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NCAA Basketball: 5 biggest winners from 2019 NCAA Tournament

By Adam Childs

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: De'Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates his three point basket basket late in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: De'Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates his three point basket basket late in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 23: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers waves to the fans after his teams win over the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 23, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 23: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers waves to the fans after his teams win over the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 23, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

2. Carsen Edwards

Edwards was a national player of the year candidate when the season started and he did nothing in the first part of the season to prove that it was a fluke. He even had his Purdue team playing well after a rocky start to the non-conference part of the schedule and blow out losses to Michigan and Michigan State. He would help lead the Boilermakers to a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, but the weight of having to be the main guy looked like it was getting to him.

Over the last month and a half of the season, his shot disappeared even though he continued to take lots of shots during games. He shot under 30% in over half his games in February and March including two consecutive games under 20% when he went just 1-21 from deep.

Many critics were starting to question if he was a team player and if he could actually make it in the NBA. A surefire prospect was not probably going to head back to Purdue for his senior season. That was until the tournament started.

He went for 26 against ODU in the first round and that would be his lowest scoring total of the tournament. In the second round, he scored 42 including nine three-pointers in their rout of Villanova. He followed that up by dropping 29 on Tennessee in their overtime win. To cap it all off he scored 42 more points against eventual champion Virginia. He would go 10-19 from the outside giving him a record-setting 28 three-pointers in four games in the tournament.

He single handily carried Purdue to the Elite Eight and had it not been for a crazy ending sequence and buzzer-beater by the Cavaliers they would have made the Final Four. Edwards once again proved he was an elite scorer and the prospect everybody thought he was in the preseason. No one improved their draft stock more than Edwards did during the tournament.

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