Roddy Gayle Jr. is about to do something a Niagara County basketball player hasn’t done since 2019: play in the NCAA tournament.
Gayle, who was born in Niagara Falls and graduated from Lewiston-Porter, is a key player for the University of Michigan. The fifth-seeded Wolverines open the NCAA tournament against No. 12 UC San Diego at 10 p.m. Thursday.
After spending his first two seasons at Ohio State, Gayle transferred to Michigan, where he helped the Wolverines win the Big Ten tournament championship. Gayle is averaging 26.1 minutes, 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, starting 25 of 33 games.
Nursing a hamstring injury, Gayloe scored 11 points in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals against Purdue and then chipped in nine points in a buzzer-beating win over Maryland in the semifinals.
The 6-foot-5 junior is averaging 9.2 points per game, with 71 starts during his three-year college career. Gayle played his last two seasons at Wasatch Academy in Utah and transferred back to Lew-Port to graduate.
ESPN ranked Gayle as the 61st player in the class of 2022 coming out of high school. He was the first Western New York player to crack the top 100 since Park’s Jordan Nwora in 2017 and joined Niagara Falls’ Jonny Flynn as the only three Western New Yorkers to make the top 100 since ESPN began its rankings in 2007.
Shay Ciezki, Indiana
The St. Mary’s of Lancaster alumna is in her first season at Indiana, where she has started all 31 games after transferring from Penn State. Ciezki is averaging 11.6 points per game and is shooting 37.7% from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Hoosiers are the No. 9 seed and play No. 8 Utah at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Ciezki has at least 15 points in six of her last seven games, including 16 points per game in the Big Ten tournament.
Ciezki is averaging 14.4 points per game against ranked opponents, scoring a season-high 34 against then-No. 18 Baylor in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game on Nov. 24. This will be Ciezki’s first NCAA tournament after playing in the WBIT with Penn State last season.
The 5-foot-7 junior is averaging 11.6 points and has started 90 of 96 games in her three college basketball seasons. She was ESPN HoopGurlz’s No. 56 overall player coming out of high school after scoring 51 points to lead St. Mary’s to a Catholic Class A state championship as a senior.
Amari DeBerry, Maryland
The former Williamsville South standout is no stranger to the NCAA tournament, but she is making her first appearance with Maryland. DeBerry spent her first three college seasons with Connecticut, where she played sparingly on last year’s Final Four team.
The 6-foot-6 senior is averaging 2.6 points in eight minutes per game for the Terrapins. She made her first two collegiate starts this season and will suit up when No. 4 Maryland plays No. 13 Norfolk State at 4 p.m. Saturday.
DeBerry was a five-star recruit and was ranked 15th nationally in the class of 2021, earning a spot as a McDonald’s All-American. She also won gold medals in the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup and the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 championship.
Clara Strack, Kentucky
After seeing limited playing time as a freshman at Virginia Tech, Strack emerged as one of the best centers in the country. The former Hamburg star was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and was a second-team all-SEC pick, while also being named a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore is averaging 15.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game for the fourth-seeded Wildcats, who play No. 13 Liberty at noon Friday. Strack has 14 double-doubles and eight 20-point outings in 29 games this season.
She is also averaging a double-double against ranked opponents this season, posting 14 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 10 games for Kentucky, which enters the tournament ranked 13th in the country.
Strack averaged just 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 13.8 minutes as a freshman at Virginia Tech. She followed coach Kenny Brooks when he accepted the position at Kentucky after the season.
ESPN ranked Strack the 95th-best recruit in the country in 2023. She was the NYSSWA Class A player of the year after recording 24.4 points, 16.2 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 2.3 steals as a senior at Hamburg.
Others
• Grand Island native Carlin Hartman is associate head coach at Florida, which is a No. 1 seed after winning the SEC tournament. He is in his third season as the top assistant for the Gators.
• Williamsville North graduate Adam Cohen is associate head coach for Xavier, facing Texas in a play-in game Wednesday. Cohen has been with Xavier since 2022 after six seasons at Stanford, including four as an associated head coach.
• Former Williamsville South star Gretchen Dolan won’t be playing for Illinois in the tournament, as she was sidelined for the season in early January with an injury. Dolan had been averaging 10.5 points in eight games for Illinois coach Shauna Green, who played at Canisius University.
• Former Niagara center Harlan Obioha is now playing for UNC Wilmington, a No. 14 seed playing Texas Tech in the first rond. After two seasons at Niagara, Obioha is averaging 9.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Phil Martelli Jr.’s father is longtime St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, but he also spent five seasons as an assistant at Niagara from 2006-2011. Martelli is now in his second season as the Bryant head coach, with a 43-24 record. Bryant is a No. 15 seed playing No. 2 Michigan State in the first round.