The first day of the NCAA Tournament kicked off on Thursday with plenty of excitement as there were some upsets and more close calls than some teams would have liked.
The tournament can be a great opportunity for players to make a name for themselves and improve their NBA Draft stock with a few strong performances.
With the NCAA Tournament now underway, we decided to take a look at how some of the current Thunder players performed in March.
Of course, players like Paul George, Dennis Schroder and Terrance Ferguson are among those that did not play in the tournament so they will not appear on this list.
Here are some of the five best performances (in no particular order):
Markieff Morris, Kansas – 2011 NCAA Third Round
The Thunder newcomer appeared in the tournament in each of his three years at Kansas. But, Morris was only a significant contributor in his junior year during the 2010-11 season.
Morris recorded his best game for the No. 1 Jayhawks in the third round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament when he had 24 points and 12 rebounds in a 73-59 win over No. 9 Illinois.
Kansas eventually got tripped up in the Elite Eight by VCU as they went on an incredible run that year to the Final Four as an 11-seed.
Coincidentally enough, Morris’ performance happened in Tulsa that year.
Jerami Grant, Syracuse – 2014 NCAA Second Round
While Syracuse had a rather disappointing run during the 2014 NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed, Grant had a strong performance as a sophomore in the second round.
Grant recorded 16 points and five rebounds in a 77-53 win over No. 14 Western Michigan but the Orange eventually lost to No. 11 Dayton in the next round, who advanced to the Elite Eight that year.
Although his time in the tournament that year was a bit short, Grant did have at least one highlight-reel dunk.
Grant averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 32 games that season for Syracuse.
He became the No. 39 overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers later that year.
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky – 2010 NCAA First Round
Given the talent that Kentucky had that year, it is remarkable that they didn’t win the championship. That season, Kentucky had Patterson, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe.
As the No. 1 seed that season, they eventually lost to No. 2 West Virginia in the Elite 8 but Patterson turned in his best outing of the tournament in the first round.
The junior recorded 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and five rebounds to help lead the Wildcats to a 100-71 win over Eastern Tennessee State University.
Patterson left Kentucky after that year for the NBA Draft.
Raymond Felton, North Carolina – 2005 NCAA Tournament
It’s hard to believe that it has been 14 years since Felton helped lead the Tar Heels to a national championship over Illinois.
Felton proved to be a top point guard during that run after averaging 13.7 points, 6.8 assists 5.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals en route to the national championship.
Felton recorded a pair of 17-point efforts during that run and hit some clutch shots and had a crucial steal late for North Carolina against Illinois to seal the win.
He became the fifth overall pick of the Charlotte Bobcats that year.
Russell Westbrook, UCLA – 2008 Final Four
Westbrook helped lead the Bruins to an appearance in the Final Four in 2008 as a junior. He averaged 12.7 points and 4.3 assists per game that season for UCLA.
He saved his best game for the Final Four.
Westbrook scored a career-high 22 points against Derrick Rose and the Memphis Tigers in a 78-63 loss. Rose scored 25 points and nine rebounds in that game.
Of course, Westbrook was the fourth overall pick of the Seattle SuperSonics that year and later relocated to OKC.
While Morris, Grant, Patterson, Felton and Westbrook all had memorable performances in the NCAA Tournament, a few other Thunder players also played in March as well.
Steven Adams made one appearance with Pitt in the tournament in 2013. He scored 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in a loss to Wichita State in the opening round. Andre Roberson had a few appearances in the tournament but had his most productive game in a win over UNLV with Colorado State in 2013.
The Thunder have had quite a bit of experience in the NCAA Tournament and, with the NBA Draft in June, the next player drafted by OKC could very well still be playing.
