6 NCAA Men's and Women's Final Four players or coaches with ties to Washington state - high school or college

Half of them are members of the SEC champion Florida Gators, including one ex-Issaquah track runner

Houston Cougars basketball coach Kelvin Sampson reacts after cutting the net for the Midwest Regional final of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

The NCAA Division I basketball season has reached its pinnacle weekend - Men's and Women's Final Four.

Here are six players and coaches - men and women - with ties to Washington state who are part of the festivities (men are in San Antonio, Texas; women are in Tampa, Florida), ranked in order of potential impact:

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Houston Cougars men's coach Kelvin Sampson reacts in the first half during a Midwest Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

1. KELVIN SAMPSON, Houston men's coach

Approaching 800 wins, Sampson, 69, is considered one of the premier coaches in NCAA history. He has led the Cougars to a seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance - and second Final Four berth this weekend. But his NCAA journey started at WSU (1987-94) where he was 103-103, and guided the school to three consecutive postseason bids, including the 1994 NCAA Tournament.

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South Carolina Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts, 21, drives against Duke Blue Devils forward Toby Fournier in the Elite Eight round at Legacy Arena. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

2. CHLOE KITTS, South Carolina women's forward

Easily the most accomplished player in this bunch, Kitts - who grew up in Puyallup until 2014, and never played high school basketball in Washington - became an NCAA Division I champion last season after the Gamecocks beat Iowa for the title. Currently, the frontcourt starter is No. 3 on the team in scoring (10.4 ppg) and leads the squad in rebounding (7.9 rpg).

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Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu cuts down the net after defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the West Regional final of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Chase Center. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

3. RUEBEN CHINYELU, Florida men's center

A starter for all 38 games this season, he averages 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. The sophomore from Nigeria began his collegiate career at WSU last season, starting 12 games for the Cougars. He averaged 4.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game in Pullman, and had six double-doubles before leaving for Gainesville last April.

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Florida Gators assistant coach John Andrzejek gestures during the first half of a game against Quinnipiac at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

4. JOHN ANDRZEJEK, Florida men's assistant coach

In his second season with the Gators, Andrzejek was regarded as an offensive advanced-metrics guru in his four seasons at WSU (2019-23) under Kyle Smith, who is now at Stanford. During his tenure in Pullman, the Cougars were 69-61. He recently was named the new coach at Campbell University in North Carolina.

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UConn Huskies assistant women's coach Morgan Valley, right of Geon Auriemma, sits on the bench as the Huskies take on Southern Connecticut State University at Gampel Pavillion. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

5. MORGAN VALLEY, UConn women's assistant coach

Has a background with some of the greatest scorers in NCAA history, including Paige Bueckers as a fourth-year assistant with UConn. Before that, she was a Washington Huskies assistant from 2015-17 under Mike Neighbors as a 26-win Huskies' team in 2016 reached the Final Four with guard Kelsey Plum -then the NCAA's all-time leading scorer (3,527 points) - leading the charge.

Issaquah native Nolan Crist has been a part of the Florida Gators' basketball team since 2021. He is now the video coordinator as the team reaches the Final Four in 2025. | Photo courtesy of University of Florida athletics

6. NOLAN CRIST, Florida men's video coordinator

A former sprinter on the Issaquah High School boys track and field team, Crist has climbed the ranks in the Florida program - first as a scouting assistant (2021-22), then as student manager (2022-23) and then as head manager and graduate manager last season before becoming first-year video coordinator. Already has post-graduate degree from university in sport management.

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