2021 NCAA Tournament “Cinderella” Stars: High School Origins

With the 2021 NCAA Tournament now getting into the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, there have been three teams in particular as this year’s “Cinderella.” Now, what is a “Cinderella” team? This is generally described as a lower-seeded team making a deep run in the tournament by pulling off massive upsets and doing things in March that nobody expected.

Those three “Cinderella” teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament were 15-seed Oral Roberts, 11-seed Syracuse, and 12-seed Oregon State, all three of which pulled off two massive upsets.

One player for each team in particular lead the way for their team on this deep run. These players were not only tearing up the NCAA Tournament, but were excellent high school players as well. Let’s take a look at these three players who excelled then and are excelling now.

Max Abmas – Oral Roberts

Undoubtedly the star player for this year’s “Cinderella” team in the NCAA Tournament, Max Abmas lead the country in scoring – averaging 24.2 PPG. Abmas took March Madness by storm, but he has always been a talented scorer.

Abmas played high school basketball for Jesuit Dallas in Texas, where he scored over 1,000 career points for the Rangers. Abmas averaged over 10 PPG during all three high school seasons, while averaging 19.1 PPG during his senior season when he made 109 3-pointers.

Abmas also won numerous awards throughout his time at Jesuit Dallas, including two-time All-District, UIL District 9-6A Co-MVP, All-Region and more.

Buddy Boeheim – Syracuse

Arguably the hottest player in the NCAA Tournament, Buddy Boeheim was shooting the lights out for the Syracuse Orange. Boeheim was also a very good high school player.

He spent his freshman through junior seasons at Jamesville-DeWitt High School (New York), where he averaged 14.2 PPG as a sophomore and 26.3 PPG and 9.8 RPG as a junior for the Red Rams, winning numerous awards.

Boeheim transferred to Brewster Academy (New Hampshire) for his senior season, where he led the Bobcats to a 26-7 record and earned Second-Team AAA All-New England honors.

Ethan Thompson – Oregon State

Ethan Thompson lead the Oregon State Beavers on a “Cinderella” type run in the NCAA Tournament, but he has always been this good.

Thompson played at Bishop Montgomery (California), where he was regarded as a top-50 overall player in the Class of 2017. Thompson averaged 22.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 5.4 APG during his senior season; won numerous awards, including Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year, as well as CIF Open Division, John R. Wooden, and Los Angeles Times Player of the Year; and lead his team to the CIF Open Division state championship. Thompson ended his high school career at Bishop Montgomery with 1,948 career points.

Written by: Matt Melton