Villanova Knicks: Championship Gives Vindication for Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart

Villanova graduate and two-time national champion Jalen Brunson receives near-universal praise for his status as the New York Knicks’ captain and leader, earning Finals MVP honors for his role in the team’s NBA title run. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, his teammates on the Main Line and in the Big Apple, don’t receive the same level of adulation.

The Knicks burned five first round picks to acquire Bridges, who averages 14.4 points per game in a three-and-D role; Hart’s ‘glue guy’ persona plays better as a sixth man than it does as a member of the starting lineup. With New York winning their first championship in 53 years, however, both Bridges and Hart — and their role as starters — received vindication. Bridges perhaps put it best, triumphantly saying “f*** them picks!” in a post-win press conference.

Hart, on the other hand, described how he learned to remake himself on the court, going from a National Player of the Year hopeful at Villanova to a player passed around by four different NBA teams, viewed as a fringe starter with an uncertain position at the next level.

“Everybody wants to be the guy that scores the most, that puts the ball in the basket and that’s not everybody’s path. That wasn’t my path, and sometimes that’s a tough pill to swallow, but when you embrace that when you’re a star in your role and you take pride in doing the little things that breeds winning basketball,” Hart said. “For me, as embraced as I was in this city, wearing this jersey, that sacrifice was easy. Some days it was tough, don’t get me wrong, but you sacrifice for moments like this.”

Now NBA champions, both Hart and Bridges have the ultimate response for any naysayers.