Apparently, LeBron James loves him some Donte DiVincenzo.
The best basketball player in the world was watching last night as DiVincenzo went for 31 points off the bench and Villanova crushed Michigan, 79-62. The point total was the most by a player off the bench in the history of the National Championship Game and good enough for DiVincenzo to take home the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player award.
"He made himself a lot of money. That's the first thing I thought," James said to Cleveland.com. "Obviously, I'm not with the whole college thing so I don't care about that. He made himself a lot of money last night and not because of the way he was shooting, but he was doing it all. He was getting into the lane, and-1s. Backdoors. Lobs. Verticality with (Charles) Matthews at the peak, showing his athleticism.
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"And then when the game started to kind of get (close) when Michigan cut it to 12, boom, he hits another backbreaker. Michigan kind of gets it to 10, boom, he shows up again."
But DiVincenzo wasn’t the only Wildcat to get the attention of King James.
"When the National Player of the Year (Jalen Brunson) is on the sideline with four fouls for the majority of the second half and you're still winning? That lets you know how great of a team you are," James said. "So, Donte, obviously he was great. The kid (Mikal) Bridges, he was shooting the heck out of the ball. That one kid, No. 4, I call him 'Baby Millsap,' Paschall, I call him Baby (Paul) Millsap. Listen, he's a matchup problem.”
Bridge’s, ‘Nova’s best NBA draft prospect, was 7 of 12 (3 of 7 from three) for 19 points in the rout. He also drew praise from an NBA great last week when Kevin Durant (on Bill Simmons' podcast) called Bridges his favorite current college player.
And while the Fordham transfer Paschall was quiet offensively in the championship, he scorched Kansas in the game prior, going 10 of 11 from the field (4 of 5 from three) for 24 points.
If DiVincenzo decides to take the money "he made" last night, there's a chance he could be a fit for the Sixers as an athletic scoring wing. Maybe it'll give LeBron one more reason to come to Philly. The King and the Michael Jordan of Delaware would make for a nice combo.