2014 SF Mikal Bridges (Nova)

[TheHall]

Nova signee Mikal Bridges is a big time time talent. To open the season his team Great Valley (Pa) has gone 2-0 in winning the Great Valley Tip-off classic where Bridges averaged 24 & 10. Here's an article from InRecruit.com about Bridges:

Hoops star Mikal Bridges never listened when people advised him to leave his neighborhood public school, Great Valley PA, before his sophomore, junior, and current senior season. Afterall, the school has virtually no history of basketball success when it comes to the PIAA AAAA state playoffs. Schools like Chester, Coatesville (Rip Hamilton), Lower Merion (Kobe), Plymouth Whitemarsh (Johnny Salmons), and Penn Wood have dominated that scene locally. In fact, the 6-foot, 7-inch 200-pound multi-talented guard/forward was told by many that his development would be stifled if he did not compete elsewhere. Boy, were the pundits wrong.

"There was never a reason to leave Great Valley," said Bridges, a Villanova recruit, who led his team to a 28-4 mark, a PIAA District 1 Final Four and PIAA AAAA quarterfinal finish in 2013, the most wins in school history. Arguably, this could be the school’s beat team ever...Last season, Bridges averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals for the Patriots. Amazingly, he was not named to any of the state’s all-star first, second, or third-teams. That was probably a result of playing at the lightly-regarded basketball school. Many experts who were not involved in the voting in the Philadelphia region were laughing about his omission. It was one of the more glaring oversights in recent years. “It’s Ok, he said. “It didn’t affect me.”

http://www.inrecruit.com/article/639/great-valley-patriot-mikal-bridges

MaxPreps ranked GV 5th preseason in the state:

The Patriots could be party crashers this year in District 1, which has produced the last six PIAA Class AAAA (large school) state champions. A large reason why is the return of Villanova-bound Mikal Bridges (6-7, Sr., F), who averaged 20 ppg and 8 rpg. Bridges will be joined by Ryan Buchholz (6-5, Sr., F) and Cyree Ames (5-8, Sr., G). The Pats may be the sexy pick in the toughest district in the state, with state powers Chester and Lower Merion lurking.

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/kIpfoDD8l0-W91kC082SBw/maxpreps-2013-14-pennsylvania-preseason-boys-basketball-fab-5-.htm

Also supposedly Mikal has grown to 6-8...he's a SF!

[TheHall]

Great Valley (PA) is 8-0 and Mikal is averaging 21 ppg. Great Valley is ranked 5th in the state which is loaded with big time programs this year. I finally got to watch a couple of his games and I was totally surprised by his game. He's 6-8 and uber-athletic- up there with LG3, Ronnie Harrell & Isaac Copeland from this class that I've seen so far. He's a baller too, he can do some of everything yet he's still looks raw from the few games I saw. He has guard like handle & brings the ball up a lot, he has a nice outside shot, he runs & rebounds, blocks shos, etc. Jamil Wilson or Jakarr Sampson would be good comparisons IMO. His team didn't overly focus on getting him the ball in some of the games I saw which leads me to think he could be averaging much more per game if they did.

Right now Rivals has him at #94, which might not be far off IMO but he's game & his body are growing at an accelerated pace. He will get much better in college & relatively quickly. I think he's got great potential to be coached up & bulked up to an NBA level player by 2nd or 3rd year. For example GV just won there own Christmas Classic and in the 2 games Bridges only averaged 15.5 ppg. What I'm curious about is how Wright will use him given Nova is going to be so small upfront again next season. MB should get time at the 3 but likely will play a lot more 4 & some 5 for Nova which isn't going to help him as much for the NBA. Hopefully I'm wrong.


Here's a link to the 3rd game of the season, a 63-37 win by GV over league rival Octorara where Bridges went for 15 before coming out early.

http://www.highschoolcube.com/event/octorara-boys-basketball-vs-great-valley-331592



Recently Bridges also scored his 1,000th point in the 6th game of the season:

When Mikal Bridges dropped his 13th and 14th points of the evening in Great Valley’s home game against Archbishop Wood, the Villanova signee and star of the Patriots’ basketball team became the fifth boys basketball player in school history to reach the 1000-point mark. Immediately after the ball passed through the bucket, on a turnaround jumper with 5:49 remaining in the second quarter, the buzzer sounded as the Great Valley bench poured onto the floor, the crowd giving an appreciative roar as it rose to its feet.

“I didn’t know–I was going back to the bench, I thought something happened,” he said. “I knew I was close, they told me I had a chance to get my 1000th, but I didn’t know how many, so they just told me to play and don’t think about it.” A momentary pause in the action, as Bridges was mobbed by teammates and family to celebrate the moment. Then, back to business. Bridges would finish with a game-high 29 points, leading Great Valley to a 53-49 win over Archbishop Wood.

“That’s a real special moment, to get 1000 points. I had said to the kids that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article a few years back about how one in every 5,000 kids score 1000, and now it’s even tougher,” Patriots coach Jim Nolan said, citing a reduction in games per season from 24 to 22 since that article had been written. “I’m real proud of him, he’s worked hard to get where he’s gotten.”

http://cityofbasketballlove.com/2013/12/bridges-gets-1000th-in-great-valleys-win-over-wood/

[GumbyDamnit!]

What I'm curious about is how Wright will use him given Nova is going to be so small upfront again next season. MB should get time at the 3 but likely will play a lot more 4 & some 5 for Nova which isn't going to help him as much for the NBA. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Nova has its starting C in Ochefu and PF in JVP coming back. Also expect current Frosh Reynolds to get time at C/PF next year as well. What Jay seems to be trying to do is recruit kids who can play mutiple positions. Switching on D and being expected to guard multiple positions. I see a kid like Bridges playing much like Bell does this year: a wing on offense, and a 3/4 on D. If I were to look into a crystal ball I could see Bridges being groomed to play like a Dante Cunningham. If he learns to hit that 15 footer, he'll be the teams pick and pop guy. Love his size and potential versatility.

[TheHall]

What I'm curious about is how Wright will use him given Nova is going to be so small upfront again next season. MB should get time at the 3 but likely will play a lot more 4 & some 5 for Nova which isn't going to help him as much for the NBA. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Nova has its starting C in Ochefu and PF in JVP coming back. Also expect current Frosh Reynolds to get time at C/PF next year as well. What Jay seems to be trying to do is recruit kids who can play mutiple positions. Switching on D and being expected to guard multiple positions. I see a kid like Bridges playing much like Bell does this year: a wing on offense, and a 3/4 on D. If I were to look into a crystal ball I could see Bridges being groomed to play like a Dante Cunningham. If he learns to hit that 15 footer, he'll be the teams pick and pop guy. Love his size and potential versatility.

I forgot about Reynolds. Cunningham was more of a power player with tremendous skill, who could extend the floor. I see bridges as a 6-8 wing player who can play some down low, ie Jakarr Sampson or Harrison Barnes (uggh!). He's a player with a ton of upside though.