The biggest (no pun intended) and most undeniable star of the 2024 NCAA Tournament is NC State center DJ Burns Jr., whose million dollar smile, carefree attitude and methodical destruction of opponents inside of the three-point arc have made him a household name in the span of three weeks. Burns has been the catalyst of NC State's run through the month of March, which started ACC Tournament, where the Wolfpack had to win five games in five days just to clinch a berth in the NCAA Tournament. And once they punched their ticket into the field of 68, NC State has done nothing but proven they should've been in the field in the first place.

Along with a rock solid supporting cast featuring DJ Horne, Mohamed Diarra, Ben Middlebrooks and Casey Morsell, DJ Burns has led the Wolfpack to their first Final Four appearance since 1983, when Jim Valvano led NC State to a National Championship win over the Houston Cougars. Along the way, Burns has been the subject of plenty of media attention, gaining new fans along the way, and even catching the attention of the NFL, though Burns himself says that there is zero interest on his end in pursuing a career on the gridiron.

Rather than focusing on what his long-term future may hold, DJ Burns is more concerned with his immediate future, and in his immediate future is a Final Four showdown with Purdue's two-time Consensus Player of the Year Zach Edey.

DJ Burns Jr. vs. Zach Edey – A Throwback Battle of the Big Men 

 

Much like DJ Burns' NBA future, Zach Edey's has also been a topic of conversation since long before the tournament began. Edey projects as a mid-to-late 1st round pick, despite the type of accolades that you'd assume would almost guarantee him to be a lottery pick. Nobody has yet to find a way to slow Zach Edey down. The 7'4″ superstar is averaging 29.5 points, 14.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game since the Big Ten Tournament began. But DJ Burns knows what everyone else is coming to learn… there's no way you can stop Zach Edey. But Burns believes he can give Edey problems in other ways.

The first five minutes of the opening game of Saturday night's Final Four will likely tell us all we need to know about the remaining 35 minutes. NC State's offense is at it's best when Burns is the one facilitating the action from the elbow or the post, but he needs to keep himself on the floor in order to do that. That means logging big minutes and not picking up early fouls. If DJ Burns can stay out of foul trouble — a big IF for anyone tasked with taking on the role as Zach Edey's primary defender — and if he can manage to knock down a few mid-range jumpers as he settles into the game, NC State will have a shot to hang around with a Purdue squad that is somewhere around an 8.5 point favorite. If not, Edey and Purdue will eventually pull away and advance to the National Championship Game.

Even if this is where NC State's miracle run ends, and even if this is the last truly meaningful game DJ Burns plays in his basketball career, he'll still go down as a defining March legend, and that's plenty of reason for him to crack one more trademark smile.