The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament brought some incredible individual performances as star players shined on college basketball’s big stage while trying to keep their seasons alive. There were clutch buckets, gaudy stat lines and memorable highlights from players across the bracket deserving of some recognition.
In fact, whittling the list down to just 15 players for the All-First Weekend Team was a tough task. High-performing stars such as Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard, Memphis’ Dain Dainja and Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn missed the list because their teams were eliminated in the first round.
Others who played two games also finished just off the cut line after their teams lost in the second round. Among them were Oregon star Jackson Shelstad and Iowa State’s Curtis Jones. The list of great individual showings from the first of the Big Dance was extensive, and those are just a few examples of the tough snubs.
Also among those not listed are the two frontrunners for National Player of the Year: Auburn center Johni Broome and Duke forward Cooper Flagg. Perhaps both players are saving their best efforts for when their teams need it further down the line in this NCAA Tournament.
So who did make the team? Without further ado, here are the 2025 NCAA Tournament All-First Weekend honorees.
First Team
LJ Cryer, Houston: Cryer has stepped up in big moments all season and did so again Saturday for the No. 1 seed Cougars as they survived a rally from No. 8 seed Gonzaga for an 81-76 victory. Cryer totaled 30 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range in the win after tallying 15 points in a first-round victory over No. 16 seed SIUE.
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida: Clayton rose to the occasion with Florida’s season hanging in the balance against UConn on Sunday, drilling two huge 3-pointers in the final minutes as the No. 1 seed Gators squeaked out a 77-75 win over No. 8 seed UConn. Clayton scored 23 points in both the Gators’ first weekend wins.
Tyrese Proctor, Duke: No, it isn’t Cooper Flagg or Kon Knueppel showing up here for No. 1 seed Duke. It’s Proctor, a formerly maligned junior guard who is giving the Blue Devils yet another high-caliber offensive weapon. Proctor hit a ridiculous 7 of 8 3-pointers in Sunday’s win over No. 9 seed Baylor and totaled 44 points over the weekend.
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Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue: Kaufman-Renn has been doing his best Zach Edey impersonation recently. He’s not 7-foot-4, but the junior big man was relentless during No. 4 seed Purdue’s two victories over scrappy mid-major opponents. He totaled 43 points and 23 rebounds in those wins on an efficient 17-of-28 mark from the floor.
Caleb Love, Arizona: Love was relatively quiet against Akron in the first round as the No. 4 seed Wildcats didn’t need a ton from him in easy victory. But Love delivered in a massive way on Sunday night as his 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists helped Arizona dig out of an early 15-point hole to beat No. 5 seed Oregon 87-83.
Second Team
John Tonje, Wisconsin: Though it came in a losing effort Saturday against BYU, Tonje’s 37 points on 10-of-18 shooting stands out as the highest-scoring individual performance of the tournament thus far. He kept the Badgers in it by making 14 of 16 free throws.
Richie Saunders, BYU: Saunders was unbelievable Saturday in No. 6 seed BYU’s 91-89 win over No. 3 seed Wisconsin, totaling 25 points and seven rebounds on 9-of-16 shooting in just 30 minutes. He tallied 41 points on the opening weekend while leading the Cougars to their first Sweet 16 since 2011.
Darrion Williams, Texas Tech: Williams played one of the best games of his career at the right time on Saturday, finishing with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in No. 3 seed Texas Tech’s 77-64 win over No. 11 seed Drake. The 6-6 guard was simply too much to handle for the No. 11 seed Bulldogs.
JT Toppin, Texas Tech: Toppin tallied 25 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks on an incredibly efficient 11-of-13 shooting in Texas Tech’s win over Drake on Saturday. He also posted a double-double in the Red Raiders’ first-round win over No. 14 seed UNCW.
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee: Lanier was on fire from 3-point range in No. 2 seed Tennessee’s victories over Wofford and UCLA, drilling a combined 10 of 18 attempts from beyond the arc while propelling the Volunteers to a third consecutive Sweet 16. The sharpshooting guard totaled 49 points for the weekend.
Honorable mentions
Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss: Pedulla was all over the place for Ole Miss while leading the No. 6 seed Rebels to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2001. He scored 20 points in each of the Rebels’ victories and also contributed eight assists and four steals in a surprisingly dominant 91-78 win over No. 3 seed Iowa State on Sunday.
Derik Queen, Maryland: Queen made the play of the first weekend on Sunday with a game-winning buzzer-beater to send the No. 4 seed Terrapins past No. 12 seed Colorado State and into the Sweet 16. The freshman center finished the weekend with 29 points, 21 rebounds and four blocks.
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Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn: No. 1 seed Auburn needs good guard play to reach its national title aspirations, and Pettiford provided it in Saturday’s 82-70 win over No. 9 seed Creighton. The freshman phenom totaled 23 points, six rebounds and three assists in the victory.
Pharrel Payne, Texas A&M: Payne finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds in No. 4 seed Texas A&M’s first-round win over Yale and then came back with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting in a losing effort against Michigan.
Bennett Stirtz, Drake: Stirtz never came off the floor for Drake in two games during the first weekend, playing all 80 minutes as the No. 11 seed Bulldogs beat No. 6 seed Missouri and then fell to No. 3 seed Texas Tech. He totaled 21 points in each game and also had a sterling 8-to-1 assist-to-turnover mark in Saturday’s loss to the Red Raiders.
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