POY award no guarantee of future, but don’t bet against Brunson as pro
Jalen Brunson was named the Big East Player of the Year Wednesday. No shock there. He was the pre-season choice for POY and the obvious selection once the regular season came to a close.
It would have been a surprise if he wasn’t the conference Player of the Year. Brunson is the most efficient player on the most efficient offensive team in the country. He has already been named national Player of the Year by NBCSports.com, NCAA.com and USA Today. He’s likely to win more national Player of the Year honors when all the votes are cast.
Brunson is the fifth Villanova player to receive the award. Kerry Kittles (1994-95), Randy Foye (2005-06), Ryan Arcidiacono (co-POY with Kris Dunn of Providence in 2014-15) and Josh Hart (2016-17) were the others.
Yet that wasn’t the only trophy he and the Wildcats walked away with from Madison Square Garden. Brunson, who will graduate with a in communications, also was named Scholar Athlete of the Year. That’s only the second time in Big East history that happened. Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor did it in 2004. Brunson is also the fourth Wildcat to be named Scholar Athlete, joining Harold Jensen (1987), Mark Plansky (1988) and Greg Woodard (1991).
Fittingly, Brunson did not occupy the spotlight alone. Teammate Omari Spellman was selected Freshman of the Year. He’s the third Villanova player to receive the award, joining Tim Thomas (199697) and Scottie Reynolds (2006-07).
Brunson, though, was the focal point, as it should be. Player of the Year is the most prestigious award given in any conference, especially in one in which some of the previous winners include Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen.
That’s pretty
“It means a lot,” Brunson said by phone. “It means a lot to myself, to my family and to the program as well. I’m just really grateful that I was honored with these awards. It’s a blessing.”
As much as the Player of the Year award means to him — and it was a goal — the Scholar Athlete honor means more.
“The Scholar Award definitely hits home,” said Brunson, who has good degree company. a 3.34 grade-point average. “I think it’s a little better than the Player of the Year because anyone can just focus on basketball, but when you’re balancing basketball and school it’s definitely a great accomplishment.”
Brunson won’t have to balance the two for long. All indications are that this will be his last year Villanova.
So what does winning conference and national Player of the Year honors mean for his future? Not much. NBA personnel don’t draft you because you’re the Player of the Year. They take you because they believe you can play.
And being the national Player of the Year is not a guarantee of success in the NBA. Frank Mason III, the consensus Player of the Year last season out of Kanas, was a second-round draft pick (No. 34 overall) by the Sacramento Kings and has bounced between the Kings and the NBA GLeague.
Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield (2015-16 Player of Year), Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (2014-15) and Creighton’s Doug McDermott (2013-14) are productive reserves in the NBA.
Brunson will be a consensus All-American when all is said and done, yet he at is not rated as high a draft prospect as teammate and fellow All-American Mikal Bridges. Bridges is projected as a lottery pick for good reason. At 6-7, he has the length that NBA people like, and his athleticism and defensive ability make him an ideal NBA player.
Thebiglead.com has Brunson going No. 29 to the Golden State Warriors. CBSSports.com has him going No. 20 to Washington Wizards in what it called its “Ceiling Draft,” in which every player reached his NBA ceiling.
Most mock drafts, though, have Brunson going somewhere in the second round.
Brunson is not known for his athleticism. And at 6-2 and 190 pounds, he’s not the biggest guard around. And he could have trouble defending at the NBA level because he is not the fleetest afoot. Yet his efficiency and basketball IQ are off the charts.
Brunson rarely makes bad decisions and he makes everyone around him better. Those are intangibles that cannot be taught.
He is two assists shy of becoming the sixth player in program history with 1,500 points (on just 9.5 shots per game in his career) and 400 assists. Brunson will do it in three years. The others — Reynolds, Kittles, Foye, Corey Fisher and Arcidiacono — needed four to accomplish that feat.
Brunson is a winner (94-13 in his career and counting) and he’s fearless. He’s not afraid to attack the basket, be physical and take the big shot. He’s a career 51 percent shooter, which is an astonishing figure for a guard.
“He’s a stone-cold assassin,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.
Those are the qualities that will make him a success on the next level. Will he be a star? No one knows. Stephen Curry was not projected to be the player that he has become. He was thought to lack the height, explosiveness, athleticism and physicality to be a star in the NBA and he turned out pretty well.
So if you want to bet against NBA success for a guy who understands the game well beyond his age, has won 94 career games, several national Player of the Year awards and graduated in three years, go ahead.
But it’s not a safe bet.