Hometown heroes: Iowans playing in NCAA Tournament inspiring next generation of basketball players
Iowans playing on the big stage of college basketball in the NCAA Tournament are inspiring the next generation of players in the Hawkeye State.
Across the five Iowa teams that are in the tournament this year, 19 players are from Iowa this year. Here's a breakdown of how many Iowans each team has:
- Drake Women:
- Iowa Women:
- Iowa State Women:
- Drake Men:
- Iowa State Men:
The one Iowa native on the Drake Men's Basketball Team is Tucker DeVries. Justin Ohl, assistant activities director at Northwest High School, coached DeVries when he played for Waukee High School.
"He was tremendous," Ohl said. "He was a hard worker. He was one of those kids that was always in the gym."
He said it's exciting to see him and others from the area on the big stage. DeVries isn't the only one who played at Waukee High School, too. Kate Dinnebier and Anna Brown, both players on the Drake Women's Basketball Team, played at Waukee. And Cade Kelderman and Omaha Biliew, both players on the Iowa State Men's Basketball Team, played at Waukee too.
"They've all worked so hard to get to this point in their careers, and they're just great ambassadors for our community," Ohl said.
All 19 players from Iowa seem to be inspiring the next generation of basketball players.
"It's really cool to see them all play and how their history has shown and inspired my age," Maddox Heim, a fourth grader, told vlog.
"Just going to watch those guys in March," Payton Policky, a junior in high school, said. "It's kind of like, nothing's holding you back, so it just encourages me to play harder."
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