages 1.5 points per game for the Red Foxes.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
