Charlotte, NC – The 2024 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments kicked off on March 19 and 20 for the men and March 20 and 21 for the women with the first four play-in games. The men entered the first round of the tournament on March 21-22 with the women starting on March 22-23. 68 teams started with a chance at a national title, but now only the last four remain. The NJCAA is highlighting notable alumni that continued their success at the four-year level, including a combined 94 student-athletes across 51 teams competing in the 2024 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament. The NJCAA has five alumni playing in the upcoming Final Four on Friday, April 5 for the women and Saturday, April 6 for the men.
On the men's side, four alumni are featured in former Dodge City (KS) student-athlete Nick Pringle, Harcum (PA) student-athlete Mohamed Wague, Garden City (KS) student-athlete Mohamed Diarra, and former Northwest Florida State student-athlete Kam Woods. Pringle and Wague represent Alabama with Diarra representing NC State. Nick Pringle, former Dodge City basketball player, began his collegiate career at Wofford. He played there for one season before making his way to NJCAA member Dodge City Community College. Pringle played for one season with the Conquistadors and was ranked as the No. 1 JUCO power forward and No. 2 overall JUCO prospect. He made a name for himself at the two-year level by having a recorded season high of 20 points and 20 rebounds against other member colleges and recording seven double doubles over the course of one season. Pringle had 14 double digit rebounding games and through his talents made his way to Alabama. Former Harcum student-athlete Mohamed Wague played one season for the Bears. Getting his collegiate start at NJCAA member college, Wague left his mark. In his lone season, he ranked third in the country in blocked shots with 102 and led the NJCAA in offensive rebounds with 170 and total rebounds with 417. He was an NJCAA Division I First Team All-American and averaged 14.8 points and 11.9 rebound per game. After Harcum he joined the West Virginia men's basketball team for one season before making his way to Alabama. Mohamed Diarra played two seasons at Garden City Community College where he averaged 8.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in his first season with the Broncbusters. In his second season, Diarra was rated the No. 1 JUCO recruit and was the KJCCC Player of the Year. He averaged 17.8 points and 12.6 rebounds and led the NJCAA in rebounds per game and ranked top-20 in blocks per game. He ranked seven in scoring and made 147 free throws on the season which led the KJCCC. After Garden City, Diarra continued his collegiate career at Missouri before transferring to North Carolina State. Kam Woods, former Northwest Florida State basketball player, began his collegiate career at Troy. He played for one season before making his way to NJCAA member Northwest Florida State. Woods played for one season for the Raiders where he won the NJCAA National Championship and was named to the All-Tournament Team. He averaged 11 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in his lone season. After Northwest Florida State, Woods continued his career at North Carolina A&T before transfering to North Carolina State. Now in the Final Four, Pringle, Wague, Diarra, and Woods are set to play on one of the biggest stages in collegiate basketball.
On the women's side, one alum is featured in the Final Four in former Northwest Florida State student-athlete Sakima Walker who now represents South Carolina. Walker began her collegiate career at Rutgers before transferring to NJCAA member college Northwest Florida State. At Northwest Florida State, she led the Raiders to the 2023 NJCAA National Championship earning MVP honors. In her lone season, Walker received the 2023 NJCAA Division I Player of the Year award and the 2023 NJCAA Tournament MVP award. Over the course of the national tournament, she scored 19.1 points and had 8.7 rebound per game. Now at South Carolina, Walker plays for the No.1 ranked NCAA Division I Women's Basketball team with a 36-0 record on the season.
In total, six NJCAA alumni on the men's side made it to the Sweet Sixteen with former North Platte (NE) student-athlete Josh Townley-Thomas representing Creighton and former Northeastern Junior College (CO) student-athlete Dalton Knecht representing Tennessee. On the women's side, a total of 5 former NJCAA student-athletes made it to the Sweet Sixteen with Eastern Arizona alum Catarina Ferreira representing Baylor, Panola (TX) alum Destiny Burton representing Gonzaga, Northwest Florida State alum Last-Tear Poa representing LSU, and former South Georgia Tech student-athlete Susana Yepes representing Oregon State. Western Kentucky had the most alum in the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament with three and Florida Gulf Coast and Presbyterian tied for the most alum in the NCAA Division I Women's Tournament with three.
No. 3 North Carolina State will take on the undefeated No. 1 ranked South Carolina tonight at 7:00 PM ET for the NCAA Division I Women's Tournament. No. 11 North Carolina State takes on No. 1 Purdue tomorrow at 6:09 PM ET and No. 4 Alabama will take on No. 1 UConn tomorrow at 8:49 PM ET for the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament.