How the ‘elusive’ DJ Burns became the hero of NC State’s March Madness

PITTSBURGH — DJ Burns Jr. he speaks on the field again. NC State’s gregarious giant, grinning, is mobbed by reporters near his locker the day before an improbable second-round NCAA Tournament appearance against Oakland. He cannot imagine what an incredible scene he’s just entered. “That’s the beautiful thing about March Madness,” he says. “If there’s something interesting, they’ll find it this time of year.” In other words, now could be the time to introduce previously undiscovered stars and interesting stories to the national audience. So what’s it about Burns that made America, a couple of yr behind the entire city of Raleigh, North Carolina, fall in love with him this month?

“I would definitely say my size is 100% the reason. “I think if I was a skinny guy doing it at 240 pounds, it wouldn’t be noticed at all,” says Burns, who is 6-foot-10 and over 300 pounds, regardless of what the official roster says. He pats his stomach. “Even if we get rid of it – and we’re getting rid of it now – it’s good to be different and have it work. I wouldn’t say I’m leaning towards it, but I think it’s cool. It gave me a path. It gave me a platform that most people don’t have, just because I’m unique.”

Burns does things that few men his size could afford, though it is not like there are numerous people shaped like an NFL lineman who even attempt to play basketball. From basic spin moves, to silky smooth left hooks, to the dimes he drops from double and triple teams, to the softest move you possibly can expect from a giant man. “He’s like a polar bear,” says NC State strength coach Pat Murphy. “and a ballerina.” In other words, a dancing bear. Talking bear too. Burns has his mouth on him and he isn’t afraid to make use of it.

After the Wolfpack stunned Duke in the ACC Tournament with a raucous crowd behind them: “We know what it’s about. They don’t support us very much, so we move on. But thank you. They were rooting for Duke not to win. There is a difference.”

After Oakland fans made fun of him – some of them accusing him of his weight – during Burns’ pregame warmup Saturday night, he paused, checked out the screaming horde and smiled. “Keep talking,” he told them. “This fat shaming only fuels him,” says his mother, Takela. “Tell them, thanks. When you call him Whopper, once you knock him down, once you’re ugly, you are just giving him fuel for his plane.

After almost every bucket he scored against the Golden Grizzlies, he had something for those fans. He put his finger to his lips! He returned to defense along with his head tilted to the side so that they could see his smile. He played 42 minutes, scored 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, and when Burns closed out the game in time beyond regulation, one of those brawlers lamented, “That big mama’s gonna beat us.” Again.

The crowd loves DJ Burns Jr. 😤 @PackMensBball pic.twitter.com/ItFP3gg1la

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 22, 2024

Led by Burns, NC State won seven postseason games in 12 days to advance from an NIT team to ACC tournament champions and to its first Sweet 16 in nearly a decade. The Wolfpack will face the second-seeded South Region on Friday in Dallas Marquette. Burns, the ACC tournament MVP, averaged 16.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and shot 65 percent from the field in those seven wins. He’s 23, has been in college for six years – previously at Tennessee and Winthrop – and has played in 162 games, but Burns saved the best basketball of his life for last.

For those that organized some kind of intervention with him two months ago, this increase is especially satisfying.

“It’s great to watch,” Murphy says. “The child put in a lot of work. Now he hesitated and it took some pulling, pushing and prodding. At the end of January he was really low and started hitting the wall and was in shock. This funk temporarily turned him into a man who demands the bare minimum. But then we had this meeting and that flipped the switch. We sat him down and told him what it would take and how much we needed him, and he thanked us. He said, “I needed this.” Because he knew it.

NC State assistant Kareem Richardson couldn’t sleep. It was in the early morning hours of Jan. 28, after a loss to Syracuse, and marked the only time all season that head coach Kevin Keatts didn’t start a game with Burns. The great player made only 5 out of 14 shots in this match. He and the team were spinning their wheels.

“It was no secret that he wasn’t in the shape he needed to be in and he wasn’t in the right shape,” Richardson says. “That night I just sat in bed and said, ‘Fuck it, man. We need to try to hold him more accountable. The next morning we made a plan.

With input from the program’s faculty, dietitian, strength coach, training staff and trainers – as well as help from parents – Team DJ outlined exactly what they thought it would take to get Peak DJ to school in time for the season. Step 1 was to get the biggest man on campus to stop sleeping in the bean bag.

“He was in the process of moving and was trying to do everything himself, but he couldn’t get a good night’s rest,” Takela says. “I remember one of the coaches called me and said, ‘Mrs. Burns, what’s going on with DJ? Together they all said, “We need all of him.” DJ found it a challenge. He said, “I have work to do.” From there, so much of people helped him and he just got here in and did the job. We went there and acquired him a bed and made sure we were doing our part. It was a team effort.”

There were rigorous plans for extra conditioning and weightlifting, more strenuous basketball training and a stricter eating regimen. Richardson texted in the morning to make sure that Burns was coming, and the dietitian walked him directly from workouts to a healthy meal option of the day. “But to his credit, he agreed,” says Richardson. “None of this will work if he doesn’t agree.” When Burns previously tried to do it himself, he would starve himself throughout the day, after which nighttime hunger pangs and junk food cravings would “attack him,” Murphy says. “And he’s a superstar in Raleigh, right? So he will go wherever he wants, he will be the life of the party and he will eat.”

But give Burns a challenge and he’ll rise to it. During his redshirt season at Tennessee in 2018-2019, the former four-star recruit transformed his body at the infamous “Fat Camp” by volunteers, dropping over 30 kilos and dropping right down to under 240.

“A testament to his hard work. It was a grueling process,” says Tennessee strength coach Garrett Medenwald. “The thing is, DJ has always had the talent, the ability to score and the footwork. It was fun to listen to his thought process and how he has developed (since he left), not only from a basketball standpoint, but also from a maturity standpoint.

Burns, a 2020 Big South freshman and 2022 Winthrop Player of the Year, recently purchased a necklace with a charm depicting the sun emerging from behind a storm cloud. He wears it everywhere now, even during games.

“Just a little reminder,” he says, “that even when it rains, you can still enjoy the sun… and understand that you don’t always have to feel good to get the job done. The crazy thing is that when I started this plan, there was a period of time where I couldn’t score any goals. And it’s like, “Damn, why am I doing all this to play worse?” But you have to be consistent.”

Indeed, it got worse before it got higher. Burns made just 5 of 13 shots and scored a complete of 12 points in the first two games after Operation Feel the Burns began. There were other declines. In his last game in February and first in March at Florida State and North Carolina, he scored a complete of six points. The Wolfpack lost seven of 11 games to finish the regular season and looked cooked.

And then, as time was running out, when the next failure can be the last failure, the full breakthrough got here. “Exactly the miracle you want,” Burns calls it.

“I always told him, ‘DJ, be the one Keatts recruits,’” his mother says. “The staff told him, ‘DJ, we’re not going anywhere without you.’ But he is what I call a winner. He may be in crisis and downtime, but he is very reflective and resilient. Once he assesses where he is, he will always come back better. Well, now you see who Kevin Keatts recruited. Finally, praise God.”

Burns had 27 points in a late regular-season loss to Duke, 19 in the ACC semifinals against Virginia, 20 in the title game against UNC, 16 in an NCAA first-round loss to Texas Tech and arguably his best game of the season in the second round against Oakland. Also an aspiring rapper, he recorded a song about himself last yr called “Beast Boy.”

All of his teammates nod in agreement along with his chosen nickname.

“I compete with him every day in practice,” junior forward Ben Middlebrooks said. “I feel the pain these guys feel when they play against him on the other team. Once he starts working, no one in the country will be able to stop him.

“Literally unguardable,” adds junior guard Jayden Taylor. “I have never seen such a big person with so much skill. Whenever.”

“Best in the country,” says senior guard Casey Morsell. “If you hate DJ, I don’t know, there’s something wrong with you. How can you hate this man? He’s amazing.”

Burns has learned a few things on his long and winding road to becoming March’s favorite. First, if you weigh 6-9, 300 pounds and pirouette around the basketball court, people will start talking. But more importantly, he says, listen more than you speak and work hard when no one is looking.

“The work that will actually make you better,” he says, “are the things you do yourself.”

And sometimes what you tell yourself is definitely more vital. You see, even the man who got here up with this plan is not sure if it actually physically transformed Burns. He probably would not have been capable of log 42 fresh minutes in a high-stakes basketball game two months ago, but the greater gain was between his ears.

“You put in some extra work, make deposits, and now you feel like you can make withdrawals when you need to,” Richardson says. “Now he thinks he deserves it. When you do your job, you will be ready to be paid.”