College basketball expert Jay Bilas sounds convinced that Darius Acuff Jr. has what it takes to lead the Arkansas Razorbacks to the top of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
On Selection Sunday, Bilas named Acuff as the player he believes can completely take over and will his team to an NCAA championship.
“We ask this every year, probably ever since Danny Manning led Kansas to the national championship in 1988, like, who’s the guy that can put a team on his back and carry his team to a national championship, and I think early in the season, people [think] maybe Darryn Peterson of Kansas. It’s Darius Acuff Jr. He’s the one. If there’s anyone, it’s him,” the 62-year-old Bilas said.
“Who’s the guy that can put a team on his back and carry his team to a national championship … It’s Darius Acuff Jr.”
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) March 16, 2026
–@jaybilas on Acuff Jr. being a game changer 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/edNSu7QYke
Those are big words to say about anyone, let alone a freshman like Acuff. But the first-year guard has consistently proven himself on the court as one of the best performers in the 2025-26 college basketball season.
He is coming off a huge individual run during the SEC Tournament, as he averaged 32.6 points through three games, including Sunday’s SEC championship game against the Vanderbilt Commodores, where he went off for 32 points in an 86-75 victory at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
That’s the kind of form the No. 4-seed Arkansas is hoping to see Acuff have in the national tournament, beginning in a first-round clash against the No. 13-seed Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors on Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore.
