Dwight Keith Burns Jr., also known as DJ, just well may be ascending to icon status from the perspective of North Carolina State basketball fans. He has certainly captured the attention and adoration of a large segment of casual and ardent followers of college basketball.
The 6-9 power forward, whose weight lingers around 280 pounds, bears the physical features of an offensive lineman for the Wolfpack’s perennially winning football team, but has been a compelling force on the hardwood in literally and figuratively clearing NC State’s path to the Sweet Sixteen of the men’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament.
They will meet Marquette tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., CBS) in a South Region matchup.
The winner will face the victor of tomorrow’s Houston-Duke pairing in the Elite Eight on Sunday and the last team standing in the South will move on to the Final Four next weekend in Phoenix, Arizona. The No. 11 seed Wolfpack are an unlikely participant.
Contrasting No. 1 seed Houston, No. 2 seed Marquette and No. 4 Duke, which were all expected to be Final Four contenders entering the postseason tournament, NC State ended their regular season schedule losing four in a row. Their only hope to make it into the field of 68 was winning the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament.
They were a solid bet to get eliminated but instead inconceivably won five games in five consecutive days, taking down Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia and North Carolina, the ACC regular season champions—and the No. 1 seed in the West Region—in the conference title chip. And it was Burns who led the way, being named the ACC Tournament MVP after averaging 15.2 points on 62.7% shooting, four rebounds and 3.4 assists. Thus far in the NCAA tournament, NC State has defeated No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 14 Oakland University.
Resembling a nimble dancing bear, his superb footwork, soft hands, adept shooting touch from the foul line down and crafty passing skills has been impressively gripping. But the Rock Hill, South Carolina native is not an unknown quantity. Beginning his collegiate career at Tennessee in 2018, the 23-year-old senior transferred to mid-major Winthrop, located in his hometown and was named the 2020 Big South Freshman of the Year before earning the 2022 Big South Player of the Year accolade. He subsequently sought to once again play for a major conference program and joined NC State in 2022.
Before this season began, Burns divulged his basketball inspiration and unintended anatomical structure. “I would say I watched a lot of Hakeem Olajuwon growing up,” he said. “I just happened to end up with a Zach Randolph build.”
Modeling either would be wise. Olajuwon had one of the great careers in basketball history and Randolph was a 2001 first-round NBA draft pick, two-time NBA All-Star and 2011 All-NBA Third Team selection whose No. 50 jersey was retired by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2021.
But Burns being Burns has served him and the Wolfpack well as they look to continue their extraordinary run.