City of Basketball Love

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)
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Soon-to-be Villanova Wildcat Jalen Brunson led the United States basketball team to a gold medal in the FIBA under-19 world championship on Sunday afternoon.

The U.S. defeated Croatia, 79-71 in overtime, and Brunson was awarded as the Most Valuable Player.

In the championship game, Brunson recorded 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, as he led a team full of division one talent to the promised land. This is the United States’ third under-19 world championship in the last four tournaments.

Brunson’s championship-worthy performance came just one day following his 30-point performance against Greece in the tournament semifinals.

Some of the players joining Brunson on the team were two of the top players in the class of 2016, forward Harry Giles (13 points, 16 rebounds) as well as guard Jayson Tatum, who contributed 13 points of his own. Both Giles and Tatum have offers to powerhouse schools such as Duke, Kentucky and UNC.

The tournament has been played every two years for the last 24 years, for a total of 12 tournaments. Today’s gold marks the 10th United States medal in tournament history. The next closest country is Serbia who has three medals.

Brunson, a five-star recruit, headlines a talented Jay Wright recruiting class that also features a pair of four-star recruits in Salesianum (Del.) SG Donte Divencenzo and PF Tim Delaney of Pitman Hill (NJ).

He is the son of former Temple standout and NBA player Rick Brunson.

Villanova fans surely have a lot to be excited about as Brunson will begin his career as a Wildcat in the coming months. If the FIBA world championships are any indication, the fans in Radnor are in for a real treat.