Every year, the NCAA Tournament introduces us to someone new — a player we hadn’t fully appreciated whose name suddenly feels unavoidable. For a few games — sometimes a full weekend, they take over everything. They hit the shots you remember, make the plays that swing outcomes, and for a brief stretch, they become the center of the sport.

We fall in love with those players, at least for a little while.

Most of the time, those moments are fleeting. A magical run that lives on in highlights and bracket lore. But every so often, it’s something more than that. What starts as a March breakout can turn into something legendary.

We saw a glimpse of that just last week.

Darius Acuff didn’t just play well in the SEC Tournament — he took ownership of it. He averaged 30.3 points and 7.7 assists while playing 39 minutes a night to lead Arkansas to its first SEC Tournament crown since 2000. It wasn’t just production, it was control. Every possession felt like it ran through him, every defense bent in his direction, and still, it wasn’t enough to slow him down. That’s what it looks like when a player crosses from “hot” into something more sustainable — something that can carry over into the Big Dance.

And that’s really what you’re searching for this time of year, and it's why a lot of people are so high on Arkansas.

It's not just who’s playing well, but who can take over like Acuff. Who can create offense when structure breaks down, when possessions tighten and you can feel the weight of the moment.

The challenge is identifying them before it happens.

Traditional stats only get you part of the way there. That’s where KEMBA comes in.

KEMBA Rating is built to answer a simple question: who generates offense when it matters most? By combining assist rate, free throw rate, and unassisted shot creation — then weighing it against turnovers and adjusting for strength of schedule — it surfaces the players who aren’t just producing, but driving everything their teams do.

Using KEMBA, we can cut through the noise and identify the players most likely to take over the NCAA Tournament. Here are three players to monitor in each region based on their KEMBA ratings:

East Region

Top KEMBA Score - Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State (35.6)

Fears has the highest Creation Score (the part of KEMBA that measures true playmaking before usage and efficiency come into play) of any player in the country. It's expected, too, given that he leads the nation in assist rate and ranks 53rd nationally in offensive rating, per KenPom.

Fears is at the center of everything Michigan State does offensively because he has to be. The Spartans don't have any explosive scoring threats — particularly in the half court — so they have become dependent on Fears' creation ability. He is more passer than scorer, yet his KEMBA rating is the second highest nationally because of the responsibility he shoulders.

Top Mid-Major Score - Alex Wilkins, Furman (25.5)

Wilkins, a 6-foot-5 freshman point guard for the Paladins, has the second-highest KEMBA rating of any mid-major player in the NCAA Tournament. He quickly became one of Furman's best and most important players, and ended up leading the SoCon in usage while ranking second in assist rate and seventh in his ability to get to the foul line.

While not a consistent three-point shooter at this point in his career, Wilkins' size, craftiness, and ability to read opposing defenses helps him get into the lane with relative ease and make the right play from there, whether that means finishing at the rim or finding an open teammate.

And that three-point shooting may be coming around. He was 13-for-24 (54.2 percent) from deep in the SoCon Tournament, hitting multiple threes in every game.

Worth Monitoring - Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (30.3)

Duke's Cam Boozer actually has the third-highest KEMBA rating of anyone in the country, which goes to show how insane his season has been. He's the only non-guard that ranks in the KEMBA top-45 because, well, the Blue Devils do use him like a de facto point forward to get the most out of his creation ability.

But Ohio State's Bruce Thornton is worth a mention here because of his play down the stretch. The all-time leading scorer for the Buckeyes has taken his play to a special level, averaging 22.5 points on 57.5 percent shooting (including 40.9 percent shooting from three) over the last 10 games.

His play isn't the only reason Ohio State went from a bubble team to being safely in the field as an 8-seed, but that doesn't happen without him. Thornton is the true heartbeat of this team, and the Buckeyes will only go as far as he takes them.

West Region

Top KEMBA Score - AJ Dybantsa, BYU (35.9)

The projected No. 1 overall pick in June's NBA Draft has the highest KEMBA rating of anyone in the country. The highest-usage player in the Big 12, Dybantsa leads the nation in scoring and has done so mostly by creating his own offense.

Head coach Kevin Young routinely calls isolation sets for Dybantsa to work in because he's so difficult to stop. At 6-foot-9, Dybantsa can shoot over defenders, has the quickness to get past them, length to finish around them, and the footwork/craftiness to get to the foul line more than anyone in the country.

The superstar freshman has seen his role increase even more since Richie Saunders was lost for the season due to a torn ACL he suffered on Feb. 14 against Colorado. In the nine games since, Dybantsa is averaging 27.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 38.6 minutes per game while shooting 46.6 percent from the floor.

Top Mid-Major Score - Jordan Watford, Queens (19.4)

Queens is an offensive-heavy team, ranking 77th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency (per KenPom) compared to a lowly 320th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Watford — another freshman — has been a revelation for the Royals.

The Lancaster native was the top-ranked player in the state of South Carolina as a senior and quickly took the reins of this offense. He ranked in the top five in the ASUN in usage, assist rate, and free throw rate, meaning he got to the foul line as much as anyone.

Like Wilkins, Watford isn't really a three-point threat (only 23 attempts on the season), but his ability to put pressure on defenses with his driving ability sets up a lot of Queens' offense.

Worth Monitoring - Nick Boyd, Wisconsin (27.7)

There might not be a hotter player in the country right now than Nick Boyd. He is averaging 21.3 points with 5.0 assists in 34 minutes over Wisconsin's last 20 games while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent from three.

More impressive, however, has been his play in big games. Boyd has put up the following stat lines in key wins for Wisconsin in 2026:

  • 22 points, six assists vs. Michigan
  • 25 points, five assists vs. Illinois
  • 29 points, four assists vs. Michigan State
  • 27 points, 10 assists vs. Iowa
  • 23 points, five assists vs. Purdue
  • 38 points, six assists vs. Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament

Again, those were all wins for the Badgers because Boyd was the best player on the court. The fifth-year senior has experience winning in March, too. Remember, he was the starting point guard on FAU's Final Four team in 2023.

Midwest Region

Top KEMBA Score - Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama (34.5)

No. 4 in KEMBA for the entire season, Philon has taken his game to the next level as a sophomore in Nate Oats' high-octane offense. The 6-foot-4 point guard is averaging 21.7 points and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from three-point range, showcasing an incredible mix of production and efficiency.

Philon is already a high-usage player, but we can expect to see his usage jump even more given the Tide will likely be without Aden Holloway following his arrest this week.

This Alabama team isn't perfect — it isn't a good rebounding group and it's below average defensively from what we usually see from the Tide — but Philon has carried them through a lot of it with his individual brilliance. He will determine Alabama's ceiling in the NCAA Tournament.

Top Mid-Major Score - Tavari Johnson, Akron (24.4)

Akron is in its third consecutive NCAA Tournament because it has a handful of quality guards on the roster, but none of them have been as good, as consistent, or as productive as Johnson.

He is the team's point guard and general offensive engine while shooting 37.9 percent from three. Johnson guides this elite offensive unit with 20.3 points per game while also leading the Zips with 5.0 assists. His quickness, shiftiness, and ability to control the game are unmatched in the MAC, giving Groce a dynamic point guard he can rely on.

Of course, doing so in the MAC and doing so in the NCAA Tournament are two very different things, but Johnson has shown that his production translates against better competition. In Akron's three games against KenPom top 100 opponents, the senior scored 20 points against Purdue in November, had 35 points and eight assists against Yale, and put up 22 points against Miami (OH).

If Akron is able to upset Texas Tech and go on a run through the bracket, Johnson will be the primary reason why.

Worth Monitoring - Christian Anderson, Texas Tech (33.6)

Of course, Texas Tech has an elite guard of its own in Christian Anderson, who will likely be a first-round pick in June's NBA Draft.

Anderson is among the nation's leaders in minutes, assist rate, and three-point shooting, all things that have made him one of the biggest stars in college basketball. He showed his ability to take over a game in Texas Tech's win over Duke back in December, and he did the same thing on a handful of occasions against the other great teams in the Big 12.

Yet Anderson's toughest test is likely ahead of him. The Red Raiders are obviously without first-team All-American JT Toppin, who suffered a torn ACL on Feb. 17, and Anderson is a little banged up himself after suffering a groin injury in the Big 12 Tournament.

Texas Tech didn't have a lot of depth to begin with and relied heavily on Toppin and Anderson to carry the offense. Without Toppin, nearly everything falls to Anderson.

South Region

Top KEMBA Score - Bennett Stirtz, Iowa (33.1)

This is what was expected from Stirtz when he followed head coach Ben McCollum from Drake to Iowa. The duo had so much success at Drake because of Stirtz's play and how often he had the ball in his hands, and they simply copied and pasted that strategy into the Big Ten.

And it largely worked.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder ranked in the top five nationally in minutes while also sitting among the nation's leaders in true shooting percentage, assist rate, and offensive rating — all things that are reflected in his top-10 KEMBA rating.

Simply put, Iowa goes as Stirtz goes. That has been the case all season (by design), meaning any run the Hawkeyes make will be directly correlated to Stirtz's level of play.

Top Mid-Major Score - Nasir Whitlock, Lehigh (26.1)

Whitlock has the highest KEMBA rating of any mid-major player in the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-2, 184-pounder averages 21.0 ppg on an effective field goal percentage of 54.9, a number heavily boosted by his three-point shooting. The junior has connected on 44.5 percent of his attempts from long range this season, a good portion of them coming off the bounce or via self-creation.

There's no question about his ability to perform in the clutch, either, as he hit the game-winner to push Lehigh past Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament.

Lehigh had a guy like that last time it went dancing, too. His name was CJ McCollum. Expect to hear those comparisons a good bit for as long as the Mountain Hawks remain in the NCAA Tournament.

Worth Monitoring - Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt (32.7)

It would be disrespectful to say that Tyler Tanner came out of nowhere this season to lead Vanderbilt to its most successful season since it won the SEC in 2011-12, but no one saw this coming.

Tanner's scoring average jumped from 5.7 ppg as a freshman to 19.1 as a sophomore while nearly doubling his assist rate, all while increasing his efficiency and ability to disrupt opponents on the defensive end.

The 6-foot, 173-pounder is actually one of the better defenders on this list, but KEMBA doesn't really care about that. His 32.7 rating is top-10 nationally — one spot ahead of Purdue's Braden Smith — and reflects that he was one of the SEC leaders in usage, assists, and free throw rate. His 61.5 true shooting percentage isn't bad, either.