NCAA Tournament 2019: Biggest x-factors on each remaining Sweet 16 team

Midwest Region

North Carolina: No One

Here’s more evidence of my profound college basketball knowledge as I inform you that North Carolina has ZERO X-factors. Look, their guys are their guys. Whether or not Carolina wins the title or falls to a hot Auburn club will depend solely on their best three players: Coby White, Cam Johnson, and Luke Maye. If they each play to the top of their potential (again, a lot to ask from three college kids), Roy Williams is dancing his way to another national title. But, if White misses his off-balance heat-checks, Johnson can’t find his rhythm, and Maye struggles with size and athleticism (as he’s prone to), then the Tar Heels will be bounced, end of story.

Auburn: Malik Dunbar

Dunbar is the ultimate crowd-hyper for Auburn basketball. When Jon Rothstein so poetically tweets, “Auburn Basketball. Welcome to the jungle.” this is what he means. Dunbar is an athletic phenom at guard and can posterize human beings of any size. And when he does, Auburn faithful erupts into a frenzy.  He’s a walking momentum meter. Whether it’s his vicious one-handed slam or a three-pointer so fine it makes the net hiss, he can swing the tone of a game in an instant. A prominent outing from him against North Carolina and Bruce Pearl could find himself in the Elite 8.

Houston: Dejon Jarreau

When I think 2019 Houston, I think sturdy defense and hot three-point shooting. Corey Davis and Armoni Brooks are three-point snipers in stout bodies, but Jarreau is the odd guard out. He’s not much of a shooter from beyond the arc, but he specializes in going to the rim, capitalizing off his challenging length and savvy euro-steps. If Davis and Brooks go cold, and a more at-the-rim approach featuring Jarreau may be effective against a poor defender at the small forward position in Keldon Johnson of Kentucky.

Kentucky: Keldon Johnson

Speaking of Keldon, the kid is the X-factor for Calipari. Coming into the season, Johnson’s expectations were sky high, and he was expected to be the best player on this Kentucky team. That, he doth not hath been. Instead of being a ruthless rim-attacker as I expected, Keldon’s forte has been his jump shot. He can hit threes and floaters with consistency, but the poor kid just struggles when he puts his head down and flings himself towards the basket with little more than a prayer of getting fouled–or making a basket heaven forbid.

If he performs to the peaks we’ve seen him reach throughout the year, Kentucky is in for a run. His off-the-charts competitiveness and ample athleticism at 6’6 give Keldon the keys to unlocking an All-American talent, but he has to thrust the gates open himself. He has a few (maybe one) more games to do so, but we’ll see.

That’s a wrap! If you made it to the end of this 2600 word monster, then congrats! You must be as much of a nerd as I am about this stuff. Anyways, if you have any comments or questions leave them in the designated section below or send them at me on twitter @Weber2MG.