The reigning Illinois Mr. Basketball is the final player from the state still standing in the NCAA men’s tournament.
Stevenson High School grad Jalen Brunson, who has gone from the IHSA Class 4A state championship to the Final Four, plays for Villanova, who faces Oklahoma on Saturday.
Brunson is a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable year for Illinois college basketball.
Though the state is among the top to produce Division I men’s college basketball talent, no Illinois schools made this year’s tournament. Nearly 50 players from Illinois, however, did.
Illinois Players in March Madness
Jalen Brunson
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- Villanova, no. 1
- Hometown: Lincolnshire, Ill.
- High School: Stevenson
- Year: Freshman
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The 6-foot-2 point guard ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 9.8 points per game and 2.6 assists. He arrived at Villanova as a McDonald’s All-American who over the summer won a gold medal with USA Basketball’s under-19 world championship team. His father, Rick Brunson, played at Temple and had a nine-season NBA career with eight teams, including the Bulls.
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