The Knicks — and a trio of Main Line stars — are bringing their Villanova connection back to Philly

With the Eastern Conference quarterfinals shifting from Madison Square Garden to the Wells Fargo Center for Game 3 on Thursday, the New York Knicks are having a homecoming of sorts.

Long before they came together to lead the best Knicks team in a generation, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo first made their names out on the Main Line, playing for Villanova under coach Jay Wright. Together, they won the school’s first national championship since 1985 when they beat North Carolina in an all-time title game in 2016. Then, a couple of years later — after Hart went to the NBA — Brunson and DiVincenzo led another Wildcat champion, with the latter being named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four.

Those memories remain fond for many Philly fans who rooted for Nova throughout those tournament runs. But now, they’ll have to root against the local products as the Sixers try to emerge from an 0-2 deficit. It’s a tough spot to be in, because the Knicks largely go as their Villanova alums do.

» READ MORE: Sixers feel confident they’ll climb out of an 0-2 hole against the Knicks as series shifts to Philly

We can see this by simply looking at the share of team statistics produced by either Brunson, Hart or DiVincenzo this year. During the regular season, that Wildcat trio scored 45.8% of New York’s points, doled out 53.4% of the team’s assists and corralled 33.7% of the team’s rebounds. Looking at Wins Above Replacement (WAR) to get a sense of total value added, the Brunson/Hart/DiVincenzo triumvirate generated 24.1 WAR for the Knicks, or 60.1% of the team’s overall total WAR.

No combination of players who performed for the same college and NBA team was more potent in the league this year. Here’s a look at the most productive of those combos during the 2023-24 regular season, among teams with at least two players from a particular college on their roster:

What’s especially impressive is the fact that all three of New York’s Villanova players carried their share of weight for the team. (No offense to Cason Wallace, but most of OKC’s Kentucky connection was powered by the individual brilliance of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rather than an ensemble of production coming out of Lexington.) Especially since Julius Randle was injured in January, Brunson, Hart and DiVincenzo have basically refashioned a version of the 2017 Villanova team they all starred on — and they overcame a rough patch in February to go 16-7 since March (including the playoffs).

Another fascinating note: The Knicks didn’t draft any of their core Wildcats. Hart went to the Jazz in the draft, and cycled through three more franchises before landing in New York. DiVincenzo was drafted by Milwaukee (where he won a championship in 2021) and passed through two other teams before becoming a Knick. And Brunson was originally drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, with whom he visited the 2022 Western Conference finals before signing with New York the following offseason.

New York simply happened to be the destination where they were all able to reconnect — and rekindle the winning they did in college. Now, the Sixers are just hoping to slow the Villanova contingent down, knowing that they won’t be long for this series if they don’t.