The Nova Knicks Experiment: Testing College Magic in the NBA

It’s fascinating that Mikal Bridges is being traded to the Knicks and reunited with the core of a college dynasty that won two NCAA championships. Jokingly, in a previous write-up last year, I suggested the Knicks should reunite Bridges with three college teammates he won championships with. The Knicks are betting on this chemistry and love for each other, as these obvious friends have overpaid massively and exhausted nearly all their draft capital to make it happen.

For anyone who ever wondered how a college dynasty that won two championships, like the Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, and Bobby Hurley Duke team, or the Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Corey Brewer Florida team, would have looked mostly intact in their primes, this is as close as we likely will ever get. This version of Villanova is even deeper with NBA talent and has a fairly comparable star in what Jalen Brunson has become.

The NBA Potential of College Dynasties

Obviously, some great college teams had greater NBA talent, such as the UNC team with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins that also won a championship. But in a way, that Villanova team exemplified teamwork more by not having the same level of star power or draftee. We don’t have to wonder how a Michael Jordan and James Worthy NBA team would have done; we know it would have won championships. The Houston Rockets recreated the Houston Cougars in Houston in a way and won with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler at the end of their careers. There was also the Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute team that made it to a Final Four.

Personally, I think the best potential NBA team that was also a great college team and almost dynasty could have been Jay Williams’ Duke squad had he never gotten hurt. It also featured Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Shane Battier, and Chris Duhon that won a championship. Dahntay Jones was part of the last team as well with them. That’s an incredible college team that was the number one overall seed all three years Jay Williams was at Duke, won a title, and most of the team had some very good NBA careers. That’s a team that could have transported to the NBA in their prime and contended, most likely, if Jay Williams had never gotten into a motorcycle accident. It’s a more talented overall group by NBA standards than even the 1992 Duke dynasty.

A Massive Bet on Chemistry

The Knicks made a massive bet on years-old chemistry magic and a player like Bridges with a 14.9 PER, averaging 4.5 rebounds in 35 minutes a game, and barely assisting for his position to spend five first-rounders and a pick swap to get. The Nets knew how desperate the Knicks were apparently to make this happen and milked them for the farm in the first trade between the franchises in over 40 years. They had all the leverage.

Let’s take a look at what they are getting from a college dynasty perspective.

Villanova Wildcats

These are Brunson’s Wildcat teams.

2015-16 National Championship Team

This national championship team was led by Josh Hart and featured 6 future NBA players.

Roster Table

Player	Class	Height	Summary
Josh Hart	JR	6-5	15.5 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Ryan Arcidiacono	SR	6-3	12.5 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 4.2 Ast
Jalen Brunson	FR	6-3	9.6 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 2.5 Ast
Daniel Ochefu	SR	6-11	10.0 Pts, 7.5 Reb, 1.7 Ast
Mikal Bridges	FR	6-7	6.4 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Donte DiVincenzo	FR	6-5	1.7 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.4 Ast

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2024.

2016-17 #1 Seed 2nd Round Upset

This was a great team going 32-4 and but were upset as a number 1 seed in the 2nd round.

Roster Table

Player	Class	Height	Summary
Josh Hart	SR	6-5	18.7 Pts, 6.4 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Jalen Brunson	SO	6-3	14.7 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 4.1 Ast
Mikal Bridges	SO	6-7	9.8 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Donte DiVincenzo	FR	6-5	8.8 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 1.7 Ast
Eric Paschall	SO	6-8	7.2 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 0.6 Ast

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2024.

2017-18 National Champion

This national championship team featured 7 future NBA players which is a high number for any college basketball team.

Roster Table

Player	#	Class	Height	Summary
Jalen Brunson	1	JR	6-3	18.9 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 4.6 Ast
Mikal Bridges	25	JR	6-7	17.7 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Donte DiVincenzo	10	SO	6-5	13.4 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 3.5 Ast
Omari Spellman	14	FR	6-9	10.9 Pts, 8.0 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Eric Paschall	4	JR	6-8	10.6 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Collin Gillespie	2	FR	6-3	4.3 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Jermaine Samuels	23	FR	6-7	1.1 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2024.

Even a player no one thinks about today that has long since washed out of the league like Eric Paschall averaged 14ppg as a rookie and finished 6th in the rookie of the year voting. If the Knicks really wanted to get crazy they could bring him and Omari Spellman back.

New York Knicks

Per Game Table

Rk	Player	Age	G	MP	TRB	AST	PTS
1	Julius Randle	29	46	35.4	9.2	5.0	24.0
2	Jalen Brunson	27	77	35.4	3.6	6.7	28.7
3	OG Anunoby	26	23	34.9	4.4	1.5	14.1
4	Josh Hart	28	81	33.4	8.3	4.1	9.4
5	RJ Barrett	23	26	29.5	4.3	2.4	18.2
6	Donte DiVincenzo	27	81	29.1	3.7	2.7	15.5
7	Isaiah Hartenstein	25	75	25.3	8.3	2.5	7.8
8	Mitchell Robinson	25	31	24.8	8.5	0.6	5.6
24	Ryan Arcidiacono	29	20	2.3	0.4	0.2	0.0

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2024.

Per Game Table

Rk	Player	Age	G	MP	TRB	AST	PTS
1	Mikal Bridges	27	82	34.8	4.5	3.6	19.6

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2024.

Conclusion

These four players have become quality NBA players. Brunson is a legitimate star after being drafted in the second round, and the other three are starter-level to sixth-man quality players. Mostly elite role players, but around a star, that’s a great foundation. This is a fascinating experiment. It’s something that I’ve wondered in the past: could you take these truly great college dynasty teams and see how they would fare in the NBA when they reached their prime?

You know the Villanova guys will play hard and try to make this work. We will get to see the foundation of that, but also how it plays in the locker room if a couple of the Villanova guys don’t perform. I could also see them potentially being gifted minutes to keep Brunson happy, which might rub the rest of the team the wrong way. The Knicks went all in on this experiment, so they are vested, and we’ll see how smart it was to trade five first-rounders to complete this core four, no matter how well they played together eight years ago in college.

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