In case you didn’t notice in the early flurry of free agency, the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament is going on and moving into the Sweet 16 round this week. Of the 68 teams that entered, 30 current Carolina Panthers players had their former schools in the field, representing 19 teams. With the field down to 16 teams, the Panthers are also down to 16 players with schools remaining in the NCAA Tournament, representing nine teams.
The school with the most current Panthers is North Carolina. Elijah Hood, Da’Norris Searcy, Andre Smith and Landon Turner are all former Tar Heels. UNC will take on Cam Newton’s alma mater, No. 5-ranked Auburn, in the next round in Kansas City.
Three other schools count multiple current Panthers as former students. Donte Jackson, Eric Reid and Trai Turner went to LSU, who will take on Michigan State.
Tennessee (Rashaan Gaulden and Michael Palardy) and Virginia (Quin Blanding and Andre Levrone) have a pair of Panthers each and are potentially on a collision course for a South region Elite 8 matchup. Virginia takes on No. 12 Oregon, while Tennessee gets No. 3 Purdue, the former stomping grounds of Kawann Short.
The remaining players with teams left in the tournament are Ross Cockrell with Duke, Graham Gano for Florida State and Kyle Allen from Houston. Duke will take on Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16, Florida State plays Gonzaga and Houston will meet Kentucky.
