New York hasn’t held an NCAA basketball title since the Syracuse Orange stunned Kansas in 2003. Since then, 123 men’s and women’s teams from the Empire State have fallen short of the national championship. From the Hudson Valley to the Big Apple, the 2024-25 season offers plenty of postseason potential. These programs could very well play March Madness spoiler or, dare I say, take New York through a deep run. One giant, red reminder out of Queens proves New York is a basketball powerhouse once more.
Mid-Major Sneaks
New York State has no shortage of the “other” D-I teams, those belonging to conferences outside of the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12. Herein lies the wild cards, the sneaky contenders ruffling feathers in their respective conferences. Let’s hear some mid-major love.
Marist University, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
Don’t sleep on Marist University’s men’s team. As Marist enters NCAA radars nationwide, internet pundits and Madness Experts are buying into the Red Foxes. Marist is 10-2 in games decided by five points or fewer, 11-3 overall in MAAC play, and officially clinched a postseason tournament spot on February 16. And for a team that is no stranger to Cinderella runs, Marist may relish an extended season. Juniors Jaden Daughtry, Matt McCool, and Trace Salton were there for the 2023 MAAC tournament upsets. They will do it again.
St. Bonaventure University, Atlantic-10 Conference
It’s Week 15, and you heard it here first. The 95th-ranked Bonnies of St. Bonaventure are the Cinderella. They are extremely streaky this season, and I have them primed for an A-10 championship run. The Bonnies hold an extra incentive to make it through March with generational sports tea spiller turned-general manager Adrian Wojnarowski. The former ESPN mainstay isn’t calling plays or trades for the Bonnies. But like any great Woj Bomb, St. Bonaventure is liable to surprise unsuspecting basketball fans.
Back-to-Back Seekers and SUNY Sleepers
Columbia University, Ivy League
A year removed from the program’s first March Madness bid, the Columbia women mean business. They were riding 11 straight wins before Harvard University handed the team its first conference loss on February 16. With a near-identical roster from last year’s 2-seed squad, led by the trio of Kitty Henderson, Cecelia Page, and New York native Riley Weiss, Columbia sits atop an Ivy League since defeating each conference opponent…and UPenn twice. The winning streak secured Columbia Top 25 votes for three straight weeks, and this squad is sure to get a bid in any way. They look to make it past the play-in this time around.
State University of New York at Albany, America East Conference
The Ivy League denizens at Columbia aren’t the only squad undefeated on home court as of Week 15. We continue upstate to Albany’s Broadview Center, where the Great Danes women’s basketball team has won all but seven games since the start of 2020-21. This season, the state university has a resumé boasting 10 conference victories, some come-from-behind wins, and a graduate forward doing a little of everything for her team.
Kayla Cooper leads the team in points (17.9), rebounds (7.2), steals (1.5), and assists (2.9) per game. Albany has a good chance of automatic qualification as the favorite to win the America East tournament. If this team does not win the tournament, its chances of an at-large bid will rest on staying perfect in Albany. The Great Danes played host last March. This year, they’ll be dancing.
SUNY Buffalo, Mid-American Conference
The Bulls are in the china shop. After coach Felisha Legette-Jack departed for Syracuse in 2022, the women’s basketball team at Buffalo had an uncertain fate. But this season the Bulls are a thundering force. Who else can start the season 12-0 without a single nationally televised spot, and then follow up with a six-game streak in conference play? Tied for second in the Mid-American Conference and hoping to win out for the at-large big, Buffalo is the SUNY sleeper pick of March.
The Big East’s Perfect Storm
Now for the winners of my way-too-early men’s bracket. The legend Rick Pitino revived this program in just a season and a half, bringing them to the top of Big East Power Rankings. From sold-out games at Madison Square Garden to Big East rival fanbases dreading a visit from the Red Storm, St. John’s is so back. Factor in a major statement win over the defending champs UConn Huskies and stifling St. John’s defense, and these guys are sitting nicely atop the conference. The eye of the Red Storm looks ahead to March.
It’s the first team with deep tournament promise since 1985, back when Rick Pitino was assistant coach of the New York Knicks. This team has been down atrocious in recent memory, a testament to the changing times of New York basketball. Once more the court kings in the Big Apple and the Big East, St. John seems geared to pull off the impossible: reaching a Final Four while shooting less than 30% from three.
But the beauty of March basketball is the unpredictability, upsets, and the undeniable proof that anything can happen. Selection Sunday on March 16 will send a couple of New York squads dancing, as it has every season since 2003. It’s time to bust some brackets.
