Current members of the New York Knicks, who also shared the locker room playing for the Villanova Wildcats in their college days, have a great relationship. Even the families of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges have grown close to each other over time. But from what Rick Brunson and Hart’s recent conversation revealed, their bond wasn’t as tight as it is now.
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Hart and Brunson had invited Jalen’s father, Rick Brunson, as the guest for “Roommates Show” pod. At one point in the 98-minute conversation, the environment in the room became slightly heavy when Rick and Hart revealed their first impressions of each other.
Rick didn’t have any opinions about Hart and the other players on the squad. He only knew the youngsters from the stories his son would tell him. Additionally, Rick was barely even present at the Wildcats’ practice to form an opinion.
“I did not know you guys at Villanova I only knew you through what he would say as you notice I wasn’t at practice.”
Jalen would come home and say to his dad, “Oh yeah, you know Josh try to beat me up.” “I’m like ‘what, why would he do that, what did you do?’ Or he would come home and say this or that but I didn’t know you guys. I knew you guys are all good friends,” Rick recollected.
From the little information that he gathered about Hart, Rick admitted to being impressed by the combo guard’s basketball abilities. He even admitted that he saw himself in Hart without the work ethic.
“But my impression of Josh was I always liked him, you know that he reminded me of myself. He was really intense, he didn’t work as hard as I worked… I was impressed like at Villanova I thought he was a great player,” Rick revealed.
Unfortunately, Hart didn’t reciprocate this love to the former NBA player. “But for you not liking me I was that was hurt,” Rick admitted.
To be fair, Hart did dish out a reasonable justification for not having a great first impression of Rick.
As Rick initially mentioned, he was barely present at any of the team’s practices. But whenever he made his way to the training facility, he had a “straight face” that might not have been very approachable for the players.
“I didn’t know you… I was like, ‘Damn bro, this dude don’t (like anybody)’. I was like, ‘He’s just like off to the side’… You got like the straight face where you just be looking and it looked like ‘oh he ain’t rocking with nobody’. So I was just like bro I don’t know about this dude,” Hart explained.
Villanova and Temple share one of the fiercest rivalries in college sports, famously known as the Mayor’s Cup. Rick, who spent all four of his college years playing for Temple University, considered Villanova and its players to be “beneath” him. As a result, he was less enthusiastic about spending time with Jalen’s teammates, which explained the “angry expressions” he had on the sidelines.
Since then, Rick has developed a strong connection with most of Jalen’s college teammates, especially Josh Hart. This growing off-court camaraderie has translated into a solid coach-player relationship, also playing a role in Hart’s growth as a player.
