Before entering the NBA, many players are already stars in their own respect and the NCAA Tournament is often the catalyst that boost their profile.
This is the time of year when unknowns put themselves on the map and the great players remind everyone why they deserve to be the No. 1 overall pick.
Every year it seems as if there is one player who mesmerizes the nation with their performance in the NCAA Tournament. Some years, those performances stick out more so than others.
Since 2000, we have seen our fair share of impressive individual tournament runs. Here are the best of the best since then:
Derrick Rose, Memphis, 2008
Getty ImagesEveryone remembers the missed free throw from Rose that cost Memphis the national title game against Kansas, but what is overlooked is that Derrick Rose had one helluva NCAA Tournament run.
The freshman averaged 20.8 points, six assists and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 51.8% from the field to lead No. 1 Memphis, out of the Conference-USA, to the championship game.
Unfortunately, that free throw will be what everyone remembers, but Rose was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft for a reason and his play up until that fateful moment showed why he was worthy.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, 2008
Getty ImagesGriffin's Oklahoma Sooners were victims of an early exit in the Elite Eight against top-seeded North Carolina, but Griffin was an absolute force to be reckoned with during the tournament.
While the sophomore lacked an outside shot, he was dominant under the glass. He averaged 28.5 points and 15 rebounds per game — tied for sixth-most in tournament history — along with a 78% field goal percentage. Had Oklahoma not lost to UNC, there was no question Griffin would have likely been named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Joakim Noah, Florida, 2006
Getty ImagesNoah achieved the rare feat of winning back-to-back NCAA championships while at Florida, but it was his first run in 2006 that was most memorable.
Hardly on the national radar his sophomore year, Noah made sure that everyone knew who he was when it came tournament time. The 6-foot-11 center dominated the game from inside the paint and played with a certain toughness that made him the best defensive player in the tournament, leading No. 3 Florida to a national title.
While he averaged 16.2 points per game, he also averaged 9.5 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per game. He set an NCAA championship game record with six blocked shots against Kansas and finished with 29 total in the tournament — tied for second-most in NCAA history.
Noah returned for his junior year to win another title, but his run in the tournament in 2007 was not quite as impressive. Still, he boosted his draft stock and was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the ninth overall pick.
Anthony Davis, Kentucky, 2012
Getty ImagesDavis entered the 2011-12 season as the top freshman and consensus No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft and entered the tournament as the star of a Kentucky team that had lost one game all season.
The freshman had an awful lot to live up to and he delivered for the Wildcats. Davis averaged 13.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, three assists, 4.8 blocks and 1.2 steals per game for the Wildcats.
In the championship game against Kansas, Davis was held to just six points but his presence was felt on the defensive end, tying Noah's record of six blocked shots in the game. In fact, Davis was almost a mirror image of Noah's 2006 run, tying the Florida legend's 29 blocked shots in the tournament as well.
Shane Battier, Duke, 2001
Getty ImagesThe 2001 Duke Blue Devils are definitely one of the most dominant teams in NCAA history. Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer and Chris Duhon all went on to have careers in the NBA.
Williams was absolutely lights out as the team's scorer during the tournament that year, but many may not recall that it was Battier who was the Most Outstanding Player — proving to be a force on both the offensive and defensive end of the ball.
The senior forward averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.7 blocks and two assists per game. In the championship game against Arizona, Battier finished with a line of 18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
It was the perfect way for Battier to cap his career at Duke before going onto a respectable NBA career.
Shabazz Napier, UConn, 2014
Getty ImagesThe UConn point guard won a championship as a freshman with the team in 2011, but it was as a senior in 2014 where he made his mark on the tournament.
What makes Napier's run special is not just because of his stat sheet, but that he was the lifeblood of a UConn team that was seeded seventh by the committee and made a magical run to become the only 7-seed to win a national championship.
Napier averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game to earn Most Outstanding Player honors, but the list of teams he and UConn did it against was also quite the feat.
Napier and the Huskies needed overtime to beat St. Joseph's in the first round and then were tasked with defeating No. 2 Villanova, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 4 Michigan State and No. 1 Florida in the Final Four before topping Kentucky in the national championship game.
Napier had 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the championship game to cap what was one of the most memorable tournament runs in recent memory.
Steph Curry, Davidson, 2008
Getty ImagesLong before he started winning title with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry became a household name in March 2008.
The scrawny guard whose jersey looked too big on him mesmerized the nation with his ability to hit a shot from seemingly anywhere on the court as he propelled 10-seed Davidson on a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight.
While Curry and Davidson's run ended with a 59-57 loss to Kansas — Curry's performance was the talk of the tourney.
He opened with a 40-point game to upset Gonzaga, shooting 63% from the field, including 8-of-10 from beyond the arc. He followed that up with a 30-point performance to upset No. 2 Georgetown and then scored 33 in a Sweet 16 victory over Wisconsin.
Curry managed only 25 points against Kansas — the eventual champion — but Davidson nearly pulled off the upset in a 59-57 loss.
Curry averaged an insane 32 points per game in the four-game stretch and very well could have given Glen Rice's 1989 record of 184 points in the tournament a run for his money if Davidson kept advancing.
This was just a teaser for what was to come next in Curry's NBA career.
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse, 2003
Getty ImagesSyracuse had never won an NCAA championship prior to Carmelo Anthony and when he arrived as one of the top recruits in the country, nobody expected much because a one-and-done player had never really made that kind of an impact before.
But this time was different.
Syracuse entered the tournament as a 3-seed and Anthony seemingly got better with each and every game. In a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 10 Auburn, which had knocked off No. 2 Wake Forest, Anthony was held scoreless in the first half only to drop 18 points in the second half to propel Syracuse to a 79-78.
In the Final Four, Anthony went off for 33 points, 14 rebounds and three steals in a 95-84 win over top-seeded Oklahoma and then led the Orange to their first-ever championship with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in an 81-78 thriller over Kansas.
Anthony's impact on Syracuse and in that tournament remains one of the most memorable March Madness runs of all time.
Kemba Walker, UConn, 2011
Getty ImagesWho could ever forget the run that Kemba Walker and UConn had in 2011? Walker has become synonymous with March Madness after what they accomplished that month.
He and the Huskies entered the tournament by winning five games in five nights in the Big East tournament, including a buzzer-beater over top-seeded Pittsburgh in which Walker sank an iconic step-back jumper.
UConn rode that momentum and the spark Walker gave them all the way to a national championship where he followed with some more incredible performances.
He scored 33 points in a second-round win over Cincinnati and then scored 36 points — a UConn record in an NCAA Tournament game — in a win over No. 2 seed San Diego State, who had a young star of their own on the floor named Kawhi Leonard.
From there, "Cardiac Kemba" posted a 20-point, seven-assist, four-rebound game in a 65-63 Elite Eight win over Arizona and helped UConn edge another nail-biter in a Final Four victory over Kentucky, 56-55, by posting an 18,7,6 line, which included two steals.
The championship game against Butler was hardly memorable as Walker and the Huskies finally looked absolutely exhausted, but they still gutted out a national title through it all to complete one of the most amazing individual and team runs in NCAA Tournament history.
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