Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Brunson, Carter ready to get reacquainted
Imagine Villanova’s Jalen Brunson and West Virginia’s Jevon Carter in the same backcourt. Some would call that a dream matchup, something that could only happen in a fantasy league.
It wasn’t make-believe, though. It was real.
Long before they became All-Americans, finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the top point guard in college basketball and led their teams to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, Brunson and Carter were AAU teammates in Illinois.
Brunson and Carter played together in 2011 and 2012 for Team NLP, short for Next Level Performance, an AAU program in Brunson’s hometown of Lincolnshire founded by former Chicago Bull Dickey Simpkins.
The former teammates will go head-to-head when the top-seeded Wildcats (324) and No. 5 Mountaineers (26-10) square off in the East Region semifinal Friday night at Boston’s TD Garden (7:27 p.m., TBS).
Brunson and Carter grew up about 30 minutes apart and went to different high schools. Brunson attended Adlai Stevenson High in Lincolnshire and led the Patriots to a pair of appearances in the Illinois Class 4A state final, finishing second as a sophomore in 2013 and winning the title as a senior two years later.
Carter, a year older than Brunson, went to Proviso East in Marywood. They’ve stayed in contact, although not as much during the season because both are a little busy with other things, which is understandable.
“We’re happy for each other’s success,” Brunson said.
Yet that won’t stop Brunson from trying to bring Carter and West Virginia’s season to an end, and vice versa.
“I’m sure all competitors are like this,” Brunson said. “We’re friends off the court, but once you’re on the court and wearing different jerseys, you’re going to play as hard as can for your team, not worrying about friendships or anything like that. You just want to go out there and compete and do the best you can.”
Brunson is not surprised at Carter’s success.
“He’s definitely gotten a lot better,” Brunson said. “He’s still a great defender, even back then he was a great defender. He’s become a really good leader and one of the best players in the country. He’s grown a lot and he’s going to continue to get better.”
Carter feels the same way about his former teammate.
“He’s smart,” Carter said. “He’s very smart. He’s crafty. He knows how to use his body well. He knows about angles and stuff. I played with him growing up … so we’re very familiar with each other.”
Neither player wanted to make the game a personal battle, but it is hard to avoid considering their history and what they have accomplished.
Carter has guided the Mountaineers to a 105-38 record and four straight trips to the NCAA tournament, including three appearances in the Sweet 16. The 6-3 senior is the first player in major college basketball history to have 1,500 points (1,746), 500 rebounds (536), 500 assists (551) and 300 steals (325).
Carter leads the nation in steals (108), is second in steals per game (3.0) and 22nd in career steals. He also is sixth nationally in assists per game (6.6) and leads the team in scoring (17.4).
And he has won a host of awards. Carter is a good bet to win his second straight NABC Defensive Player of the Year award. He is a two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Carter was named the CoSida Academic All-American of the Year with a 3.51 GPA in sports managemen, and earned second-team AllAmerica honors from
and thirdteam from
Brunson’s resume is equally impressive. The junior has guided the Wildcats to a 99-13 record, two trips to the Sweet 16 and a national championship in 2016. He has been named national Player of the Year by and is a finalist for every other Player of the Year award. He is the Big East Player and Scholar Athlete of the Year and a second-team Academic All-American (3.34 GPA) who will graduate a year early with a degree in communications.
Brunson needs two points to become the 10th player in program history to score 1,600 points in three seasons. He is tied with Randy Foye for 16th place in career assists (416), and the two points will make him just the sixth player with 1,600 points and 400 assists. Kerry Kittles, Randy Foye, Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Ryan Arcidiacono are the others.
“I just think it shows what hard work can do,” Brunson said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from and it doesn’t matter where you go, as long as you keep working hard and do the right things, it’s anyone’s world . ... We may have taken different paths but we’re still achieving the same goals.”
*** Brunson isn’t the only Villanova player with ties to the Mountaineers.
Junior guard Phil Booth played against 6-3 senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. when the two were high school stars in Baltimore, Booth at Mount St. Joseph High School and Miles Jr. at Archbishop Curley for the first two years of his high school career. They also played against each other on the AAU circuit.
“It’s a small world,” Booth said. “Out of all the teams we play, we’re going against a West Virginia team that has a guy from Baltimore on the team. There aren’t too many players from Baltimore still playing (in the NCAA tournament) so it shows that anything can happen.”
Forward Eric Paschall played against Miles Jr. during his senior year when Paschall was at St. Thomas More School in Connecticut and Miles Jr. was at Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts.
Freshman Omari Spellman played against West Virginia junior forward Esa Ahmad once when the 6-9 Spellman was a freshman at North Royalton and the 6-9 Ahmad was a sophomore at Shaker Heights High School.
Ahmad won the individual battle that day with 19 points and seven rebounds, both game highs. Spellman finished with 14 points and six rebounds. The Red Raiders got the better of Spellman and North Royalton that day, too, with a 54-52 over the Bears in the first round of the Ohio Division 1 state tournament in 2013.
“It was a great game,” Spellman said.