Villanova's Mikal Bridges entertains in win over Gonzaga
Mikal Bridges
Villanova guard  Mikal Bridges  reacts after blocking a shot during the second half Tuesday. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)
NEW YORK —  Mikal Bridges  was not even a top 80 recruit coming out of  his  suburban Philadelphia high school in 2014. In the one-and-done era of college basketball   he  was the opposite when  he  arrived at Villanova that summer and was forced to redshirt  his  freshman season because  he  simply wasn’t ready. When  he  was finally prepared to play as a relatively unknown reserve on the Wildcats’ national championship team the following season   his  older teammates chided  him  for  his  finesse tendencies in the lane.  He  preferred layups over powerful dunks.
Pray for the Gonzaga basketball team Nothings wrong with them  it’s just that  Mikal Bridges  just ended  their  program pic.twitter.com/ywUj8Hhirx — Stri:(a (@StrikaNation24_) December 6  2017
More people stood after the sequence  and a large group of fans started chanting “Mi-kal Bri-dges” briefly at one end of the arena. It ended after a few seconds  but what  Bridges  did Tuesday night — scoring a career-high 28 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks — will likely reverberate across college basketball for some time. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said on the game’s telecast that  Bridges  had made a “case for first-team all-American.” On Twitter  former Villanova guard Josh Hart claimed his former teammate would be a first-round pick  and some even boldly projected that  Bridges  would be drafted ahead of Michigan State star Miles Bridges.
That wave of noise didn’t seem to faze the soft-spoken Mikal Bridges as he took the podium afterward  where he said all the right things and told the story about the older veterans in the program who have challenged him to attack more over the years. One of the primary concerns for Villanova entering the season was finding a replacement for the graduated Hart and Kris Jenkins  who were pillars in the program for four seasons. Villanova has another experienced star in 6-2 junior point guard Jalen Brunson  who finished with 12 points Tuesday  as well as redshirt junior Phil Booth  a Baltimore product who scored 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting as Gonzaga turned in one of its worst defensive performances of the past two years.
Villanova guard  [TGT]reacts after blocking a shot during the second half Tuesday. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)
NEW YORK —  [TGT]was not even a top 80 recruit coming out of  [TGT]  suburban Philadelphia high school in 2014. In the one-and-done era of college basketball   [TGT]  was the opposite when  [TGT]  arrived at Villanova that summer and was forced to redshirt  [TGT]  freshman season because  [TGT]  simply wasn’t ready. When  [TGT]  was finally prepared to play as a relatively unknown reserve on the Wildcats’ national championship team the following season   [TGT]  older teammates chided  [TGT]  for  [TGT]  finesse tendencies in the lane.  [TGT]  preferred layups over powerful dunks.
Pray for the Gonzaga basketball team Nothings wrong with them  it’s just that  [TGT]just ended  [TGT]  program pic.twitter.com/ywUj8Hhirx — Stri:(a (@StrikaNation24_) December 6  2017
More people stood after the sequence  and a large group of fans started chanting “Mi-kal Bri-dges” briefly at one end of the arena. It ended after a few seconds  but what  [TGT]did Tuesday night — scoring a career-high 28 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks — will likely reverberate across college basketball for some time. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said on the game’s telecast that  [TGT]had made a “case for first-team all-American.” On Twitter  former Villanova guard Josh Hart claimed his former teammate would be a first-round pick  and some even boldly projected that  [TGT]would be drafted ahead of Michigan State star Miles Bridges.
That wave of noise didn’t seem to faze the soft-spoken Mikal Bridges as he took the podium afterward  where he said all the right things and told the story about the older veterans in the program who have challenged him to attack more over the years. One of the primary concerns for Villanova entering the season was finding a replacement for the graduated Hart and Kris Jenkins  who were pillars in the program for four seasons. Villanova has another experienced star in 6-2 junior point guard Jalen Brunson  who finished with 12 points Tuesday  as well as redshirt junior Phil Booth  a Baltimore product who scored 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting as Gonzaga turned in one of its worst defensive performances of the past two years.