2026 Women’s March Madness Players To Watch

We break down the men’s March Madness players we can’t stop watching, from freshman stars with NBA draft upside to seniors who have to prove their game translates when the pressure peaks. We focus on who can tilt a tournament run with scoring, playmaking, and growth, plus how injuries and role changes can create surprise breakout moments. 
• Cameron Boozer as Duke’s engine and a national player of the year level force 
• AJ DeBonsa’s scoring lead and two-way case as a top NBA prospect 
• Darius Acuff Jr. as a high-end freshman guard with championship upside 
• Yaxel Lindenborg as a veteran transfer with versatility and a key shooting test 
• Keaton Waggler’s late rise into All-American and lottery pick territory despite efficiency swings 
• LeBron Felon Jr.’s three-point leap and the question of March reliability 
• Christian Anderson’s chance to carry Texas Tech after a major injury to a top teammate 
• Joshua Jefferson’s all-around senior impact and the need for consistent dominance 
• Kingston Flemings as a freshman surprise and the hunt for proof the slump is over 
• Braden Smith’s record-chasing playmaking and what a deep Purdue run could mean 
• Darren Peterson Jeremy Fierce Jr. and other sleepers who could change their draft story in a week 
So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show.

Transcript

Welcome And March Madness Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now listen, y'all know I'm a Duke fan, right? So I ain't even gonna talk about who I expect to win, March Madness. I'm not gonna get I'm not gonna put no bad juju on my team, okay? You understand me? Like I'm not gonna do that, alright? Now we done already talked about the women's side, so definitely go listen to that. But I'm gonna talk about the players that I want to focus on. Come March Madness on the men's side now. That's right. We let the women go first, we're gonna let the men go next. Now, with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, I gotta kick it off strong with my boy Cameron Boozer on the Blue Devils Duke. Hey, listen to me here, a national player of the year favorite. And this has been since like, wow, the beginning of the season at this point. He has been the most consistent and dominant player in college basketball. Like, I'm talking about he's ranked top 15 nationally in scoring and rebounding. He also dishes out about full assists, and he shoots 48% from the field. While, if I'm not mistaken, 40 plus percent from the three. Now, the only thing that you can really knock Cameron Boozer on is somewhat of the defensive end. Like a quick, uh, a quick forward might be able to get the best of him. And he don't rim protect the best. I'm not, I'm I'm gonna just call him Spade a spade. But my Blue Devils will be going as far as Cam does carry him. And to be clear, he can carry quite a quite a load. You know what I'm saying? He's quite strong. And he's only a freshman. This is a player who's gonna be potentially a number one pick. So if you're not gonna be paying attention to Cameron Boozer and seeing how how well he can dominate as a freshman in college basketball, I don't know what to tell you. But my eyes are gonna be locked in on him. Trust me. Matter of fact, we we playing that 16th seed. Yep, I'm looking forward to seeing him dominate, as well as hopefully everybody else. But again, Cameron Boozer, easily, without question. I'm looking forward to watching him. Uh AJ DeBonsa, listen to me. This is my number one pick in the NBA. All right? He has led the nation in scoring. He has dominated arguably the toughest conference in the country. And he would be, in terms of national player of the year race, if it won't for Cam Boozer being as consistent and dominant as he was, we could talk about AJ being the player of the year. We really truly could. Like he he's he's been dishing out. Listen, he he led the league in scoring with 25.3, but also he's given seven rebounds and four assists. That's not bad. And he's no slouch on the defensive end. So I look forward to seeing AJ going up against these grown men. Because we gotta remember too, ladies and gentlemen, he's just a freshman. He's just a freshman. And it's not like he's overly strong like Cam, too. He's doing this off skill and athleticism. Six nine freshmen. I'm just saying the boy is special, the boy smooth. Now, those are my top two, right? Easily, without question. I'm also looking at Darius A. Cuff Jr. Okay. Now, mind you, AJ DeBonsa, if y'all don't know, he's coming out of BYU, so pay attention. But Darius A. Cuff Jr., right, coming out of Arkansas. I personally have Darius as like my number five, like top five draft pick this season. Because the boy is actually pretty damn special. Now, he's giving you about 20 plus points a game. Like, in the month, though, I want to say of February last month, he averaged 28 points on 51% shooting from behind the arc to go with seven assists. That is disgusting. I've heard people say that he's the best guard that John Calapari has ever coached at this level. And that might be a fair statement. If you don't witness Darius Acuff playing the game of basketball, like I genuinely remember D Rose on Memphis and them going to the title game. They lost barely, but they yeah, they did lose. I could see Darius A. Cuff leading his Arkansas team to a championship. He is that good, ladies and gentlemen. He is that good. So I'm putting eyes on Darius A. Cuff. The man is special. The man is special. And any NBA team is gonna be lucky to have him. Now, we done we're gonna take a little dip from the freshmen, okay? And we're gonna focus on some upperclassmen right now. And that's Yaxo Lindenborg. Listen, out of Michigan, mind you, right? Like he where'd he come out of UAB, I think? He he he's a transfer. And some of the things that we've we had gripes about last season, he improved. Now, now to be clear, okay, his numbers aren't the same as a Darius Acuffs or AJ DeBonso or Cameron Boozer. But I saw Yaxel going at us, Duke meaning, this very season. Like, Buddy was hooping. Like it was him and Cam. And I'm like, hey, yo, who's the better player? Now, obviously, you go Cam because he's the younger player. But point in time as a senior, Yaxel was doing his thing, and I ain't gonna lie, he had a consistent three-point shot. So if that holds up, remember, he was he used to be a center for UAB. Playing a forward now, A, that shows some versatility. And he's still dominant. I think an NBA team might be will take a chance on Buddy. I genuinely do. So I'm looking forward to seeing Yatsel his senior year, final year. Does he dominate the way he's supposed to? Because again, I expect more out of seniors. Now we're gonna go back down to freshmen, okay? Because I I told y'all who's my best guard in Darius Acuff. But Keaton Waggler, he's not bad. He's not bad, okay? It's kind of a solid story if you think about it. I remember someone like D'Angelo Russell not expecting to be considered a high pick, right? That's coming out of his own mouth. And I think Keaton had a similar trajectory. Like he wasn't really on the radar for a lot of teams, okay? But now, well, he's an all-American, a projected NBA lottery pick. Like, Buddy is hooping, okay, giving 18 points, four assists. Now, I'll I'll say this his efficiency ain't as good as everyone else's. All right, he had a matter of fact, I don't think he shot 50% from the field since like early to mid-February. But this is the time where he can start turning things around. So again, Keaton, that's someone who I'm looking forward to on Illinois. That might not be bad, so you may want to pay attention to Keaton in Illinois. Now, LeBron Felon Jr., I halfway want to say LeBron. Because, well, you know, just the name. But last season, though, his gripe, and he's on Alabama, by the way. His gripe was the fact that he was only shooting 32% from the three. That which nowadays that's completely low. That is completely low. But this season, on the same attempts as he shot last season, he's now shooting 40%. And he's a sophomore. So he's still relatively young, ladies and gentlemen. He's a, he's a he's he went from a good to a really solid, you can even say excellent offensive player. I want to see if that continues going into March Madness. Because again, we saw what he did for a full season just last year, but obviously he put some work in. So does that work for this season continue into March Madness? Because March Madness is a little bit different. So I'm looking forward to seeing LeBarin on Alabama. But again, we're gonna move on up because that's all I gotta say about Buddy. Now, we got Christian Anderson out of Texas Tech. Hear me out, okay? Because I know I said Darius Acuff is like the best guard, right? Like I hear it. He got like really strong numbers across the board. Christian is pretty daggone good. Now, he's a sophomore, so again, fairly young. He's averaging 19 points, and he's third nationally with eight assists. Like, we've seen a couple of games from him too, where he's gotten 20 and 10. Like, that's kind of cool. And here's the key part, too. Because JT Toppin, he had a season-ending injury, and that was arguably their best player. Like, JT was probably going for player of the year. At least at the beginning of the season when we're talking about expectations. That's who we're thinking about in terms of loss to Texas Tech. So if let's say Texas Tech goes pretty daggone far, I think Christian Anderson has got to get consideration for maybe the second best guard going into the draft behind Darius Acuff. Because again, what Darius did was spectacular. But if Christian continues this, we're talking about someone who can score, who can play make, and who is missing quite a player in JT Toppin. So again, you get more focus on you. I like Buddy if he does what he's supposed to do. So again, I'm looking forward to seeing Christian Anderson playing for Texas Tech. Now, we got Joshua Jefferson here. He's on Iowa State. Okay. I'd say he's the most important player on their team. Okay. 6'9 forward, giving you 17 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1.7 steals. That's not bad stats. Only thing that knocks him is that he's a senior, ladies and gentlemen. So because of that, I'm expecting him to dominate in the fashion that he does. If he doesn't continue it consistently, that's going to have me worrying about his draft status. But Joshua Jefferson, he's been doing what he's supposed to do. So I just want to I just need to see now if he does it in March Madness. But again, his numbers, they look good. So I'm going to be paying attention to Iowa State. I'm going to have to pay attention to Iowa State. Now, Kingston Flemings, this is a freshman. We're going back to the freshman, ladies and gentlemen. We're going back to the freshman. He plays on Houston. And I just got to say, okay, one, when you when he came into the season, he was the lowest ranked recruit, right, out of the out of the three top 25 that they had. But he's been one of the better guards in terms of college basketball. And I mean, when we're thinking about it, he's averaging 16 points, 5.3 steals. And he did have a shooting slump, but he might have broken out of that, ladies and gentlemen. And that was kind of the knock around him. All right, he's hitting a little shooting slump. So if he can prove during March Madness that he's back to what he was used to doing, he's out of that shooting slump, ladies and gentlemen. I think we may have something to focus on. And to be clear, he given 48% from the field, 39% from the three, and 84% from the free throw line. That's not bad. That's not bad at all. So again, I'm looking forward to seeing Kingston Fleming's hoop. Because Houston is not bad. And he might be their best player. He might be their best player. That's kind of crazy to say, given the fact that he was not projected to be their best player. So that's something to watch going forward. Does that still hold up? Is he still out of that shooting slump? Now, we got here Braden Smith out of Purdue. This is a senior, ladies and gentlemen, okay? Coming into the season, he was projected to be probably the best guard, right? Like he's not going to win National Player of the Year, even though some people had him pegged to be that, well, he was a preseason number one ranking, okay, in terms of the National Player of the Year. He's currently two assists away from breaking Bobby Hurley's all-time NCAA assist record, which is crazy to think about it. 1,076 assists. So he's been fairly efficient over his career. And he's averaging 14 points, and again, is second nationally with 9.1 assists. That's not bad at all, ladies and gentlemen. The question is, as a senior, can he continue this going forward? I expect him to. I genuinely do. Especially when he's giving like 9.1 to 2.8 turnovers. Like, you gotta keep that going forward. And if he does, well, what happens for Purdue? Purdue has been pretty good over the last couple years. So if he goes up and does his thing in March Madness, and let's say let's say Purdue gets like the Final Four, I'd be curious what happens with Braden Smith talking about NBA draft time. Because I mean, six-foot guard, yeah, you're a little short. You're a little short. But the decision making can go a really long way. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I'm looking forward to seeing Braden Smith play in his final March Madness game or tournament. Now, some other players that I definitely want to point out too. We got people like Darren Peterson, Darren Peterson off Kansas, again a freshman. We know who he is, right? And he's tied for number one in some people's eyes in terms of NBA draft pick. I understand people are complaining about how he has not been playing. But what happens, I said this before, what happens if he's now available and dominating for Kansas in March Madness? Because again, he's projected to still be the number one pick just because of his scoring output. Again, ladies and gentlemen, he's scoring 20 points a game on 38% from the three in 28 minutes. Now he's a 6'6 guard. He was projected to be a point guard or combo. I haven't really seen the playmaking out of him, but that might be because Kansas just needs him to score more. But the combo guard, the playmaking is there. I saw that when he was playing high school. And it's not like he was playing some slouches in high school. He was playing top-tier talent like AJ DeBonsa, like Cameron Boozer. So again, I know what Darren Peterson can do. It's just a matter of will he be available? Come March Madness. He might have fresh legs. He might actually have fresh legs, which could be scary when you think about it. But I'm looking forward to seeing him get a bucket. Come March Madness. Now, Jeremy Fierce Jr. out of Michigan State, I do want to see him play too. Because his brother's in the league, if I'm not mistaken. And quite frankly, Jeremy has been leading the league in assists. Now, he's a sophomore. He's at 9.2. Braden was at 9.1. So it was really by a small margin that Jeremy actually wins this. But keep in mind, though, he's a sophomore. A red shirt sophomore. Okay, I'll give you that. A red shirt sophomore. But I mean, ladies and gentlemen, he's throwing up, what, 16 points this season? Like, that's not bad at all. And the splits ain't too terrible. Now, he could improve those, because again, technically, this is his third season, averaging 45 from the field, 32% from the three, and then 89% from the free throw line. All right, cool. So if he's having a good, hot offensive game, Michigan State should do well. If not, could be interesting. But again, ladies and gentlemen, I definitely look forward to seeing, buddy, because hey, leading league, leading the league and assists, that's nothing to slightly scoff at. All right, that's nothing to scoff at. I'm just saying. Like, ladies and gentlemen, there are a couple of players that you can really focus on. Whether we're talking about Nate Amit, who played at the beginning of this season, like before the season started, people were talking about him as a top five pick this upcoming NBA draft. I saw him in high school. I don't I saw the potential. I didn't think he was going to be top five pick. Because he needed to get a little stronger. He needed to get a little bit, either a better jump shot or a tighter handle, a little quicker, right? Something. And at the beginning of the season, he struggled. He started to come on as of late, but again, he definitely struggled for sure. And I mean, alright, cool. Like he did average 20 points. He was averaging 20 points over the last like 13 games. But overall, he was given 17.6 rebounds or 18.6 rebounds. And he was shooting 41% from the field. That 41% is kind of crazy. And not crazy in a good way. 33% from three, it's okay. It needs to be better. The 79% from the free throw line, that needs to improve. Because that's talking about shooting mechanics. So I want to see exactly how Nate does this season for March Madness. Because respectfully, there could be talks, for me personally, about whether or not Nate needs to stay another season to show that he can dominate. I think he's one of the players that could stay and become a sophomore and really showcase his ability to lead a team. If he can't do that, then maybe we need to have another discussion. But that's what I might start personally look forward to seeing. We also got here a Mikhail Brown Jr. out of Louisville. Listen, okay? He's a big guard. I know he likes to shoot from distance, okay? Averaging 18 points a game, 4.5. We're really five assists. Let's round up, right? Let's round up, shall we? He had a 45%, he had a 45-point performance against NC State, which to be clear, you could talk about that game because, okay, well, you know, NC State might not be the best team, but still 45 points is 45 points. He made 10, three pointers, ladies and gentlemen. You may want to pay attention to Mikhail Brown Jr. because he is a quality talent. He just got to work on the efficiency. But again, the talent level you cannot deny. If he can just sharpen that talent, again, I think he might be able to do something. He might be able to do something. We also got here Henry Vestar. Like we have some players to focus on, ladies and gentlemen. Come March Madness because I want to see what Henry's able to do out of out of UNC, right? I'm talking about the Tar Girls. But I would be talking about Caleb Wilson here earlier if he didn't suffer a left hand fracture. So I'm looking to see what Henry can do as a junior. Can he lead this UNC team a little bit? I expect Caleb Wilson to get his team a little further. I don't know about Henry Vessar. So, because of some injuries, I do expect to see some storylines to boot. Same thing with Robert Wright the third. Keep in mind, they did end up losing BYU, same play, same team as AJ DeBonsa. They lost Richie Saunders with a season ending ACL tear. Damn, Richie, I feel for you, man. Because ACL tear, all them injuries is crazy work. Rob at one point in time was viewed as like a really solid guard, right? Now you have to be the second option without question. Because again, Richie was able to spell for you if need be. I need to see Rob dominate a little bit more as a sophomore, still young. I hear you. I need to see I need to see Rob actually do a little bit better. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to seeing Rob Wright in March Mandis. Like I said, there's a couple of players out here, like in Isaiah Evans. Oh, I would love to see. I'm just going down the list now. Dang on it. That's crazy. I'm a little biased too. He's on my boys. But I would love to see how these players do. I'm not talking about who's gonna win. I'm just talking about how these players are gonna do because we got to think about these players entering the NBA draft as well, too. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I hope you are paying attention to this March Madness. It should be a good one. But that about concludes the end of the episode. There are a couple of players that you can watch, but these players that I listed for certain, you need to pay attention to. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Shrey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.