Jalen Brunson is a McDonald's All-American, one of most highly touted freshmen in the nation, a potential high NBA draft pick and the son of a Big 5 Hall of Famer.
But during Villanova’s media day Wednesday, head coach Jay Wright may have dished out an even bigger honor to the new Wildcat.
“What’s crazy is he really reminds me of Arch,” Wright said. “He’s like a left-handed Arch.”
“Arch,” of course, is Ryan Arcidiacono, who returns for his senior season after leading the Wildcats to an 82-22 record over the last three years as their do-everything point guard.
But even Arcidiacono, a three-year starter and the reigning Big East co-Player of the Year, will tell you he never had to deal with the kind of hype and expectations Brunson has on him as his debut college season looms.
Villanova, fresh off a 33-3 campaign that ended with a heartbreaking loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, opens with Farleigh Dickinson at the Pavilion on Nov. 13.
“He’s getting a lot more [publicity] and he deserves it,” Arcidiacono said. “He’s a very hard-working kid. ... He’s been like one of the guys. He really hasn’t been like Jalen Brunson, McDonald's All-American. He’s just been someone coming into work every day, competing.”
For Wright, it’s that kind of work ethic that led him to draw the comparison to Arcidiacono, who throws his body all over the floor whether in practice or a game. More than that, though, it’s the knowledge both of them share about Philadelphia basketball, which has been honed from their upbringings.
Arcidiacono’s father, Joe, was a college football player at Villanova and often took Ryan to hoops games growing up. And Brunson’s dad, of course, was a star guard at Temple in the early 1990s before playing and coaching in the NBA.
“He comes in and he just knows Villanova basketball,” Wright said of the younger Brunson. “His father and I are good friends and we talk basketball. [Jalen’s] kind of been taught Villanova basketball a lot. Rick and I think of the game the same way, so he came in just doing the things we already do, just like Arch did. And that’s rare. But we’ve been lucky to have two of them.”
Brunson has certainly embraced “Villanova basketball,” using the term throughout his chat with reporters at the Pavilion on Wednesday.
Given he’s yet to play a Villanova game, do his teammates have to remind him what that means?
“Not anymore,” Brunson said. “I’ve picked it up very quickly. They’ve seen that I’ve been really getting better and better every day. They don’t have to explain it anymore.”
That’s not to say Brunson is done learning things from his teammates. Although he was arguably the top scholastic guard in country last year and the biggest recruiting catch in Wright’s tenure, Brunson knows the high school game is a lot different than the college game, especially for a program that figures to be ranked all season.
And the veterans on the team, especially Arcidiacono, have been reminding him of that.
“You learn that everything matters, that everything counts,” Brunson said. “You’ve got to look at everything with great concentration, even when you’re not in a game situation. You have to do everything hard, make everything perfect, so when you get to a game, it’s going to be natural.”
Arcidiacono hasn’t just told Brunson not to slack in practice, he’s also shown him by going hard against the freshman every day during drills and scrimmages.
Much of the reason for those battles is that Arcidiacono wants to help season Brunson for when they play together in the same backcourt. Another reason is he wants to improve his own game heading into his final college season.
“It definitely motivates me because of how good he is,” Arcidiacono said. “I don’t want to be shown up by a freshman. I know he wants to come in and do the best he can. It’s always a friendly competition. We’re roommates on the road and he roomed with me in the summer. We’ve gelled ever since he was a recruit here.
“So that’s what’s going to separate us and I think that’s what’s going to make us good — that we compete with each other but we’re walking around best friends on campus right after practice.”
If the Wildcats are to win their third straight Big East championship and exorcise their recent NCAA Tournament demons, the Arcidiacono-Brunson backcourt partnership will almost certainly be a big reason why.
And if the senior can help the freshman manage the lofty expectations, that will go a long way in forging a special season together, too.
One thing’s for sure: The Brunson hype isn’t going away, especially after the Illinois native enjoyed a starring role to lead the United States to the FIBA U19 World Championship crown over the summer.
“I wasn’t surprised by that but I knew what was going to come with it,” Wright said. “I knew he was coming in as a highly touted recruit but when I saw that, I said, ‘Oh boy, there’s a lot more coming with this now.’ That lit up the NBA guys. For young guys, that’s pressure.
“He’s going to come in as one of the guys they talk about as a one-and-done, and he’s just going to have to deal with that.”
Luckily, he's got "Arch" to help.