Biggest Star 'Sidekicks' Who Can Fuel 2024 March Madness Runs

When March Madness once again takes over the world of sports in a few weeks' time, you're going to hear all about the biggest stars who could lead their teams to a national championship.

But what good is a star without a great sidekick?

Ochai Agbaji was Kansas' first-team All-American in 2021-22, but the Jayhawks wouldn't have won that title without Christian Braun.

Same goes for Baylor the previous year, when Jared Butler was the Bears' first-team All-American, but Davion Mitchell shone even brighter than Butler did during that championship run.

Even the sensational Kemba Walker desperately needed a sidekick, as Jeremy Lamb scored at least a dozen points in each tournament game of that improbable run to the 2011 national championship.

So who are the potential Scottie Pippens to this year's Michael Jordans?

Our selections are presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Season Stats: 9.0 PPG, 3.4 APG, 2.4 RPG, 35.8% 3PT

We're starting with a pick from a bit off the beaten path, but it might be the most pertinent of them all.

By now, you're likely familiar with DaRon Holmes II. Dayton's superstar big man is averaging roughly 20 points, eight rebounds, a pair of blocks and a pair of assists per game. He has also blossomed into a legitimate three-point shooter and a guy who can seemingly do it all.

But Dayton's tournament ceiling will hinge on whether Holmes' supporting cast shows up, as the Flyers are a perfect 17-0 when scoring at least 68 points, but 4-5 when falling short of that mark.

And in the team's five losses, it has often been point guard Kobe Elvis falling flat.

Elvis—who scored 27 in Dayton's best win over Cincinnati—was held without a made field goal in three of those five losses. He did hit a couple of shots in the most recent loss to George Mason, but his going 2-of-11 from the field with one assist and two turnovers didn't exactly help the Flyers' cause.

Dayton doesn't need Elvis going bucket-for-bucket with Holmes, but it does have a much better chance of winning when he shows up to at least some degree.

Season Stats: 13.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.6 SPG, 33.6% 3PT

One year ago, Mark Sears was the sidekick to star Brandon Miller.

Now that Sears is the potential first-team All-American for Alabama, he's the one with a sidekick in Aaron Estrada.

On occasion, Estrada—who ranks either No. 1 or No. 2 on the roster in points, rebounds, assists and steals—will even outshine Sears.

It only happens about once per month, but often enough to believe it could happen in the dance.

Estrada almost had a triple-double against Liberty in Alabama's nonconference finale, going for 13 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and four steals in that game.

A couple of weeks later—during Sears' lone single-digit performance of the season—Estrada led the way with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists in a win over Missouri.

And he was all over the box score in last week's OT win over Florida, racking up 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals.

Between Estrada and Sears, Alabama has probably the best dual-combo guard backcourt in the nation, which is always a plus when looking for a team that could make a deep run in the tournament. Both Crimson Tide guards show up on a fairly regular basis, and the odds of both of them having an off night in the same game are slim to none.

Season Stats: 14.2 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.1 SPG

Both Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro have played in every Marquette game since the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign. And as they close in on 100 games together, it's remarkable how far they've both come.

Kolek gets most of the love because he does most of the ball-handling, but this offense wouldn't work as harmoniously as it does if not for the big man averaging nearly three assists per game.

Ighodaro is almost like a secondary point guard in the post, able to muscle his way to the rim, but equally willing to find a teammate along the perimeter who can put the ball in the hoop instead. That keeps the defense from ever being able to collapse on him, and it helps keep all of the lanes open in which Kolek works his magic.

Beyond the passing prowess, Ighodaro is just a damn good big man on both ends of the floor. He only has a few double-doubles this season, but he is filling up the stat sheet on a nightly basis, on pace for roughly 500 points, 250 rebounds and 100 assists by the end of the year.

Marquette fans might hate the comparison to a Wisconsin player, but it's all very similar to what Ethan Happ did for the Badgers in the late 2010s—with the exception being that Ighodaro is working alongside one of the best point guards in recent history while Happ was pretty much a one-man show.

Season Stats: 12.3 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.4 SPG, 40.3% 3PT

With Harrison Ingram, we're talking about a sidekick to a two-headed star in R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot. And he has been the ideal, do-it-all middleman between the electric combo guard and the dominant double-double machine.

UNC's three-point defense came back to earth in a big way in February, but the Tar Heels are still defending at a considerably better level than they had been over the previous four years, largely because they brought in Ingram from Stanford.

The former 5-star recruit has the length, strength and quickness to guard any position 2-4 and is leading the team in steals.

But the defense is almost secondary to what Ingram can do both with the ball in his hands and as a rebounder. Even while sharing a floor with Bacot, Ingram has averaged 11.3 points and 11.4 rebounds since the beginning of January.

The game against Duke earlier this month was when many finally realized what a gem-hiding-in-plain-sight Ingram has been.

He put up 21 points, 13 rebounds and four steals in that win over the Blue Devils. At times it seemed like he couldn't miss, and that he was everywhere all at once.

Season Stats: 13.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, 41.1% 3PT

Jared McCain has been on such a meteoric rise to stardom over the past two months that it's starting to feel like maybe Kyle Filipowski is his sidekick instead of the other way around.

For the time being, though, Filipowski is Duke's top 10 candidate for National Player of the Year while McCain is merely one of the best options for National Freshman of the Year.

Regardless, the 6'3" frosh has been huge for the Blue Devils.

Not only has he become their primary three-point weapon, but he has also been a major contributor on the glass with three double-doubles already in February. He's also one of their top sources of steals and a willing passer to go along with his spurt-ability as a scorer.

McCain scored at least 20 points six times within his first 21 games, but he really exploded for 35 points a little over a week ago at Florida State. His play in the first half of that game was nothing short of absurd.

Thus far, he has been able to avoid hitting the late-season wall that so often plagues freshmen tasked with logging at least 30 minutes per night. If McCain can continue to perform at this level, maybe Jon Scheyer can win his first title as a head coach.

Season Stats: 9.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.9 BPG

Jamal Shead is the straw that stirs Houston's drink.

LJ Cryer is the best shooter among the Cougars.

Emanuel Sharp can put the team on his back on occasion.

But maybe the most important cog in the Houston machine is J'Wan Roberts.

The Cougars have a bunch of frontcourt guys built like boulders who are relentless on the offensive glass, but Roberts is the one who can also create his own shot, giving the Cougars a legitimate option in the post. He's also the one who can create for others, actually ranking second on the team in assists, despite a relatively minimal usage rating.

Roberts is also one of Houston's most valuable assets on defense. It doesn't shine through in a high volume of blocks or steals, but rather in Houston boasting one of the top two-point defenses in the nation and in opposing power forwards frequently having miserable days against the Cougars.

And though he only averages nine points per game, Roberts can carry the offense now and again. On what was a brutal night for the Cougars backcourt at TCU, Roberts went for 20 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in almost leading them to victory by himself.

He also scored 20 with eight rebounds in the recent close call at Cincinnati, and was a stat-sheet-stuffing phenom in Saturday's OT win at Baylor (17 points, eight rebounds, six steals, four assists, three blocks).

Season Stats: 12.7 PPG, 7.3 APG, 5.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 41.6% 3PT

It's frankly disrespectful to call Braden Smith a sidekick, because how many sidekicks are liable to go for a triple-double on any given night?

Yes, Smith is living in Zach Edey's 7'4" shadow, but did you know he is basically putting up Lonzo Ball numbers?

No, seriously. Their per-game numbers are already pretty similar, but here are their respective per-100 possessions numbers, to help account for the considerable difference in tempo between this Purdue team and the 2017 UCLA team:

• Lonzo Ball: 22.4 points, 11.7 assists, 9.2 rebounds, 2.8 steals, 41.2% 3PT
• Braden Smith: 21.8 points, 12.4 assists, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 41.6% 3PT
  

You can try to argue it's just because of Edey's presence that Smith is able to rack up numbers like that, but let's counter that by pointing out Ball had four teammates at UCLA who ended up in the NBA, plus Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton averaging better than 14 points per game that season.

If anyone benefits from the "look at his supporting cast" argument, it's Ball.

But I digress. The point is Smith has been a breakout star as the sophomore point guard of the Boilermakers, and it is because of his development into a legitimate leader on the hardwood that the Boilermakers should be less vulnerable to a colossal upset.

Season Stats: 10.9 PPG, 5.8 APG, 2.7 RPG, 2.0 SPG, 35.0% 3PT

The Robin to Dalton Knecht's Batman, Zakai Zeigler has been outstanding since getting back fully up to speed from the torn ACL suffered last February.

During Tennessee's three-game losing streak against Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina in November, Zeigler was nowhere near his usual self, averaging just 4.7 points, 4.0 assists and 0.7 steals against those three title contenders.

Shortly thereafter, though, he got comfortable on the floor again, entering this past weekend's clash with Texas A&M averaging 14.3 points, 6.3 assists and 2.4 steals over his previous 16 games. And in that win over the Aggies, he almost messed around and got a triple-double, going for 14 assists, nine points, nine rebounds and four steals.

That's the star two-way point guard we remember from last January-February, and the one whose absence nearly resulted in an immediate NCAA tournament first-round loss to Louisiana.

And now that he's working alongside a scoring machine in the form of Knecht, this just might finally be the year that Tennessee makes it to a Final Four.

Zeigler did completely vanish in the stunning home loss to South Carolina, going for two points on six shots as the Volunteers squandered a 31-point effort from Knecht. That game will spring to mind as a red flag when it's time to fill out a bracket. But those sorts of poor offensive outputs have been far less common for the Volunteers than they were last year.

Recruit rankings via 247Sports. Stats via Sports Reference unless otherwise noted.