10 Unknown Players Who Will Be Household Names by March Madness

One of the greatest aspects of college basketball is how certain players emerge during the NCAA tournament, going from relative anonymity to stardom in seemingly the blink of an eye. These are usually from the small schools who get very little national attention during the regular season but make the most of their time in the spotlight during March Madness.

It's a lot easier to get noticed when playing for more high-profile programs, but even those schools manage to produce out-of-nowhere stars. They may not be known quantities now, but by the time we get to March everyone will know their name...and you will, too, just a lot earlier.

We've picked out 10 college basketball players who, as of now, are only known by the keenest of experts and fans. Each is in position to have a breakthrough season in 2016-17, and if their teams make it into the NCAA tournament, they'll be key to the push.

Kyron Cartwright, Providence

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Year: Junior

Position: Guard

Height, weight: 5'11”, 185 lbs

Providence featured a "big three" of forward Ben Bentil, wing Rodney Bullock and point guard Kris Dunn that led it to 24 wins and the second round of the NCAA tournament this past season. Only Bullock returns, and in order for him to slide into the role of go-to scorer he'll need someone to get him the ball.

Enter Kyron Cartwright, who for the past two seasons served as Dunn's understudy without much fanfare. Even though he played more than 24 minutes per game, contributing 5.9 points and 4.0 assists, Cartwright's contributions were overshadowed by Dunn's flashy style of play.

Don't expect the same theatrics from Cartwright, though if he can improve on his 37 percent career shooting rate he's capable of averaging double digits in scoring while also being the Friars' top assist man.

Nick Emery, BYU

Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images

Year: Sophomore

Position: Guard

Height, weight: 6'2”, 185 lbs

The BYU teams of the last decade have been defined by high-scoring guards such as Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Haws, though this past Cougars team saw triple-double machine Kyle Collinsworth take center stage. Nick Emery will return the attention back to the volume scorer category, and based on what he did in his first year of college he's in line to put up some huge numbers in 2016-17.

Emery averaged 16.3 points per game and made 97 three-pointers, one of four freshmen in Division I to register those numbers. Only Jamal Murray (113) hit more threes as a first-year player, and he became a lottery pick.

With Collinsworth and Chase Fischer graduating and several other players transferring, Emery is in line to be a major scorer. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller wrote that "Emery needs to be considered a serious candidate to lead the nation in scoring as a sophomore," which will certainly enable him to get more noticed.

Cameron Johnson, Pittsburgh

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Year: Junior

Position: Guard

Height, weight: 6'7”, 185 lbs

There are actually two current Division I players with the name Cameron Johnson, and with all due respect to College of Charleston's leading scorer, we're more focused on the one from Pittsburgh who should benefit greatly from a coaching change.

Limited to eight games because of injury in 2014-15, Johnson played in all but one of the Panthers' 33 contests last season but managed only 11.7 minutes. Guards James Robinson and Sterling Smith were ahead of him in the playing rotation, but with both graduating there's a better opportunity to get on the court.

New coach Kevin Stallings will look to put his stamp on the Pitt program, which could include a greater emphasis on three-pointers. His Vanderbilt team took 38 percent of its shots from outside, compared to 30.7 percent for Pitt, which bodes well for a player like Johnson who took 80 threes compared to 51 twos last season.

Jayce Johnson, Utah

Year: Redshirt freshman

Position: Center

Height, weight: 7'0”, 235 lbs

An early enrollee who showed up at Utah over the winter, Jayce Johnson technically could have played for the Utes during the second half of the 2015-16 season. There wasn't a need, though, with Jakob Poeltl dominating at center.

But getting Johnson in early and allowing him to train alongside and practice against Poeltl—who went ninth overall in last week's NBA draft—makes it so when he hits the court for his first game in November he'll be more experienced than a normal freshman.

Utah may not look to Johnson on offense as much as it did Poeltl, who took a team-high 9.8 shots per game last season, but Johnson will still play a major role on defense and will complement 6'9” forward Kyle Kuzma on the front line.

Chimezie Metu, USC

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

Year: Sophomore

Position: Forward

Height, weight: 6'11”, 215 lbs

A raw talent who showed flashes of NBA potential as a freshman, Chimezie Metu will play a much bigger role in USC's gameplan this season due to a rash of departures. One of those who bolted, Nikola Jovanovic, was the player Metu most frequently stepped in for and whom he'll now replace.

Metu averaged 6.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 18.5 minutes last season, getting most of his points off putbacks. He had six games with at least 10 points, including 21 points and eight rebounds in a win at rival UCLA and his first career double-double (10 points, 11 boards) in USC's win over UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament.

Assuming he can become more aggressive on offense and figure out how to make a foul shot—he was 41-of-80 from the line—he'll have a shot to be a focal point of the Trojans attack.

Emmett Naar, Saint Mary's

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Year: Junior

Position: Guard

Height, weight: 6'1”, 195 lbs

Saint Mary's Australian pipeline isn't limited just to future NBA standouts, though Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills are the former Gaels who get mentioned most often. Emmett Naar may join that list soon enough, at least in terms of college notoriety, assuming the Gaels live up to their mounting hype and get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.

Naar quietly produced a stellar sophomore year, with 14.1 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 48.7 percent overall and 41.8 percent from three-point range. A 16-of-67 finish to the season came after Naar made 40 of his first 67 three-point attempts.

A weak overall schedule kept Saint Mary's out of the NCAA tourney last year, though against high-profile West Coast Conference foe Gonzaga, Naar averaged 18 points and five assists in three games. If the Gaels can get some better exposure this year, Naar will excel in the spotlight.

Eric Paschall, Villanova

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Year: Redshirt sophomore

Position: Forward

Height, weight: 6'6”, 205 lbs

After ranking 10th in the Atlantic 10 in per-game scoring as a freshman, Eric Paschall decided Fordham wasn't the place for him. He ended up at Villanova and had to sit out this past season, which meant watching from the sidelines as the Wildcats won the national championship.

Now Paschall gets his chance to contribute; he'll be doing so as part of a title defense, and one that features several returning players for Villanova. For Paschall to break through and get into the mix, he'll need to show he can contribute in a positive manner, which might mean having to play at the four due to Villanova's abundance of guards.

Paschall won't get nearly as many touches as he did with Fordham, when he averaged 13.3 shots and 15.9 points per game. That will require him to improve his efficiency from a 100.2 offensive rating that would have ranked last in the Wildcats' eight-man rotation in 2015-16.

Marcquise Reed, Clemson

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Year: Redshirt sophomore

Position: Guard

Height, weight: 6'3”, 180 lbs

Clemson received a major boost for its NCAA tournament hopes when star Jaron Blossomgame withdrew from the NBA draft in order to play his senior season. But it will take more than a one-man show for the Tigers to earn their first bid since 2011.

That's where Marcquise Reed comes into play. He had to sit out last season after transferring from Robert Morris, where as a freshman he scored 15.1 points per game and shot 41.3 percent from three-point range.

Blossomgame averaged 18.7 points per game last year with no other Clemson player chipping in more than 10.2, and 24 of the 49 occasions when a Tiger scored 15 or more points in 2015-16 came from Blossomgame. Reed had 19 games reaching the 15-point mark while at Robert Morris.

Chris Silva, South Carolina

Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images

Year: Sophomore

Position: Forward

Height, weight: 6'9”, 205 lbs

With three of its top five scorers moving on, South Carolina figures to be more reliant on younger players this season. Only guard P.J. Dozier saw significant minutes in 2015-16, with Chris Silva (13.3 minutes per game) unable to do the same due to inconsistent play.

Silva figures to be the one who can make the biggest leap as a sophomore, possibly becoming a key element of the Gamecocks' push to make the NCAA tournament after narrowly missing out this past season. For that to happen, he'll have to improve on his 5.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game by managing to stay on the court longer.

At 9.4 fouls per 40 minutes, Silva couldn't control his body well enough to avoid foul trouble. It was a shame, because he had stellar rebounding (18.2) and block (7.8) rates that would warrant more minutes if he weren't getting whistled so often.

Ray Smith, Arizona

Chris Coduto/Getty Images

Year: Redshirt freshman

Position: Forward

Height, weight: 6'8”, 210 lbs

Arizona had big plans last season for Ray Smith, a 5-star prospect who was rated No. 19 in the nation despite having missed his senior year of high school with a torn ACL. Then Smith tore ligaments in his other knee just weeks before he was set to begin his career, and all those plans had to be scrapped.

Smith sat back and watched as the Wildcats fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and three of the five players on that team who were taller than 6'8” have graduated. While Arizona has brought in another highly touted frontcourt player in 5-star Lauri Markkanen, it will be Smith who bridges the gap between the post players and Arizona's cadre of talented guards thanks to his versatility to play either the 3 or the 4.

His length also makes him a key player on defense, filling the role that Rondae Hollis-Jefferson previously held as the lockdown defender on the wing.

All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information from 247Sports, unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.