Every year or so, there’s one player that can completely take over for their team and lead them farther in the NCAA Tournament than they probably deserve to go.
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Stephen Curry‘s amazing 2008 NCAA tournament run with Davidson is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Shabazz Napier is the most recent to do it, putting together the best stretch of his career to lead Connecticut to an improbably national championship run.
Looking at the 2015 field, there are some great teams that also have great individual players.
For example, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin, Jerian Grant of Notre Dame and Buddy Hield of Oklahoma can all take over at any given moment when their team needs them, but they don’t necessarily have to control the entire game for the team to win. Some teams don’t have that luxury and need certain players to take over.
Now we look a who can become the next Curry or the next Napier.
D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State Buckeyes
Entering the NCAA tournament with their lowest seed ever (when making the tournament field) under Thad Matta, the Buckeyes face an uphill battle going into their opening game against VCU on Thursday. In order to get past last year’s second-round exit against Dayton, Ohio State will need D’Angelo Russell to do all the things he does best.
Russell enters the tournament leading the Buckeyes in points (19.3), rebounds (5.6) and free throw percentage (76 percent, among players that average more than 20 minutes per game) and is second in assists (5.1) and steals (1.6).
In short, Russell does everything for Ohio State because he has to. Without Russell, the Buckeyes may have been lucky to get an NIT bid but were able to nab an NCAA bid.
Ohio State is 13-2 when Russell scores at least 20 points in a game and 2-0 when he scores 30 points or more. His scoring output is what is carrying the Buckeyes, but it’s not always enough. If he’s off, then so is Ohio State as they don’t have many other options to lead them.
Russell can get it going in a hurry, that’s not the question. The question is whether or not he can do it more than a game at a time. He’s capable of doing it, and he’ll need to if the Buckeyes want to make a statement this weekend.
Seth Tuttle, Northern Iowa Panthers
America has fallen in love with Northern Iowa and its leading man Seth Tuttle.
Tuttle leads the Panthers in scoring at 15.3 points/game (no other UNI player averages more than 7.7), rebounds at 6.8 (next highest player average is 3.2), assists (next highest is 2.6) and field goal percentage at 61.6 percent (next highest is 54 percent). Not a bad tool to have at your disposal if you’re UNI, but that also means he needs to show up and ball out for the Panthers to succeed.
Of course, he’s certainly capable of doing it. Against Wichita State at home, Tuttle went for 29 points on 9-for-13 shooting and 10-for-13 from the charity stripe. The 6-foot-8 senior can be a force for the Panthers, and they’ll need him to do just that.
Defensively, UNI is as sound as any team in the country, but it’s scoring that gives them fits. That’s where Tuttle’s ability to score leads them. He’s the guy that can be the star and quietly lead the Panthers to the Elite Eight if he focuses on getting the job done. The numbers won’t be as flashy as a Curry or a Napier, but he’s a leader UNI needs.
Isaiah Taylor, Texas Longhorns
Though Texas hasn’t been the best team of the year, they have the talent to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. Their size is matched only by Kentucky and have an experienced coach who has been around for quite some time in Rick Barnes. They’re biggest problem recently has been lack of leadership.
With only one game guaranteed before the season ends, it’s time for somebody to step up and lead the charge. For Texas, that player is Isaiah Taylor, who has gotten some looks from the NBA over the last two years. To keep his season alive and have a chance to elevate his draft stock a bit more, Taylor needs to take control early and often.
Taylor certainly isn’t much of a shooter, hitting just 28 percent of his three-point opportunities this year, but he can drive and finish at the rim with the best of them. He’s also prone to getting to the free throw line, where he connects on 83 percent of his opportunities.
Texas needs a hero this year and Taylor can be just that. It’ll be a difficult task as an 11-seed, but if anybody can lead the Longhorns to where they want to be, it’s Taylor.