Mikal Bridges
2016: (2) Villanova won championship (defeated UNC)
2017: (1) Villanova lost to (8) Wisconsin in Second Round
2018: (1) Villanova won championship (defeated Michigan)
Remember how I said earlier that the Phoenix Suns have a combined three NCAA championships on their roster? Two of them are courtesy of Mikal Bridges.
Bridges didn’t start for Villanova in 2016, but played a little more than 20 minutes per game and contributed 6.4 points and 1.1 steals per contest.
That season, Villanova marched through the tournaments and beat the North Carolina Tarheels in dramatic fashion. Bridges only had two points in what could have been the best NCAA championship game in history.
The next year, after earning a 1 seed in the tournament, Bridges and company were upended in the second round by the pesky Badgers from Wisconsin. The funny thing is, Wisconsin wasn’t even all that good that year.
Bridges improved upon his previous years overall statistically but floundered in what would be his final game of the season, putting up a goose egg in the points column.
It was 2018 where Bridges truly became Bridges. On the season, he averaged 17.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. On top of that, he shot a remarkable 43.5 percent from behind the arc.
During the tournament, he continued he good numbers, putting up 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block per game. Villanova won every game of the tournament by double digits.
The Phoenix Suns drafted Bridges 10th overall in the subsequent draft because, as we will see, James Jones loves him some March Madness stars.