For how good some of the best players in college basketball were this past year, such as Zach Edey, Caleb Love, and Tyler Kolek, I was always drawn to two players in particular throughout the course of the season, North Carolina State forward DJ Burns and Nebraska guard Keisei Tominaga.

I was watching DJ Burns and the Wolfpack long before their miracle conference/NCAA tournament run, as I harken back to NC State mounting a comeback win over Wake Forest in mid January, with guard DJ Horne giving the ref the double birds at the free throw line. There was something magical about this maybe 6 foot, 8 inch, 300 pounds plus behemoth operating the post like a ballerina, pirouetting for post hooks with a deft touch, with a silky smooth 15-foot jumper to boot.

It was incredibly riveting to see this round-hole-in-a-square-peg type of game flourish in the back half of the season. At times, I didn’t know whether to laugh or be in awe of his game at times, and I usually fell into that second category, especially as the Wolf Pack went on their March run that drew comparisons to the Jim Valvano-coached NC State team of 1983. I fell in love with his game long before all of America knew the name DJ Burns, and I am glad everyone saw the magic of his play style like me. 

Keisei is a player I’ve been following for the past couple years, as I remember watching a Nebraska vs. Wisconsin game in my tiny freshman year dorm with my roommate and wondering who the tiny guard on Nebraska was with an absolute flamethrower behind the arc. I think what made him so exciting to watch was the fact he was so undersized and he was giving up a plethora of points on the other end of the court. Yet, Fred Hoiberg kept him out there for long stretches of time, for the pure fact that he was such a lightning rod on offense and kept the Cornhuskers in many games with his pure shooting. I genuinely made it a priority to watch Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball the past two years to watch the little guard that could fill it up from beyond the arc. He was a massive reason for turning the team from a Big Ten cellar dweller to one of the better teams in the conference, which culminated in a tournament berth for the first time in a decade.

Neither of these aforementioned players were drafted this past June, and both will probably play overseas in Spain, Italy, or Greece the rest of their professional career. Yet, Burns and Tominaga were must-see basketball players this past year in college hoops, and I always try to seek out players cut from a similar cloth: Guys that may have obvious deficiencies on the court that will prevent them from being an NBA guy, but with great strengths that make them electric to watch every time they step foot on the court. 

This is why the four players I am listing as must-see television this upcoming college basketball season are not all players you will see playing at Madison Square Garden in the coming years, but are (mostly) players that are so enthralling and wonderful to watch in their own unique ways. College basketball is such a beautiful game, where players in all sorts of play styles and skill sets can make an impact on the court. Whereas in the pros, you have to have a certain set of abilities to earn a spot on an NBA roster. Ball-handling, the ability to have a shot beyond the arc, plus athleticism, and size on the court. There are obvious outliers such as the aforementioned Edey, but for the most part, players like Tominaga and Burns are treated as outcasts in the NBA. Players with obvious deficiencies usually won’t get a shot from a team in the league, and I think that is a damn shame.

Without further ado, here are four players that you need to switch the channel to if they’re playing on a Tuesday night in January, and I guarantee that they will make your watch worthwhile. 

Kansas St. Guard Dug McDaniel

2023-2024 Season Stats (Michigan Wolverines) - 16.3 PPG, 4.7 APG, 3.7 RPG, 1.1 SPG (41.0/36.8/77.4)

When thinking back to Kansas St.’s enthralling 2022-2023 season that culminated in an Elite 8 run in Jerome Tang’s first season in Manhattan, the catalyst behind that run was a 5 foot, 8 inch guard from New York that would have been a worthy inclusion on this list, Marquis Nowell. The little guard with the big ticker was a problem for any defense he faced in that fateful March Madness run, especially his two-man dynamic with explosive forward Keyonte Johnson in the pick and roll. His ability to break down a defense and provide a threat through his innate vision and crafty scoring at all three levels was the engine behind that nutty Wildcat run.

Now, in comes Dug McDaniel by way of the portal, a player very reminiscent of Nowell with a tad more height (listed at 5 feet, 11 inches), but a bit of a different skill set when you break it down. The trait that stands out immediately when you take a deep dive into his film is his absolute blinding speed on the court. He is undoubtedly one of the fastest players I can recall at the college basketball level, and that flash-like burst pops up time and time again both in the half court and on the break.

Combine that with a three-level scoring ability that culminated in a 33-point explosion in a track meet, double-overtime loss to Florida in the Jumpman Invitational in December, and you begin to wonder. How did Michigan perform so poorly this past year? So poorly that it ended with Juwan Howard getting the can? Well, the surrounding roster around Dug was just poor to say the least, and the Wolverines were already struggling in non-conference when it was announced in early January that McDaniel was suspended for poor academic performance…..for only road games. A bit odd if you ask me, but the Michigan academic office has a penchant for hamstringing their basketball squad (Caleb Love really could have been wearing the maize and blue, hilarious program).

Dug already had a reputation for being a bit of a shot chucker before then, and it seemed after this suspension he just never got back on track to the type of performance he had against Florida. In the months of January and February, he proceeded to shoot 40% or above from the field a grand total of four times. Add that in with a 3-12 shooting line in the first round of the Big Ten tournament against Penn State, it made sense for a parting of ways for both schools.

I never said Dug was efficient, but his impact on the team was massive even with the surplus of games missed while he was suspended. He posted a team high OBPR of 3.26. (Offensive Bayesian Performance Rating, which is a reflection of the value a player brings to the floor on offense through their overall efficiency, and factors in teammates, and defensive strength, vice versa for defense.)

This was a good 1.37 higher then the next-highest OBPR on the Wolverines, and he also had the highest rated DBPR on the Wolverines! Dug has some extremely nice tendencies on defense with pesky hands that allow for easy breakaway buckets with his special burst. As I previously mentioned, he is a true three-level scorer, with an extremely fun-to-watch layup package where he contours his body at the rim to make some ridiculous layups at times.

A 25% assist rate to boot, McDaniel has the potential to be an offensive fulcrum under Jerome Tang, and I think that we will see the best version of McDaniel in Manhattan this year. He displayed a pure shot form beyond the arc and has a deep range along with it (nine threes made beyond 25 feet). McDaniel being undersized for a point guard is an understatement, but that's okay! Watching these dynamo little guards is an absolute joy to grace my TV and I can’t wait to see the whirling dervish of energy that Dug McDaniel provides play in the Big 12 this season. 

Arkansas Center Zvonimir Ivišić

2023-2024 Season Stats (Kentucky Wildcats) - 5.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.6 APG, 1.3 BPG (57.7%/37.5%/77.3%)

‘Big Z’, as the Kentucky Wildcats affectionately called him last year, was only ruled eligible in mid-January after being embroiled in a lengthy battle with the NCAA over his status as an amateur. I mean, is this a surprise? The NCAA is notorious for these types of occurrences time and time again. I could write an entirely new article about the issues I have with the NCAA. 

In his first game against Georgia at the Rupp, the 7 foot, 2 inch gangly center proceeded to take the ball in the paint and whip a behind-the-back pass almost immediately to a wide open Antonio Reeves on the break. Watching this live, I actually thought the Wildcats had found their missing piece to a possible Final Four team. Well ... .they weren’t quiteee a Final Four team, but damn. Ivišić was an absolute joy to watch on the court when he played. He struggled to get consistent after being such a late season addition, with established options Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso getting the bulk of the minutes at center.

Yet, in the moments he made his way on the court, he seemed to do one incredible thing a game that made me think I was watching a college version of Kristaps Porzingis. A thunderous swat off the backboard, a lob dunk where he seemed to skywalk above the rim, or a triple with a hand in his grill. Zvonimir convinced me multiple times over the course of the season that the impossible was possible. I think if you dropped Big Z into the 1950s, the viewers would think he was practicing witchcraft. The man is a 7 foot, 2 inch center that connected on his threes at a 37.5% clip, and at face value, is the blueprint of how you would build the modern center. A mobile lanky center that can patrol the paint, space the floor and even put it on the deck at times. 

Even with the fact he struggled at times with the physicality of some of the centers in the SEC, and at times struggled to contest without fouling, he is primed for a big year for the Razorbacks for John Calipari. Big Z was one of only three of the members of Coach Cal’s Kentucky team from this past season to join him in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and I think that speaks to the trust Calipari has in him to take a big sophomore year leap. From an analytics perspective, Zvonimir’s impact was felt in the short period of time he was on the team, where he finished last year with a +2.15 OBPR, and a +/- rating that ranked sixth on the Wildcats. No matter the result of Arkansas’s season and how big of a leap Big Z takes, the minutes that he plays on the court are some of the most exciting basketball you will see all season.

Gonzaga Guard Khalif Battle

2023-2024 Season Stats (Arkansas Razorbacks) - 14.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.3 APG (40.6/35.3/87.3)

The previous edition of the Arkansas Razorbacks was, how should I put it,..lackluster? Eric Musselman’s last year in Fayetteville was a rough one, but I started to watch their games more often in the back stretch of the season when their season was all but over after a 3-9 start to conference play. Now why would I make it my goal to watch a basement level SEC team? Well, they just said ‘fuck it, let Khalif Battle cook’.

For whatever inexplicable reason, Battle had his role cut drastically after beginning the season consistently getting 30 minutes a game. But on February 17th and after, the man went absolutely scorched earth. A 42-ball against Missouri, 36 against Vanderbilt, 34 on the road at Rupp, and these performances all happened consecutively. If you loaded up Khalif Battle on 2K, he wouldn’t have a real archetype like a pure sharpshooter, or a two way slasher. He is just a walking, talking, bucket. Battle’s most stand-out trait is his elite ability to draw contact and get to the line at an incredible clip. In the nine-game stretch at the end of the season when he was inserted into the lineup, he averaged a whopping 12.1 free throw attempts per game. 

Insanity.

Battle is a slasher at heart, who lives at the rim in the half court. His shot creation on that Arkansas team was truly cinematic, where his number one priority was strictly to get buckets, a hooper's dream job. Battle also showed off the ability to create off the bounce, and generate open looks beyond the arc, where he splashed the triple at a 35.3% rate. He showcased an ability to score at all three levels, and I’m really excited how Gonzaga will incorporate him in an offense that also has Graham Ike and Nolan Hickman.

Battle’s off-ball movement will definitely see a bump in Spokane, with offensive-minded coach Mark Few being able to unleash Battle’s great catch-and-shoot prowess (89th percentile!) with more regularity. Battle can definitely put himself in the conversation to be drafted, but the archetype of pure scorer is not one that is looked upon highly with the NBA, I.e. Cam Thomas. The reality is that Battle has bouts of inefficiency, a negative Assist/TO ratio, and will be 25 years old by draft day. So let's appreciate Battle’s game for what it is while he still graces the TV screen in the winter.

That game is an electric scorer that can erupt for 30+ any given night. Scorers like him are seldom seen in the more plodding nature of college ball compared to the NBA, and I love his moxie to just go out there and score the basketball. The Gonzaga Bulldogs have been the class of the WCC for as long as I have been walking this Earth, but maybe with this roster, and the addition of Battle as a Lou Williams type of scorer off the bench, they can capture that elusive title. 

Duke Forward Cooper Flagg

No. 1 Recruit in the 2024 recruiting class

I started this article off with the premise that this was to highlight players I enjoy to watch that may not necessarily make it to the NBA post-college. Yet, I couldn't make this without including the “Maine Event”, Cooper Flagg. It shows the level of talent that Flagg possesses at age 17 to be named to the preseason AP All-American team, where he graces the list with grizzled college basketball veterans Caleb Love, Hunter Dickinson, Mark Sears, Hunter Dickinson, and RJ Davis.

The level of buzz around Flagg as a true freshman is something I haven’t seen since Zion, and in all honesty, I think Flagg is going to be better. In Duke's recent exhibition matchup with Lincoln University, I witnessed this man stripe pull-up jumpers from the midrange, attack off the bounce to deliver thunderous dunks, and proceed to LeBron James-style stuff a poor D3 guy’s shot off the backboard on the break. The man is an absolute freak of nature. Flagg’s game has zero major holes in it, and the kicker is his absolute bulldog mentality.

All the guy does is want to win, and that reflects in his unselfish nature on offense and his willingness to put it on the line on the defensive end of the court. Multiple NBA scouts have already stated Flagg is one of the best weak-side helpers they’ve ever seen, and the man hasn’t even played an official collegiate game yet! The prospect of a 6 foot, 9 inch ball-handling forward who displays a plus shot, self creation, freaky athleticism, and the defensive chops to pin people's shots on the backboard with regularity. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Duke has assembled an Avengers-level supporting cast around Flagg in the portal and in recruiting, with a plethora of five-stars to fill out the lineup, and, might I add, Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster are returning.

Man, oh man.

This is by far Duke’s best shot at the title since the Zion, RJ Barrett, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish team in 2019 that was eliminated by Cassius Winston and the Michigan State Spartans in the Elite 8. Combine that with the fact that Flagg is the embodiment of the human highlight reel, add in the talent around him, and you wonder what teams in the college basketball team can match them on a pure talent standpoint. This kid is going to be special, and in my eyes, is the best American basketball prospect I have seen in a long long time. The Duke Blue Devils are always must-see-TV year in and year out, but this is the most excited I have been to watch Cameron Indoor Stadium grace my Youtube TV quadbox in ages.