Sweet 16 Bracket: Elijah Johnson Key to Kansas's Success

The Jayhawks were seconds away from being eliminated from this year's NCAA tournament before junior guard Elijah Johnson stepped in and took things into his own hands, carrying Kansas to a 63-60 victory.

Against NC State in the Sweet 16, he may need to step up and do the same thing.

The 11th-seeded Wolfpack, one of the more surprising contenders in this year's field of 16, is notorious for busting brackets in March. After last weekend's nail-biter, the Jayhawks might seem ripe for the picking.

But they don't have to be, as long as the rest of the Jayhawks play like Johnson did against Purdue.

Just before his game-winning basket, Johnson stole the ball and was tearing down the court on a fast break, trying to decide within a millisecond if he should dish or drive, and he decided to go to the rim. It ended up being the right decision.

Afterward, Johnson told the Washington Post's Steve Yanda:

"

Earlier in the game I had dished the ball to the wing, and we came up short. So that was one of the plays where I felt like I had to just attack the rim and stop being so passive. It ended up working out for me. … It gave me a little confidence.

"

Coming off a hard-fought win, the Jayhawks know they can win a game in the last possession. There will be no nerves, no waffling, no poor decision-making. Coming off Sunday's win, they have the kind of confidence you can't gain from a blowout victory.

The Jayhawks finished on top of the Big 12. They've beaten some of college basketball's best teams this year, including Missouri, Baylor and Ohio State. They enter Friday's game with a top-20 field-goal percentage (.485). But now, and perhaps more importantly, they have one of the intangibles they need to win in March. 

Teams that fall in the NCAA tournament are teams that play without aggression and conviction. Johnson has both, and if the Jayhawks can display that same tenacity against a scrappy NC State team eager to knock of a No. 2 seed, they will be infallible.