City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After an exciting first full week of college basketball, five local standouts earned their way onto their respective conference's weekly awards.

Josh Hart (Villanova/Sr.)
Hart wowed this week, bringing home the Big East Player of the Week Award. He helped his reigning National Champion Wildcats start their 2016-17 campaign by going 4-0 this week and 5-0 on the season and averaging 20.8 points per game in their four contests this week. After propelling his squad to their fourth straight preseason tournament victory, Hart was also named MVP of the Charleston Classic.

In what will be remembered as one of the most impressive careers in Villanova Wildcat history, Hart and his fellow seniors Kris Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds will leave Villanova having never lost an early-season tournament game. Hart was especially impressive in Villanova’s 79-76 win over the then-No. 15 ranked Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena when he cashed in for a game-high 24 points. Hart followed that impressive performance up by scoring a career-high 30 points against Wake Forest in the opening game of the Charleston Classic while going 11-for-14 from the field and helping Villanova top the Demon Deacons by a score of 96-77.

A.J. Brodeur (Penn/Fr.)
A 6-8 Massachusetts native, Brodeur found his way onto this week’s Ivy League Honor Roll after an impressive performance against a Power 5 conference team that made their way to the Sweet 16 last year. Brodeur torched the Miami Hurricanes for 16 points and eight rebounds as his Quakers found themselves on the wrong end of a 74-62 contest.

Kurk Lee Jr. (Drexel/Fr.)
After being handed the keys to the kingdom as a true freshman starting at the point guard position for the Drexel Dragons, Lee showed his stuff this week as he earned the Colonial Athletic Association's Rookie of the Week Award while also helping his squad go 2-0 on the week. The 5-10 floor general impressed all week long, averaging 18 points and 3.5 assists in the two games he played this week. He started his week off hot cashing in for a career-high 24 in a win against Hartford and followed that up with a 12 points effort against North Texas.

Shavar Newkirk (St. Joseph’s/Jr.)
The junior out of NYC scored 20 in back-to-back contests this week and amassed 15 points in all three contests while also helping his Hawks go 2-1 in their three times out. Newkirk started his week off on a high note, cashing in for 17 while also adding four assists in a Hawks win against Columbia on November 14th and his hot hand would only improve from there. He followed up that performance with 20 point effort in a victory over Loyola-Chicago on Friday. Following their two wins, Newkirk had his most impressive performance of the week in his team’s 81-68 loss to Ole Miss on Sunday. Newkirk torched the Rebels for 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and also added in six assists and three steals.

Tim Kempton (Lehigh/Sr.)
On top of the success City 6 players had this week, Lehigh's senior big man earned Patriot League Player of the Week Honors for the second time in a row. He averaged 27 points and 11 boards in the Mountain Hawks' two games this week and finds himself eighth on the current scoring leaders in points per game list this season with 26.5 ppg. In Lehigh's first game of the week against Yale, Kempton scored 30 points and added in 11 rebounds and then repeated his 11 rebound performance and cashed in for 24 points in his squad's first victory of the young season in a 76-67 triumph over Princeton on Sunday.