Cup of Cavs: Cleveland Cavaliers news and links for Friday, March 18

Happy Friday! Most eyes will most likely be on college basketball for the next few weekends, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a Cup of Cavs.

The first sip

All this March Madness got me thinking: how did the current Cavaliers fare in the NCAA Tournament?

Lucky for us, most of the Cavs aren’t far removed from their college days. Most of them had relatively nondescript tournaments (or missed altogether), but here are a few of the highlights:

• Ed Davis and North Carolina won the title in 2009…but then Carolina couldn’t even win the NIT the very next year.
• Kevin Love was the leading scorer and rebounder for top-seeded UCLA in 2008; they lost to Memphis in the Final Four
• Caris LeVert (2014) and Evan Mobley (2021) each took their teams to the Elite Eight and made their respective All-Regional team
• Dylan Windler scored 35 points for 11-seed Belmont in the round of 64; Belmont lost to Maryland by two

• Bonus: Tacko Fall may not be a Cavalier on paper, but he’ll always be one in our hearts. (Also, I’ll use any excuse to reminisce on Tacko and Zion Williamson meeting at the rim with the game hanging in the balance. That’s what fate looks like, folks.)

Read this

Another Mirin Fader profile, this time on South Carolina’s Destiny Littleton

Links of the day

The Ringer’s top 30 players in the upcoming draft

The Warriors could be without Steph Curry until the postseason

In case you can’t find the tourney game you’re looking for

Mark Schindler, Nekias Duncan, and Jackson Frank, together on a track (about All-Defense teams)