Villanova Coaches Share Insight Into Knicks Pair

The New York Knicks roster has a lot of history together.

Nov 17, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) celebrates with forward Mikal Bridges (25) in the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

New York Knicks teammates Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges have known each other for nearly a decade, which dates back to their time at Villanova.

Hart, who is two years older than Bridges, was already established when the latter became a freshman. He took him under his wing and treated him like a younger brother both on and off the court.

“Josh use to terrorize Mikal early on,” Villanova coach Ashley Howard told The Athletic's James Edwards III.

“Mikal wasn’t physically where he eventually got, and Josh is Josh. The Josh Hart you guys see now, he was that from Day 1. He was fierce, tough, nasty and a competitor. Lo and behold, what ends up happening is that you get a Mikal Bridges who is a young freshman and was committed the whole year to improving his body, doing skill work and watching film. His game day was practice. His game day was against Josh Hart, this dude who we all knew was the toughest and nastiest on the floor. He made Mikal better.”

Bridges learned a lot from Hart early on at Villanova, and when it was time for him to get some playing time, he made the most of it.

“Now they’re going at it,” Howard said. “We’re looking at it like, ‘Damn!’ We know Josh Hart is one of the best players in the country, so we know that if Mikal can guard him and make it hard for him, Mikal must be really good. It means we have a pretty good team here.”

Now, the two are still going at it in practice with the Knicks, but they also get to have success together on one of the best teams in the NBA. And yet, just like they did nearly a decade ago, they are still making each other better.

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