The New York Knicks won the 2026 NBA championship with three starters who played together for Villanova University and won an NCAA championship as teammates.
Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges were college teammates who helped the Wildcats win the March Madness tournament in 2016. Brunson and Hart were even roommates. When Hart left for the NBA, Brunson and Bridges won a second championship together in 2018.
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Among the three, former Villanova head coach Jay Wright revealed that Hart was the least recruited and he shared Josh’s crazy recruitment story on Mike Francesca’s podcast.
“We were recruiting another player on this AAU team who was highly touted, and ended up going to Indiana. Robinson, his name was, and I kept going to the games saying, “Who’s this other guy that gets every rebound?” recalled Wright. “He played exactly like he plays now. At that time, my assistants were like, ‘He’s maybe a mid-major, he’s not right.'”
“And finally, I said, ‘Let me go see him at a high school game,’ and Billy Lang, who’s now on the Knicks’ staff, who was my assistant, said, ‘You’re going to love him.’ I go to the game, and he’s playing like a maniac,” said Wright.
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Wright traveled to watch Hart play, but Josh ended up in foul trouble
Hart starred for little-known Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., averaging 24.3 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 2.8 steals per game while leading the team to a 22-4 record as a senior. Despite that, Josh was ranked as just the 82nd-best prospect in the class of 2013.
In the game that Wright watched, Josh committed three fouls in his first three minutes of action and had to sit out the rest of the first half. Hart opened the second half but committed his third and fourth fouls right away, forcing his coach to sit him again.
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“At the end, I said to Billy Lang, ‘I can’t offer this guy a scholarship. I only saw him for 10 minutes.’ And he’s like, ‘Just trust me. What you saw is what he does for 40 minutes if they let him play.’ And we offered him a scholarship,” he explained.
Wright said Josh was a great college player who accepted a role in the NBA
But that was not the end of the story. Josh’s girlfriend back then — now his wife, Shannon- was offered a scholarship at Rutgers and Hart seriously considered going with her. According to Wright, Josh chose between Rutgers, Penn State and Villanova. Eventually, he picked Villanova.
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“’16 when we won the championship, ’17 we were the No.1 overall seed in the tournament. He was our leading scorer and runner-up for National Player of the Year that year in ’17, but we got knocked out by Wisconsin in the second round. He was a great college player. And so for him to take on this role is just so intelligent and so humble. It’s amazing,” he added.
Hart was the Utah Jazz‘s 30th overall pick in 2017 and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on draft night. He also played for the New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers before the Knicks acquired him after they signed Brunson. The rest, as they say, is history.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the College section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
