College men’s basketball honors
Season’s best: Brunson, Young and Bennett
VILLANOVA, Pa. – He is, according to Villanova coach Jay Wright, everything that’s right with college basketball and “everything we should be celebrating.”
Jalen Brunson is smart, tough, efficient, experienced and a terrific leader. He’s already a national champion, having averaged 9.6 points as a freshman starter on Villanova’s NCAA title team in the 2015-16 season. And in a season dominated by one-and-done superstars, it’s Brunson, the veteran, who stands out. He is the 2018 USA TODAY national player of the year in men’s basketball.
“What Jalen does isn’t always appreciated publicly,” Wright told USA TODAY. “What he’s trying to do is be the best leader and best example of a Villanova player to our young guys that he can be — and trusting that doing that is going to make him the best version of himself.”
Brunson is from a basketball family. His father, Rick, was a McDonald’s All-- American, played at Temple and went on to play nine seasons in the NBA. Jalen was a McDonald’s All-American out of Adlai Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, Ill.
Last week, in a conversation with USA TODAY, Brunson admitted that he was not happy to be sitting on the end of the bench in the NCAA final when Kris Jenkins’ game-winner against North Carolina swished through the net. But he went to work that offseason, determined to be on the floor for every important moment moving forward.
“I think every player who truly loves basketball wants to be in the game at all times,” Brunson said.
He’s in exactly that position two years later.
Brunson has drawn praise from teammates, fans and opposing coaches. Xavier coach Chris Mack, who lost to Villanova twice this season and watched Brunson total 28 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and one turnover in those games, summed him up in one word to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Phenomenal,” Mack said.