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ST. LOUIS, Mo- The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament tips off later this week in Indiana and in addition to featuring the Missouri Tigers and the Illinois Fighting Illini, there are plenty of teams with St. Louis area players. Here’s a rundown as the “Madness” begins.

March 18

In a First Four play-in game, Yahuza Rasas (St. Mary’s) and Texas Southern take on Mt. St. Mary’s Thursday for the right to face Michigan on Saturday

March 19

  • The Midwest #1 seeded Illini face # 16 Drexel.
  • E.J. Liddell (Belleville West) and the Ohio State Buckeyes put their #2 seed in the South up against #15 Oral Roberts.
  • Caleb Love’s (CBC) #8 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels face #9 Wisconsin in a South region clash
  • Also in the South, #13 North Texas and Cahokia grad Thomas Bell will try to spring an upset on the home state #4 Purdue Boilermakers.
Left to right: EJ Liddell (Michael Conroy/AP) Courtney Ramey (Justin Rex/AP), Jeremiah Tilmon (L.G. Patterson/AP), Aaron Cook (Young Kwak/AP), Yahuza Rasas (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

March 20

  • Kobe Clark (Vashon) and the surprising Georgetown Hoyas will look to upset #5 Colorado in an East region matchup.
  • #5 Creighton, with (Trinity’s Ryan Kalkbrenner) will try and avoid the upset from #12 UCSB in a West matchup.
  • #9 Missouri renews its rivalry with #8 Oklahoma in the West. Will Jermiah Tilmon (East St. Louis), Mark Smith (Edwardsville), Javon Pickett (Belleville East) and Torrence Watson (Whitfield) make it to a face-off with #1 Gonzaga?
  • Gonzaga, with Westminster Christian grad Aaron Cook, plays the winner of Norfolk State and Appalachian State.
  • Courtney Ramey (Webster Groves) and the #3 Texas Longhorns face #14 Abilene Christian in an East region matchup.
  • Vashon grad Levi Stockard III and West #10 Virginia Commonwealth will play #7 Oregon.