Sixers U: How current 76ers fared in March Madness

With the Final 4 upon us, let’s take a look back at how current Philadelphia 76ers players fared in the big dance. Even with a combined record of 22-15 in March Madness most current Sixers players struggled in the NCAA tournament in their college careers.

Lets start with the guys who never played in the NCAA Tournament: Furkan Korkmaz from Turkey never played college basketball. Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky) and Paul Millsap (Louisiana Tech)  both appeared in an NIT in their Junior seasons. Paul Reed played in the CBI as a Sophomore at DePaul.

Charlie Brown Jr. (Saint Joseph’s), Joel Embiid (Kansas), Isaiah Joe (Arkansas), Tyrese Maxey (Kentucky) never appeared in any kind of post season for a variety of reasons. Charlie Brown Jr.’s Saint Joe’s teams were just never good enough to go dancing. Joel Embiid’s Kansas team lost in the second round to Stanford but Embiid was injured at the end of his only college season, so he never actually participated in the tourney. As for Isaiah Joe and Tyrese Maxey, they both missed out on a chance to play in March Madness due to the Covid cancelled season, although Joe did play in the NIT his freshman year at Arkansas.

How did individual Sixers perform in March Madness?

Shake Milton’s SMU team made the tournament in his Sophomore season. They lost in the first round to Oregon 66-65. Milton played all 40 minutes, scoring 11 points to go with five rebounds and five assists. Jaden Springer’s Tennessee team fell in the 12-5 upset in round one to eventual Elite 8 team, Oregon State. Springer scored 12 points with three rebounds and three assists.

Similar to his fellow Tennessee Volunteer, Tobias Harris had a one and done March Madness experience in his only season of college basketball. Harris put up 19 points on 6-11 shooting, adding five rebounds to go with two blocks despite his Tennessee team getting blown out by 30 to Michigan.

There are three current Philadelphia 76ers who went 1-1 in their NCAA Tournament experiences. James Harden, DeAndre Jordan and Matisse Thybulle all came one win shy of the Sweet 16 in their only trips. James Harden’s Arizona State team beat Temple before losing to Syracuse in their next game. Harden’s two games totals were 19 points on 3-18 shooting, he was just 1-8 from 3-point range. DeAndre Jordan totaled 20 minutes on the floor in two tournament games in his freshman season at Texas A&M. In a second round loss to UCLA, Jordan played 15 minutes and had six points to go along with four rebounds. In Matisse Thybulle’s Senior year at Washington his Huskies team beat Utah State in round one before losing to North Carolina. He only scored two points in round one and added 10 in the Huskies’ second round loss, but tallied nine steals and six blocks over his two games, in true Thybulle fashion.

Despite his Seton Hall Pirates going 1-3 Myles Powell had some good individual performances. As a Freshman, Powell scored 10 points in a first round loss to Arkansas. During his Sophomore season, Powell scored 19 points and nine rebounds versus NC State and added 14 points in a round two loss to Kansas. Seton Hall was upset by Wofford in the first round of Powell’s Junior season.  Powell led the way, despite the loss, with 27 points, shooting 10-25 and 4-11 from 3.

Georges Niang helped lead Iowa State to four wins and had a lot of great individual performances in his time with the Cyclones. As a Freshman, Niang made 12 of 19 field goals over two games including 19 points in a round one win over Notre Dame. He had 24 points, six rebounds and four assists in a round one against North Carolina Central. Iowa State made the Sweet 16 without Niang who fractured his foot in round 1. UAB upset Georges Niang and Iowa State in round in his Junior Season. As a Senior, Niang had a great three game run posting 28 points in back to back games against Iona and Arkansas- Little Rock. Georges Niang scored 30 points and added eight rebounds and four assists in a loss to Virginia in the Sweet 16.

Easily the most successful current Sixer during March Madness was Danny Green. Green’s North Carolina Tar Heels put together a 14-3 record over four appearances in the NCAA tournament, including two final 4’s and a national Championship as a Senior. During Green’s first season UNC lost to eventual final 4 participant George Mason. Green scored 20 points over 29 minutes in his first two games. North Carolina lost to Georgetown in the Elite 8 in Green’s Sophomore season. His best game was eight points and four assists versus USC in the Sweet 16. As a Junior Green averaged 10.2 points per game and scored 15 points in the Sweet 16 against Washington State. Green and the Tar Heels lost to Kansas in the Final 4. Danny Green made 13 of 30 3-point attempts in his Senior year run to the national title. He scored 12 points per game, including 18 points against Oklahoma in the Elite 8 and tallying six points and four assists versus Michigan State in the title game.