Villanova’s Hart, Brunson earn unanimous All-Big East honors

Villanova dominated the Big East Conference, winning its fourth straight regular-season title by three games over Butler, so it stands to reason that the Wildcats would clean up when it came time for the coaches to pick the all-conference teams. They did. Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson were among the four unanimous selections to the All-Big East first team, which was released Sunday. Kris Jenkins earned honorable mention, while Donte DiVincenzo was named to the All-Freshman team.

Creighton guard Marcus Foster and Seton Hall forward Angel Delgado also were unanimous selections. Hart, Brunson, Foster and Delgado are joined on the first team by Andrew Chrabascz of Butler and Trevon Bluiett of Xavier.

The Player of the Year will come from the first team and that award, along with the Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year, will be announced Wednesday.

Hart was a unanimous selection for the second straight year and capped a career in which he earned some form of honor from the league in all four of his seasons on the Main Line. Hart was the Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore and was selected to the All-Rookie team as a freshman. Hart was the preseason choice for Player of the Year in the conference and is one of 15 finalists for the John Wooden Award as the national Player of the Year. The 6-5 senior led the Big East in scoring (18.7 ppg.) and also ranked fourth in rebounding (6.5) and sixth in steals (1.5). Hart also won the Big East scoring title by averaging 18.2 points in league games.

Brunson was a unanimous choice on the All-Freshman team last year. He averaged 14.8 points per game during the regular season and finished second in the Big East in assists per game (4.3) and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (2.0). The 6-2 sophomore leads all Big East guards in shooting percentage (53.6).

Jenkins is third on the team in scoring (12.9) and leads the Wildcats with 75 3-point field goals. The 6-6 senior also is averaging a career-high 4.1 rebounds per game. DiVincenzo was a valuable reserve for the Wildcats. The 6-5 redshirt freshman averaged 7.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in the regular season.

The top-seeded and second-ranked Wildcats (28-3 overall, 15-3 Big East) begin conference tournament play at noon Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between Georgetown and St. John’s.