Chicago Bulls: 5 players to watch in the NCAA Tournament

Mikal Bridges, Small Forward, Villanova Wildcats

One of the better overall defensive players in this year’s draft is none other than Mikal Bridges out of Villanova. The 6’7″ forward has taken three years in school to polish his game and looks as ready as he could be to enter the draft as a junior.

Bridges is one of the main reasons the Wildcats earned a number one seed in 2018. He is incredibly well-rounded. In the regular season, he put up 18.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists. 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Talk about a jack-of-all trades type of guy — Bridges is just that.

Offensively, Bridges is a very good catch-and-shoot wing. He also has the ability to get to the basket and finish as well, which you have to be able to do as a wing in the NBA. Obviously, there is no lack of scoring from a guy like him, when you look at his season averages.

What I want to focus on, primarily, is his defense. Once again, this is an area the Bulls have lacked in since Thibodeau departed. The Bulls are currently 24th in the league in scoring defense, 23rd in opponent field goal percentage and 28th in opponent rebounds.

Bridges would be able to come in and instantly change that. Take a look at one of the more intense and impressive sequences you will see out of any prospect this year.

Bridges isn’t an offense-first kind of guy. While he isn’t shy when it comes to scoring, he has a hustle-first mentality that translates well on the defensive end. He seems to be one of the rare guys who truly understands that elite defense will lead to offense.

You can watch Bridges and his Wildcats take on 16-seed Radford Thursday evening at 6:50PM Eastern when they square off in Pittsburgh. If Villanova advances, they will take on the winner between Alabama and Virginia Tech the very next day.