2018 NBA Draft Profile: Mikal Bridges

“When I was first able to play in elementary school, that’s when I started loving the game” – Mikal Bridges.

The 6-foot-7 NBA prospect has come a long way loving the game of basketball. A 2x NCAA National Champion, Bridges has worked his way from the very beginning to become a potential lottery pick in the ’18 NBA Draft. Playing basketball in Pennsylvania most of his life, Mikal has learned a lot from many different coaches and had supporters that helped him along the way, but he knows whos been the biggest one of all.

“My mother has been my biggest supporter through it all and my whole family,” said Bridges.

High School- Great Valley

Bridges blossomed into a hometown talent for Malvern, Pennsylvania. Growing up, he attended Great Valley High School and was on the varsity basketball team. Playing as small forward, he had developed skills that put him in the starting position halfway through his sophomore season throughout the rest of his high school career.

Bridges earned himself basketball honors by making Philadelphia Inquirer’s All-Southeastern Pennsylvania First-Team as a junior. He then made First-Team All-State as a senior, averaging 18.5 points per game. Although, around the month of June before his senior season, Bridges knew where he wanted to continue playing basketball after his final season as a Great Valley Patriot. Staying in Pennsylvania, Bridges committed to play at Villanova University.

College- Villanova University

In 2014-15, Mikal’s first year at Villanova, he was taken under Jay Wright’s wing and redshirted. He continued to grow and study the game. While he was practicing ball handling, pushing through strength training with the team, and sitting on the bench during games, he was always a great teammate. Being that supportive, encouraging teammate, Bridges always gave them that extra push to win.

“He was a great teammate and always wanted to see his teammates do well,” said his former teammate and good friend, Eric Paschall.

“He would get more hype about his teammates having a great game than himself. Mikal always had my back. No matter what, he was the one that would bring great energy with me and always had fun on the court. Our chemistry actually just came from joking around all the time off the court. When it came to basketball though, we knew it was always business.”

One of the most important characteristics of being an NBA player is being a great teammate. Mikal Bridges has foreshadowed that role throughout his entire career at Villanova. That’s just the type of player any team would need.

“One day I gave him the nickname “kills” randomly. Everyone and the coaches called him that because he always was a killer on the court.”

“Yeah, my teammates would always talk about how I’m a killer on the court, so the name just kind of stuck,” said Bridges. “I had always enjoyed playing with all my teammates. That was the most fun about it all.”

Only playing for Villanova for three years, Mikal started off his freshman year with high accolades finishing fourth with a 92.8 defensive rating in the Big East. Sophomore year, he led the Big East in defensive rating with 93.3 As his game progressed, Mikal’s 7-foot wingspan has benefitted him and the Wildcats on the defensive side by tipping passes and getting in transition offense. Averaging 1.1 blocks per game senior year, he finished third in the Big East with blocks and had some clutch ones for the Wildcats.

MIKAL BRIDGES WITH THE HUGE BLOCK TO SAVE THE GAME FOR THE WILDCATS. NOVA AND CREIGHTON HEADED INTO OT!!

(via: @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/e3Yq4zMC7N

— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) February 24, 2018

Bridges found shooting as his most important aspect of the game to work on throughout his career in Villanova.

“I know there was a lot of touches I had to get,” said Bridges.” I couldn’t shoot that well, so I was definitely trying to better myself with that. But that’s what I knew I needed to work on and that’s what I’ve worked on to become a better ballplayer than I was before.”

What Bridges look to continue to work on his ball handling in the next level.

“I want to be able to take care of the ball more. I hope to work on that in the next level and also continue to work on my shot to become a better shooter on the run.”

Bridge’s outside shooting performance went upwards his senior season. Shooting only 39 percent from the three his in 2016-2017, his senior year he shot 43.5% from the three. His catch-and-shoot was becoming a norm for him as the season went on and teams were determined to get a hand up from outside the arc on him.