Biggest Star 'Sidekicks' Who Can Fuel 2025 March Madness Runs

When March Madness 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.

The Cooper Flagg, Johni Broome and Braden Smith types who can take over a game, seemingly all by themselves, at least for a few minutes at a time.

But what good is a star without a great sidekick?

Tristen Newton was UConn's first-team All-American last season, but the Huskies never win that title without (among others) Cam Spencer playing an incredible second fiddle as the extension of Dan Hurley on the floor.

And in the previous year, Newton was Jordan Hawkins' sidekick, who just so happened to save his best for last with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the national championship game.

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.

Honorable Mentions

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Chucky Hepburn, left, and Reyne Smith

Vladislav Goldin, Michigan (Danny Wolf's Sidekick)
15.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 1.2 APG

Is Goldin really a sidekick, or is this just a dynamic duo, like Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier, Iowa State's Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert or St. John's RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond? It does feel like Wolf is "the guy" and that having 7'1" Goldin by his 7'0" side makes both players better. But it's close enough that we'll just call it an honorable mention. These big men could propel the Wolverines on a deep March run, though.

Tyrese Hunter, Memphis (PJ Haggerty's Sidekick)
14.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 42% 3PT

If nothing else, Hunter brings NCAA tournament experience which Haggerty doesn't have, starting nine March Madness games over the past three seasons with Texas and Iowa State. But he's also second to Haggerty in points, assists and steals and is the primary perimeter weapon for the Tigers.

Mitch Mascari, Drake (Bennett Stirtz's Sidekick)
11.0 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.1 SPG, 45% 3PT

Really just looking for an excuse to say A) Bennett Stirtz is a star and B) Drake could be a problem in March. He and Mascari both play almost every minute of every game, with the latter on pace to finish the season with well over 100 made three-pointers.

Grant Nelson, Alabama (Mark Sears' Sidekick)
12.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 BPG

Last year's Mark Sears-Aaron Estrada backcourt tandem felt like more of a leader-sidekick dynamic, but Nelson is indispensable for the Crimson Tide, leading the team in rebounds and blocks and ranking second in scoring with enough of a perimeter stroke (18-for-69) to keep the defense honest.

Reyne Smith, Louisville (Chucky Hepburn's Sidekick)
14.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 40% 3PT

Smith makes it "Reyne" threes like few others and is already in triple digits for total triples on the season. And when he makes at least four three-pointers in a game, Louisville is 14-1.

Henri Veesaar, Arizona (Caleb Love's Sidekick)
8.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.1 BPG

The year-to-date numbers don't do justice to what a weapon Veesaar has become for Arizona since the beginning of February. He's the legitimate offensive post presence this team had been lacking, and his emergence is creating more space for the likes of Love, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis to do their thing.

Steven Ashworth, Creighton (Ryan Kalkbrenner's Sidekick)

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Steven Ashworth, left, and Ryan Kalkbrenner

Season Stats: 17.0 PPG, 7.0 APG, 4.1 RPG, 37% 3PT, 95% FT

We start things with what might be the most disrespectful "sidekick" label of them all.

Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth are much more of an inside-outside duo—a one-two punch—than a Lone Ranger and Tonto situation. Yet, it's the 7'1" center who gets all of the national attention while the 6'0" point guard who ranks seventh in the nation in assists per game and second in free-throw percentage is often viewed as a secondary character in the Bluejays' story.

Ashworth is the straw that stirs Creighton's drink, though.

It's hardly a coincidence that the one game he missed—a 71-53 loss to San Diego State—was also Creighton's lowest scoring contest of the season. Without his triples and dimes, the Bluejays simply weren't the same, struggling to even create good opportunities for Kalkbrenner in the post.

Now, it's not all sunshine and rainbows with Ashworth, who averages nearly four turnovers per game. He even had a 10-turnover game on New Year's Eve against St. John's. That's a considerable X-factor for a team that rarely forces turnovers, draws fouls or creates second-chance opportunities.

However, he may well make or break Creighton's quest to reach its first Final Four in what will be its 26th trip to the Dance.

Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn (Johni Broome's Sidekick)

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Johni Broome, left, and Chad Baker-Mazara

Season Stats: 12.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.2 SPG, 37% 3PT, 91% FT

The rub with Chad Baker-Mazara is the...extracurriculars. He'll hit a dagger three, and then he'll give points right back to the opponent by getting T'd up for making sure they are aware he just hit a dagger three.

Not sure if there's a leaderboard out there anywhere for most technical and flagrant fouls in the country, but he has to be near the top of the list if it does exist.

He's worth the trouble, though, because of the value he adds in between the antics.

Baker-Mazara ranks second on the team in points, leads the way in steals, is one of many excellent three-point weapons in the rotation and one of the best free-throw shooters in the country. When Broome missed time this season with injuries, Baker-Mazara stepped up his game, scoring a season-high 20 points in the first game after Broome sprained his ankle.

And, honestly, until he takes it too far, CBM's swagger is a plus for the Tigers. He wants the smoke. He wants the big moment. And when a team has a target on its back all season long, it can be good to have that Christian Laettner type of guy who seems to absorb and be fueled by the loathing of opposing fans and teams.

It can just be a double-edged sword at times, and Auburn's ceiling could be determined by who is most damaged by that sword.

John Blackwell, Wisconsin (John Tonje's Sidekick)

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John Blackwell, left, and John Tonje

Season Stats: 14.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 33% 3PT

It's still mind-blowing that Wisconsin has turned into an offensive juggernaut.

Last year was the Badgers' highest scoring average in over three decades at 74.7 PPG. Yet, after losing leading scorer AJ Storr, point guard Chucky Hepburn and primary power forward Tyler Wahl, there they sit at 82.0 PPG.

The main catalyst, of course, was plucking John Tonje from the transfer portal. He's in the mix for first-team All-American, averaging close to 20 points per game.

Also huge, though, has been the development of John Blackwell, from a backup who averaged 5.4 field-goal attempts per game last season into a running mate whose year-to-date numbers are almost identical to Tonje's—aside from the fact that the Missouri transfer is averaging 3.2 more made free throws per game.

Prior to Saturday's clash with Oregon, the divide between the two was 11.4 shots per game for Tonje to 11.3 for Blackwell, and an overall difference through 26 games of 10 minutes played, 11 assists, six steals, two rebounds and one turnover.

Blackwell's blossoming into the clear second-most important player on this championship-caliber roster hardly gets mentioned, though. And when he and Tonje both show up, Wisconsin's offense is virtually unstoppable.

Tonje did most of the heavy-lifting with 30-plus in each, but the duo had 43 points in the recent win over Purdue, followed by 47 in the beatdown of Illinois. And when Tonje had a wholly uncharacteristic scoreless game at USC last month, it was Blackwell who stepped up for 28 in that key road win.

Fletcher Loyer, Purdue (Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn's Sidekick)

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Braden Smith, left, and Fletcher Loyer

Season Stats: 13.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.6 APG, 46% 3PT, 86% FT

Purdue's Big Three has been a big talking point all season, but it's really more of a Big Two and a Half, isn't it?

Braden Smith has been spectacular, and Trey Kaufman-Renn isn't far behind him. They could easily be first- and second-team All-Americans, respectively, especially if TKR keeps reeling off close to 24 points per game as he has been for the past month.

And then there's Fletcher Loyer, who's clearly a bigger piece of the puzzle than a C.J. Cox or a Cam Heide, but he's also a guy who doesn't do a ton beyond his two made three-pointers per game.

He's an excellent three-point shooter, but he's not a volume shooter in the slightest, actually ranking fourth on the team in three-point attempts per 40 minutes played. Beyond that, he's a defensive liability (to put it lightly) whose assist rate is almost nonexistent.

And yet, Loyer might be the biggest key to Purdue's ceiling, as the Boilermakers have been near-unbeatable for three years now when he scores at least 16 points in a game.

Moreover, opponents have been going out of their way to shut down Smith in recent weeks, and Purdue needs Loyer to make them pay for doubling him, lest it continues happening.

Alijah Martin, Florida (Walter Clayton Jr.'s Sidekick)

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Alijah Martin

Season Stats: 15.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.7 SPG, 35% 3PT

If past NCAA tournament experience counts for much of anything in March, it's notable that most of Florida's roster doesn't have much of it. The Gators did make the Dance last year, but they were immediately upset by Colorado in the first round.

Alijah Martin was a key cog of that Florida Atlantic run to the Final Four two years ago, though, even scoring 26 points in the national semifinal showdown with San Diego State that the Owls almost won.

Walter Clayton Jr. is the star, but this fifth-year senior could be their leader next month.

We did have a bit of a Ewing Theory situation developing earlier this month, when Martin missed two games while Florida just so happened to pick up two of its biggest wins of the season, on the road against Auburn and Mississippi State.

But, no, the Gators aren't better off without Martin. It's just that his temporary absence woke some sort of sleeping dragon in Thomas Haugh, who went for a combined 32 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, five blocks and three steals off the bench in those games. (Just in time, too, as big man Micah Handlogten just made his season debut last week and could have been coming for Haugh's minutes.)

Martin ranks second on the team in points, assists and steals and is one of three Gators with at least 50 made three-pointers on the season. His veteran presence on both ends of the floor will be indispensable.

Stevie Mitchell, Marquette (Kam Jones' Sidekick)

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Stevie Mitchell, right, and Kam Jones

Season Stats: 10.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 1.6 APG, 35% 3PT

Without question, Kam Jones is Marquette's main attraction on the offensive end of the floor. He has both 139 more points and 101 more assists than his next-closest teammate in each department, either scoring or assisting on 364 of the team's 749 made field goals this season.

On defense, though, it's the Stevie Mitchell show.

That show isn't quite as overwhelming as the Briante Weber show that Shaka Smart had at VCU in the 2012-15 timeframe, but Mitchell is top-five in the nation in total steals despite playing less than 27 minutes per game.

Save for big man Ben Gold, everyone who plays for Marquette applies a lot of ball pressure, resulting in one of the best defensive turnover rates in the country. Chase Ross, in particular, is also a big-time pilferer, so it's not like the Golden Eagles take their foot off the defensive gas for the 33 percent of the game in which Mitchell is on the bench.

They go into some sort of hyperdrive when Mitchell's out there, though, and having a plus-172 turnover margin for the season has been such a critical part of their success. (And posting a zero in that department Friday against Villanova was a big reason they never had control in that loss.)

He is more than just steals, to be clear. Mitchell is also Marquette's third-leading scorer, third in assists and a key part of their gang rebounding approach. It's the steals where he shows up on national leaderboards, though.

Zhuric Phelps, Texas A&M (Wade Taylor IV's Sidekick)

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Zhuric Phelps

Season Stats: 14.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.9 SPG

For a short while earlier this season, this sidekick had to become the star of the show, as Wade Taylor IV missed three of Texas A&M's opening SEC games against Oklahoma, Alabama and Kentucky.

During Taylor's absence, Zhuric Phelps averaged 26.3 points, putting up 34 and carrying the Aggies to the road win over the Sooners. His 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists helped keep them close in that game against Alabama—and A&M might have won if it hadn't taken Phelps 29 field-goal attempts to get those 24 points.

Since Taylor's return to action, Phelps has gone back to much more of a second fiddle role, scoring 15 or fewer points in 10 consecutive games.

There's no denying what he can bring to the table, though, and he does play a mean second fiddle, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, where he averages two steals per game.

It's the efficiency—or, rather, the frequent lack thereof—that makes Phelps a colossal X-factor.

Not only has he shot 42 percent inside the arc and 27 percent beyond it en route to 374 points and 354 field-goal attempts on the year, but he also averages north of three turnovers per game, with just two games all season in which he didn't have multiple giveaways.

In spite of his 93.4 O-rating for the year, Phelps has a permanent green light, liable to shoot the Aggies into or out of any given game.

Tyrese Proctor, Duke (Cooper Flagg's Sidekick)

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Tyrese Proctor, left, and Cooper Flagg

Season Stats: 12.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.3 APG, 41% 3PT

Cooper Flagg's actual sidekick is probably Kon Knueppel, but Tyrese Proctor is to this freshman-heavy rotation what Quinn Cook was for the Blue Devils en route to that 2015 national championship: The veteran guard in the starting lineup who has been there before.

Purdue transfer Mason Gillis has also played in more than his fair share of NCAA tournament games; 11 of them, to be exact. But Gillis is a tertiary spark plug off the bench, while Proctor is Duke's third-leading scorer—who has been much better in February after going through a rough patch in January, posting a sub-80 O-rating in four out of five games.

Proctor also came back to Duke for a third season, at least in part because of unfinished business in March. In last year's Elite Eight loss to NC State, he shot 0-for-9 from the field, held scoreless and feeling helpless as the Wolfpack scored on seemingly every possession of that second-half comeback.

He wasn't ready to leave college with that sour taste in his mouth, and he'll be motivated to keep the Blue Devils from coming up short this time around.

In his first six games after that rough patch, Proctor averaged 17.3 points, shooting 19-for-40 (47.5 percent) from three-point range, and starting to more consistently look like that star in the making we saw on occasion over the previous two seasons.