March Madness top players: These 10 hope to deliver Final Four dreams

While college basketball’s coaching old heads are having a generational reckoning in the Sweet 16 , the sport’s stars on the court for the next round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament are a peppered mix of veterans and projected one-and-done phenoms. Arkansas coach John Calipari, 67, is youngest among the quintet of Calipari, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes (71), Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (71), Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and St. John’s Rick Pitino (73).

Re-seeding Sweet 16 teams: Separating the contenders from pretenders Grading the coaching hires: From Jerrod Calhoun to Gerry McNamara Duke’s Cameron Boozer, a consensus top-five projected NBA lottery pick this summer, won’t turn 19 until July 18. Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg and UConn’s Alex Karaban both turn 24 this fall. That trio is just three of 10 players who will help dictate Final Four dreams and season-ending nightmares in these upcoming games.

A look at the players to know in the Sweet 16: Darius Acuff Jr. , Arkansas No player anywhere in college basketball has done more to elevate his game — and his draft profile — in March Madness than has the freshman guard for Calipari’s Razorbacks. The 6-3, 190-pounder from Detroit scored 60 points in the tournament’s opening weekend on 20 of 41 shooting from the floor and hitting 15 of 17 free throws.

He’s scored 24 or more points in every game of his team’s current six-game winning binge, which included an SEC tournament title. More: John Calipari unleashed Darius Acuff by taking page out of NBA book Cameron Boozer, Duke The ACC’s player and rookie of the year, Boozer had a workmanlike pair of double-doubles as the Blue Devils survived Siena and dispatched TCU in their opening pair of games. He closed with 41 points and 24 rebounds combined.