Every year in the NCAA tournament it seems like there is one player that comes out of nowhere and becomes a hero not only for his team, but for everyone who likes to root on the little guys who lived out their dreams and more on the game's biggest stage.

In last year's tournament, that honor fell on NC State's DJ Burns. The 6' 9'' forward was a big reason why the Wolfpack were able to get into the big dance by winning the ACC tournament and then he strung together some clutch performances while leading the No. 11 seed all the way to the Final Four, where they fell to Purdue in the national semifinals.

Burns had an electric personality that made it easy for casual fans to root for NC State:

He had fun taunting Duke fans at the end of NC State's win in the Elite Eight:

He won over NBA three-time MVP Nikola Jokic with his play:

And he gave everything he had in the Final Four run:

So where is he now? Burns spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Summer League last year and is currently playing for Sono Skygunners of the South Korean KBL.

Burns has played in 45 games with Skygunners, averaging 9.9 point.s with four rebounds and 2.1 assists. 

Who will become the face of this year's tournament? We'll have to wait and see. But whoever it is will have big shoes to fill because DJ Burns put on quite a show.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Where NC State’s 2024 NCAA Tournament Hero DJ Burns is Now .