On Monday evening, the anticipated NCAA basketball tournament kicks off again, featuring 68 teams.

Five Texas colleges, including 39 standout players, join the lineup this year. Dallas Jesuit leads with five former players in the mix.

In the Midwest Region’s first round, Colorado State is pitted against the Texas Longhorns on Thursday, March 21 at 5:50 p.m.

Former Rangers star Max Abmas, now a senior point guard for the University of Texas, spearheads the Longhorns lineup. The Dallas Jesuit alumnus, earned his BS in Mathematics from Oral Roberts in Spring 2023 and has been a key player for the Longhorns during the 2023-24 season.

According to his bio, Abmas secured the title “District Co-Most Valuable Player” upon leaving Dallas Jesuit in 2019, leading his team in scoring with an average of 19.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Another Dallas Jesuit graduate, Gavin Perryman, was born and raised in Dallas. Perryman, a sophomore guard for the Longhorns, played an important role in Jesuit’s 21-7 record and Class 6A regional final appearance.

Another game to keep an eye on, the Texas A&M Aggies clash with the No. 8 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers on Friday, March 22 at 5:50 p.m. Dallas Jesuit alumni Julius Marble, a senior forward, appears in the Aggies’ lineup.

Marble, a Dallas Jesuit grad, spent three seasons at Michigan State before transferring to Texas A&M. Last season, he helped the Aggies’ win a victory over LSU, 69-56. Marble earned the title SEC player of the week in January 2023.

Shifting our attention to a St. Mark’s alumni, Harrison Ingram now plays as the North Carolina Wolfpack’s junior forward, averaging 12.1 points and 9.0 rebounds for the No. 1 seed in the West Region. NC State is set to square off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday, March 21 at 8:40 p.m. Despite being against Texas tradition, we’ll be rooting for Harrison.

The standout players advancing to the regional round of the NCAA Division 1 will play at the American Airlines Center on March 29 and 31. This marks North Texas’ return to hosting a men’s basketball regional for the first time since 2013 and the first occasion the area has been awarded a men’s regional outside of a Final Four bid. Dallas joins Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles as host cities for the 2024 regionals.