College ball is supposed to be about the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back, but don’t fool yourself — we all want to know exactly who’s doing the damage on the court for (or against) our squad, especially when it comes to the Big Dance.

So what we’re going to do over this two-part segment is hit you with 16 Players To Watch during the NCAA Tournament: one guy from every number-seed in the tournament. For example, out of the pool of four No. 16 seeds, we’ll put you up on one player in particular to keep an eye on to make some noise this week (and maybe beyond). Then we’ll give you one player from the four No. 15 seeds, one from the No. 14s, etc., all the way down to the No. 1 seeds.

So here’s Part I — eight players to look out for from the No. 16s through the No. 9 seeded squads. Later today we’ll drop seeds 8-through-1…

16. Trey Johnson, G, Jackson State — All Trey Johnson does is get buckets. The 6-5 senior two-guard is dropping 27.1 points per game, second-best in the country, one season after his 23.5 ppg average as a junior was good for 10th-best nationwide. Trey gave UTEP 49 points in a December win, and broke out of a recent mini-slump (by his standards) when he put up 32 and 33 points in JSU’s last two conference tournament games. And don’t just think Johnson is getting his against weak comp. He started off the season torching Alabama (36 pts), Georgia Tech (33), Illinois (27) and Memphis (32) during Jackson State’s tough nonconference slate. A high school teammate of Mo Williams of the Milwaukee Bucks, Trey started off at Alcorn State before transferring to Jackson State. He’ll get his against No. 1 seed Florida, even if his squad gets 40-pieced.

15. Calvin Watson, G, North Texas — Big Dance upsets are made on underdogs busting tons of three-pointers, and Watson is that dude for the Mean Green. Six times this year he hit five or more treys in a game, including North Texas’ conference title game, where he hung six treys on Arkansas State. The 6-5 senior is averaging 15.8 points per game, and had 10 games of 20-plus points, highlighted by his 26-point outburst against Rice. In the first round Watson will line up against Memphis, who is on a roll but hasn’t really been tested in a while. A red-hot Watson could make for the rare 15-over-2 upset. Not likely, but possible.

14. Ibrahim Jaaber, G, Penn — He’s not the Quakers’ leading scorer (that would be Mark Zoller at 18 ppg), but Jaaber is definitely Penn’s MVP. In fact, the 6-2 senior is a two-time Ivy League POY, and if his team has any chance at all to pull off an upset against Texas A&M, it’ll be because Jaaber slaps his lock-down D on Aggies superstar Acie Law. Jaaber is putting up 15.9 points, 5.3 dimes and three steals per game.

13. Justin Hawkins, F, New Mexico State — The leading scorer (15.7 ppg) and rebounder (6.8 rpg) for Reggie Theus’ squad, Hawkins played on Utah’s Sweet 16 team a couple years back before transferring to New Mexico. This year he was first team All-WAC, and hung a 29-11 stat line on conference powerhouse Nevada in one regular season game. Against No. 4 seed Texas, Hawkins (6-foot-7, 205 pounds) will most likely by the primary defender on Kevin Durant. If he holds KD under 30, the Aggies have a shot. And seeing as Durant’s one weakness is interior defense, Hawkins can go inside to get some buckets and make this one interesting.

12. Warren Carter, F, Illinois — No one has been talking about the Dee Brown/James Augustine-less Illini this year; to be honest, we hardly noticed when they slipped into the field of 65 as a 12-seed. The team’s most noticeable player is 6-9 senior Carter, a second team All-Big Ten pick who is putting up 13 points and 6 boards a night. Carter gave Arizona 24 and 10 a few months ago, and also put double-doubles on Minnesota, Maryland and Jackson State during the season. Illinois draws Virginia Tech in the first round, a team who is vulnerable inside, something Carter could take advantage of in an upset bid.

11. Eric Maynor, G, Virginia Commonwealth — The Dime office fell in love with Maynor when he eviscerated George Mason in the conference title game, including two ridiculous open court steals on GMU’s guards on back-to-back possessions and some Sam Cassell Dance-worthy buckets in crunch time. The 6-2 sophomore put up 20 points, 7 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals that night, and averages 13.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 6.3 apg and 1.3 spg on the season. He also manhandled Houston earlier this year (28 pts, 11 asts), Towson (16 pts, 12 asts) and in a regular season matchup with George Mason, had a Jason Kidd-like line of 8 points, 10 boards and 10 dimes. VCU has Duke in the first round. With turnover-prone Greg Paulus running PG for the Blue Devils and no real backup at the position, Maynor could have a field day.

10. Javaris Crittenton, G, Georgia Tech — Going into the season, Thaddeus Young was getting all the G-Tech hype. And while Young is definitely worth the press, over the course of the year, Crittenton slowly became recognized as the most important Yellow Jacket on the roster. Just a freshman, Crittenton is a big (6-foot-5) point guard who is dropping 14.6 points, 5.7 assists and 2.0 steals per night. He’s making a case to join the ranks of great Georgia Tech floor leaders, from Mark Price to Kenny Anderson to Stephon Marbury. UNLV might be the weakest No. 7-seed in the field, and No. 2 seed Wisconsin isn’t unbeatable; between Crittenton and Young, don’t be too surprised to see the Yellow Jackets make it past the opening weekend.

9. Justin Doellman, F, Xavier — He leads the Musketeers in scoring (13.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.5 rpg), but Doellman’s most valuable asset might be his defense. When we watched Xavier/Kansas State earlier this year, the 6-9 senior was the one mostly responsible for making super-hyped freshman Bill Walker’s national TV debut a dud, continually blocking Billy’s shots and generally making his life miserable. Xavier has a real chance at beating No. 8-seed BYU, and it would be because of Doellman’s play on both ends.

Part II is coming later today…