With the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64 beginning Thursday, here is a look at how the current Timberwolves players fared in the Big Dance.
Get your brackets ready. March Madness is here once again as the NCAA tournament’s Round of 64 begins on Thursday. For many of the players, this tournament and their college days will be the peak of their basketball careers, while others will go on to play professionally in the NBA or overseas.
The current Minnesota Timberwolves roster has a wide variety of experience in the Big Dance, ranging from players who missed out on the tournament during their one year in college (Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels) or did not play collegiate basketball (Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles, and Leonard Miller), to National Champions and Most Outstanding Players.
Let’s take a look at how the current Timberwolves roster has performed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Mike Conley – Ohio State
Mike Conley only spent a single season at The Ohio State University but made the most of it. Along with his teammate and childhood friend Greg Oden, Conley and Ohio State earned a 1-seed and went all the way to the National Championship game before losing to the defending champion Florida Gators, a team with a trio of future NBA players including Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and former Timberwolf Corey Brewer.
When asked about what he remembers about that game before a recent Wolves home game, Conley said, “Everything.” He continued, “They should have gone to the NBA,” referring to Horford, Noah, and Brewer, who Conley mentioned were fantastic players.
The former Buckeye went on to say they did well defensively on Horford and Noah, but Lee Humphrey was the player that gave them trouble. Humphrey scored 14 points including four 3-pointers in the game.
Conley started in all six of Ohio State’s NCAA tournament games, putting up averages of 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. It culminated with 20 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals in the National Championship Game.
Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
Julius Randle – Kentucky
Another Timberwolves player who made it to the National Championship Game in their one collegiate season was Julius Randle with the University of Kentucky.
The Wildcats had an up-and-down regular season, earning only an 8-seed, but hit their stride during the tournament. They upset the previously unbeaten 1-seed Wichita State Shockers on their way to the Final Four before being defeated by the Connecticut Huskies and Shabazz Napier, who had a brief stint of his own with the Wolves.
Randle started all six tournament games for Kentucky, leading the team in scoring with 14.8 points to go along with 9.8 rebounds per game.
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Donte DiVincenzo – Villanova
The most decorated college player in the Wolves rotation is Donte DiVincenzo, who played three collegiate seasons as a Villanova Wildcat, winning two National Championships along the way.
He redshirted his first season, playing in a total of nine games including less than a minute of garbage time action in top-seeded Villanova’s first-round win in the 2016 NCAA tournament.
DiVincenzo did not play again in Villanova’s run to their National Championship, but eagle-eyed viewers can spot DiVincenzo running onto the court in a suit following Kris Jenkins’ legendary buzzer-beater.
When asked about the shot and running onto the court DiVicenzo said, “Yeah my freshman year. I was supposed to have a broken foot” referring to an injury he suffered earlier that season.
The next season DiVincenzo carved out a much bigger role, coming off the bench in all of Villanova’s games. DDV and the Wildcats secured a 1-seed for the tournament but got upset by the Wisconsin Badgers in the round of 32. DiVincenzo scored 36 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in the two-game run.
In his last collegiate season, DDV won the 6th Man of the Year Award in the Big East Conference on the way to another 1-seed for Villanova. This time, there would be no upset, as Donte, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and the extremely brief Timberwolf Omari Spellman won the National Championship.
Donte was an invaluable player for Villanova in the 2018 NCAA tournament, highlighted by a career-high 31-point showcase in the National Championship game, earning him the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player Award.
DiVincenzo is one of seven players in Timberwolves history who have won Most Outstanding Player including Christian Laettner (Duke), Corey Brewer (Florida), Wayne Ellington (North Carolina), Shabazz Napier (Connecticut), Tyus Jones (Duke), and the newest member of the Wolves roster, Tristen Newton (Connecticut). Current Wolves assistant coach Corliss Williamson also won the award for the Arkansas Razorbacks in 1994.
Last season on the New York Knicks, DDV played with his collegiate teammates Brunson and Josh Hart, who was on the first National Title team. It appeared the Knicks had fully reunited the quartet of Villanova players when they traded for Bridges early in the offseason, but right before the season began, they dealt Donte to the Wolves in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade.
“I wish we played together forever“
Donte DiVincenzo, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges & Josh Hart in AT&T March Madness commercial pic.twitter.com/Cwp5VEu9iA
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 17, 2025
Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images
Nickeil Alexander-Walker – Virginia Tech
Nickeil Alexander-Walker played two seasons with Virginia Tech, making it to the NCAA Tournament each season while starting every single game of his college career.
In his first season, Virginia Tech was placed as a 9-seed, losing in the first round to Collin Sexton and the Alabama Crimson Tide. NAW scored 15 points including three 3-pointers.
The next season, Virginia Tech earned a 4-seed, making it to the Sweet 16 before being eliminated by the Duke Blue Devils and their trio of NBA lottery picks, Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish, along with Minnesota’s own, Tre Jones.
In the game against Duke, the Hokies had three chances to tie or take the lead late in the game including an open 3-pointer from the corner and an alley-oop layup at the buzzer. When asked about the game, Alexander-Walker said, “We should have beat them.”
Nickeil averaged 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in the three-game run.
Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images
Naz Reid – LSU
Like many players in the NBA, Naz Reid only spent one season at Louisiana State University. Reid was not the only NBA player on the LSU Tigers’ roster, as Tremont Waters and Skylar Mays, the latter who currently plays for the Iowa Wolves, have both briefly played in the NBA.
LSU earned a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament, making the Sweet 16 before being eliminated by Michigan State. Reid started and scored in double-figures in all three games including a monster dunk in LSU’s first-round game against the Yale Bulldogs.
If LSU had been able to overcome their matchup against Michigan State and if NAW’s Virginia Tech team would have been able to take down Duke, the two teams would have matched up in the Elite 8 of the 2019 NCAA tournament.
Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Jaylen Clark – UCLA
Jaylen Clark played three collegiate seasons for the UCLA Bruins, making the NCAA tournament each season. As an 11-seed in 2021, UCLA made it to the Final Four before the Gonzaga Bulldogs and a Jalen Suggs buzzer-beater knocked them out of the tournament. In 2022, UCLA made it to the Sweet 16 as a 4-seed, losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Clark didn’t play much in either tournament, amassing a total of just 87 minutes over eight games. His game-high scoring in either tournament was five points.
In his final season with UCLA, Clark was having a fantastic season on-pace to possibly break UCLA’s single-season steals record with 2.7 per game before tearing his Achilles in early March of that season. UCLA would go on to make the tournament as a 2-seed, making it to the Sweet 16.
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Terrence Shannon Jr. – Texas Tech & Illinois
Terrence Shannon Jr. is the only Timberwolves player to compete in the NCAA tournament for two different schools, doing so for Texas Tech and Illinois. Shannon played in the tournament four times, twice for each school.
With Texas Tech, Shannon made the tournament once as a 6-seed, advancing to the Round of 32, and as a 3-seed, going to the Sweet 16. Their second run ended against a Duke team that featured soon-to-be number-one overall pick, Paolo Banchero, and former Wolf, Wendell Moore Jr. TSJ averaged just over 12 points per game in the NCAA tournament with Texas Tech.
In 2023 with Illinois, Shannon scored 20 points in a first-round loss to Arkansas. Last season, 2024, Shannon had an outstanding postseason, winning the Big Ten Tournament at Target Center while averaging 34 points per game before making it to the Elite 8. Shannon averaged more than 28 points per game through the first three games of the 2024 NCAA tournament before scoring only eight in a loss to eventually champion UConn.
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Rob Dillingham – Kentucky
Unlike the Wolves other one-and-done Kentucky player, the NCAA tournament was not nearly as friendly to Rob Dillingham. Kentucky went into the tournament as a 3-seed but was eliminated in the first round by the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and a hot-shooting Jack Gohlke. Dillingham put up ten points, six rebounds, and three assists in the game.
Dillingham said he will be rooting for both his alma mater Kentucky and Arkansas, now led by his college coach John Calipari, in this year’s NCAA tournament.
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Luka Garza – Iowa
Luka Garza is likely the best college basketball player on the Wolves roster. Garza won the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for best center in college basketball twice and the John Wooden Award for best player in all of college basketball in 2021. He was also the runner-up for the award in 2020 behind recent Wolves nemesis, Obi Tobbin.
Garza played in two NCAA tournaments. First as a 10-seed, making it to the Round of 32, and then as a 2-seed, again losing in the Round of 32. Garza averaged 23.2 points per game in four NCAA tournament games including 36 points in his final collegiate game.
Josh Minott – Memphis
Josh Minott made it to the NCAA tournament during his one collegiate season with the Memphis Tigers. As a 9-seed, Memphis made it to the Round of 32, losing to Chet Holmgren and Gonzaga. Minott scored just six total points in the two games.
Jesse Edwards – Syracuse
Jesse Edwards played in the NCAA tournament as a member of the Syracuse Orange, making a run to the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed. Edwards played in all three games, posting eight points across 42 minutes.
Tristen Newton – Connecticut
DiVincenzo isn’t the only multi-time NCAA Champion on the Wolves roster. The newest member of the Timberwolves, Tristen Newton won back-to-back National Championships with UConn before coming to the NBA this last offseason.
Newton started in all 12 NCAA tournament games for the Huskies. The Wolves two-way rookie put up 12 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game including winning Most Outstanding Player of the 2024 Final Foul.