March Madness brings stars out of the dark, shines light on studs who would otherwise be ignored. With 64 teams, there are sure to be dawgs on the field. In the sports viewing community, a divide has risen. On one side there are fans that analyze advanced statistics to determine a player’s talent, essentially turning any sports game into one math formula. Advanced efficiency statistics are the basis of this community’s opinions. On the other hand, some people can simply just determine “that boy nice.” The classic eye test is all one needs. When someone passes the eye test, there is no real criteria to determine this; it is up to the viewer’s judgment. The following players are guys that I watched play this March that made me think “that boy nice.”
Jack Gohlke: Oakland University
This is probably an expected pick if you’ve followed the tournament at all. This guy has never seen a shot he doesn’t like (unless its inside the 3 point arc) and somehow he is automatic. Jacking threes is his game, attempting only one 2 point shot all season. You can put both hands in his face and somehow he’s still green. Fadeaway three from the baseline? AUTOMATIC. Off-Balance with a hand in his face? AUTOMATIC. Knocking off Kentucky? AUTOMATIC. Sadly, this is likely the last we see of Gohlke unless you file your taxes through TurboTax.
Grant Nelson: Alabama
This guy is a story t0 root for. With only one D1 offer coming out of high school, he is yet another story of what the transfer portal can do to elevate careers. He started at North Dakota State and moved to Alabama this year, putting him in a spotlight he otherwise wouldn’t be able to get. I’m a big fan of the play style of this explosive Alabama team and I noticed Grant Nelson really plays a big role. Despite being inconsistent he really came to play in Bama’s bigger games in the tournament especially against UNC, where I first noticed he was nice. He put up 24 points, 12 boards, and 5 blocks against the Tarheels and then put up another impressive double-double against UConn with 19 and 15. 15 rebounds against a team like UConn is impressive work. He also has a mustache than any 14 year old can rival.
Jermaine Cousinard: Oregon
Averaging almost 17 points over the season, his performances shouldn’t be a huge surprise but he still blew these numbers out of the water in the Duck’s two tournament games. He started off his tournament torching his former team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, for 40. Carolina fans really thought this was their year (don’t they always) just to get sent home in the first round to a guy that walked away from them. Good thing Gamecock fans are used to pain and disappointment because this could be enough to drive someone mad. He came out the next game against a strong Creighton team and gave them 32. He was automatic from 3 shooting 53% in the tournament. Dawg.
DJ Burns: NC State
This is another pretty obvious pick for this list but I want to include him due to the public’s opinion turning against him later in the tournament. He gets criticism about his physical play being labeled as dirty and cheating. This mostly just comes from any fanbase that lost to him. The same people complaining about his play style are also the same people complaining how the game has turned soft. He lead this NC State team to be the hottest in basketball in March, knocking Duke out of two tournaments (who doesn’t like that). He also has cool edits on Instagram so that make him better in my eyes. Also who doesn’t like seeing a fat guy do something athletically impressive. HEEM.
Dalton Knecht: Tennessee
White boy of the year, all I have to say. 37 points against Purdue is all I needed to see to solidify him on this list. This man was my one hope to take Zach Edey (cheater) down but the refs worked hard to advance the plague of CBB further. Not to mention he was a dawg all season and performed in every game of the tournament as well averaging 26 points to get his team to the Elite 8.
