March Madness Rosters Built on High School Success Stories

Long before the national spotlight, March Madness journeys take root in high school gyms, where girls and boys chase state title dreams.

Each March, more than 500 high school basketball teams are crowned nationwide. Across the country, in packed bleachers and echoing gyms, seasons end with nets cut down and history books rewritten.

Championships not only take place in basketball, but in wrestling, swimming and diving, indoor track and gymnastics in March. Even beyond athletics, students in drama, speech and music programs reach their own climaxes.

It’s a time when local stars become legends, if only for a night. Weeks later, that same stage re-appears—just magnified—in March Madness.

The 2026 NCAA Final Fours are filled with players who once owned those “small” moments. Before the arenas, before the national broadcasts, there were hometown crowds and state tournament runs that built the foundation.

Connecticut freshman Braylon Mullins knows that path well. His deep 3-pointer against Duke in the Elite Eight added another chapter to his growing résumé, but his reputation was built at Greenfield-Central High School in Indiana. There, he became the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,158 points and, as a senior, swept nearly every major honor in the state including Indiana Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year.

For many others, dominance came in sustained runs at the high school level. Arizona’s Koa Peat and Brayden Burries arrived in college as established winners.

Peat led Gilbert Perry High School to four consecutive Arizona Interscholastic Association state titles, piling up more than 100 wins along the way, while Burries starred at Eastvale Roosevelt High School in California, helping deliver his program a California Interscholastic Federation Open Division state championship with a record 44 points in the title game.

Similar stories unfolded for those representing the Big Ten. Illinois’ Keaton Wagler led Shawnee Mission Northwest to back-to-back Kansas State High School Activities Association state titles, while Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. built his reputation across two programs in the Chicago area, ultimately earning Illinois Mr. Basketball honors at Thornton High School after a standout senior season.

The women’s Final Four tells similar stories.

South Carolina’s roster is filled with players who carried that same success. Joyce Edwards helped lead Camden High School to back-to-back South Carolina High School League state titles in South Carolina, and Raven Johnson was part of four Georgia High School Association championship teams at Westlake High School in Atlanta.

At Connecticut, Azzi Fudd was already a national name before college, as she was a three-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Washington, D.C., at St. John’s College High School and won a District of Columbia State High School Association title as a sophomore. Teammate KK Arnold led Germantown High School in Wisconsin to a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state title, while Sarah Strong dominated in North Carolina, collecting multiple state honors and leading her team to consecutive championships in an independent association.

At UCLA, Kiki Rice capped an undefeated senior season at Sidwell Friends School with a DCSAA state title, while Lauren Betts led Grandview High School in Aurora to a Colorado High School Activities Association championship of its own. Similarly, Texas’ Madison Booker led Germantown High School (Mississippi) to its first-ever Mississippi High School Activities Association state title, while teammate Rori Harmon guided Houston (Texas) Cypress Creek High School to a near-perfect season and a state runner-up finish in the University Interscholastic League.

And that’s just a snippet of all of the incredible accomplishments from this year’s group.

This weekend the stage shifts again, as the men’s Final Four arrives in Indianapolis, where the lights are brighter and the stakes higher just around the corner from the NFHS offices. The women’s games in Phoenix promise the same energy.

But for many of the players taking the floor, the moment is a continuation, not a beginning, because long before the packed arenas and national attention, there were smaller gyms, louder in their own way, where it all started.

This article was written by Jordan Morey, manager of communications and media relations at the NFHS.