Knicks guard Jalen Brunson picks 2024 March Madness champion – NBC New York

Three school teammates enjoying collectively on the identical NBA workforce is an unfamiliar website for basketball followers, and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is grateful to share this once-in-a-lifetime expertise with Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.

The 2-time males’s basketball nationwide champion and 2024 NBA All-Star was roommates with Hart and DiVincenzo at Villanova whereas additionally attending to expertise the best accomplishments with them on the court docket.

“It’s one thing that you just don’t actually see on daily basis, for positive,” Brunson solely informed NBC. “It’s actually particular simply because I’ve seen how onerous these guys work after which to recollect all of the practices and issues we went by in school simply to see the place at the moment are in our lives.”

Wanting on the groups remaining within the 2024 males’s NCAA event subject, Brunson recollected his favourite March Insanity recollections at Villanova whereas sharing his championship choose.

So, who will reduce down the nets in Glendale on Monday, April 8? Let’s hear it from the 2018 nationwide collegiate participant of the yr:

“I’m going to go along with a Huge East workforce to win for the boys’s aspect — UConn is my prediction,” Brunson stated.

The Huskies, the defending nationwide champions, have received 5 males’s NCAA event championships to place this system in a tie with Duke and Indiana for fourth most within the historical past of the game.

Brunson was a part of the 2016 and 2018 Villanova basketball groups that received the NCAA Event.

Nonetheless enjoying with DiVincenzo and Hart six years later has given the Knicks trio the nickname, “NovaKnicks.” Ryan Arcidiacono, additionally a ‘Nova teammate, frolicked with the Knicks however presently performs for the Windy Metropolis Bulls of the NBA G League.

However the bond goes past the basketball court docket.

The 27-year-old vividly remembers his early school days together with his teammates. He stated the aggressive edge was largely constructed by enjoying video video games.

“Video video games had been undoubtedly heavy in our lives,” he stated. “I undoubtedly bear in mind us get so aggressive, no punches can be thown however there can be a bit shoving and phrases stated to one another to form of get underneath one another’s pores and skin.”

Brunson, a New Jersey native, was drafted in 2018 to play for the Mavericks the place he helped lead Dallas to the Western Convention finals. He went on to signal as a free agent with the Knicks in 2022, making him the primary within the pack to reach within the Huge Apple. DiVincenzo, Hart and Arcidiacono all joined Brunson in New York in 2023.

On the planet of hoops, the place recollections are etched within the hardwood and camaraderie is solid by sweat and shared victories, the “NovaKnicks” legacy lives. It’s a testomony to friendship, fierce competitors, and the indelible bond fashioned by roommates turned teammates.

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson loves basketball. Whether or not enjoying within the NBA or for USA Basketball, it is his old flame. However what comes after hoops could shock you.