What the 'Nova Knicks' Can Teach Every Family About the College Search

When Kris Jenkins' three-pointer left his hand in the final seconds of the 2016 NCAA championship game in Houston, Mikal Bridges dashed onto the court and Josh Hart piggy-backed onto Phil Booth while Jalen Brunson ended up on the floor in the dogpile. Villanova had just beaten North Carolina 77-74 in one of the most dramatic endings in college basketball history.

Ten years later, those same three men just ended the New York Knicks' 53-year championship drought. Brunson, Hart, and Bridges became the first trio of teammates in history to win both an NCAA title and an NBA championship together. Brunson scored 45 points in the clinching game against San Antonio and was named Finals MVP. New York lost its mind. Rightfully so.

And I cannot stop thinking about what this story means for the families I work with every day.

They weren't the chosen ones. They were the ones who chose.

When Brunson, Hart, and Bridges arrived at Villanova, nobody was clearing a path for them.

Mikal Bridges redshirted his entire first year - he practiced with the team and never played in a game. The following year, the year Villanova won the National Championship, he started zero games. He was one of the most talented players to come out of the Philadelphia suburbs. He watched the confetti fall from the bench.

Josh Hart couldn't beat out a player who later went undrafted for a starting spot his sophomore year. He was talented enough to earn Big East Sixth Man of the Year honors that season - but not his starting spot. He struggled with it. According to reporting from CNN, he had a conversation with his father expressing frustration. His father's response: "What do you mean? Work harder."

Jalen Brunson - the only McDonald's All-American on that freshman roster - played 959 minutes his first year. The senior point guard, Ryan Arcidiacono, played 1,282. Brunson averaged 9.6 points per game as a freshman. He was good. He wasn't great yet. And he stayed.

None of them transferred. None of them chose an easier path.

They picked a school that was right for them - and then they put in the work that the right environment demands.

This is what Jay Wright built. And it matters.

Jay Wright didn't recruit the highest-profile players at every position. He recruited the right players and built a culture where getting humbled made you better, not bitter.

In an era when the message to young athletes - and honestly, to young people in general - is "if it gets hard, find somewhere easier," Villanova was teaching something different. Stay. Compete. Earn it.

When families ask me what to look for on a college visit, I always say: “Don't just look at the dorms and the dining hall. Look at how coaches talk about players who aren't starting. Look at whether the faculty have real relationships with their students. Look at whether this place has a philosophy - or just a ranking.”

The culture of an institution is set by the people running it. Jay Wright set a culture where three future NBA champions sat on the bench, couldn't crack the starting lineup, and came out stronger for it. That's not an accident. That's an intentional way of doing things.

The admissions question: Yes, Villanova is about to feel this.

We have real data on what basketball success does to Villanova's applicant pool. After the 2016 National Championship, applications jumped 21% - and the acceptance rate has never returned to where it was before. By the early 2020s it had dropped to under 24%, from nearly 48% a decade earlier.

An NBA championship - with three players who just became heroes to every Knicks fan in the tri-state area - will almost certainly drive another application surge. If Villanova is on your child's list, the time to get serious is right now.

The bigger lesson - for every family, not just Knicks and Nova fans.

In my work with families across this country the single most common pressure point I see is the belief that the most famous school is the right school.

Brunson, Hart, and Bridges didn't go to the program with the biggest recruiting class or the most five-star players. They went to a school outside Philadelphia that had a coach with a clear philosophy and a culture that demanded their best - even when "their best" meant accepting a bench role and proving themselves from the bottom up.

Ten years after that buzzer beater in Houston, they're the last three men standing.

The right fit changed everything for them.

It will change everything for your kid too.

That's what I help families achieve every day. And that's exactly why, when I watched those three celebrate in San Antonio last night, I didn't just see basketball players.

I saw the argument I make to every family playing out on the court.

“Find the right place. Stay when it gets hard. Take advantage of the best opportunities to grow. 

Become who you're supposed to be.”