Jalen Brunson shares March Madness advice from NCAA championship runs

The field of 68 teams has been completed, as the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments are set to begin this week.

While sports fans are excited about this year’s games, some are remembering their time on that March Madness field. Emotions, flashbacks and more come back once a year, especially for those who managed to run the race every kid dreams of in March.

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson is one of those players.

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Jalen Brunson is not only an All-Star with the New York Knicks, but a two-time March Madness winner with Villanova. (GETTY)

“Yeah. I mean, it was one of the most intense times of my life,” he told Fox News Digital when asked what he thought about this time of year, while discussing his partnership with BODYARMOR. “Any time you make the playoffs in anything — high school, college and now the professional level — it’s all a little upside down. Even though everyone says, ‘Go on for another game. Try to keep that mindset,’ there’s just something different about it.

“Those moments in college and those championships were some of my favorite times.”

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It’s hard for Brunson not to think back to his days playing for the Villanova Wildcats, where he not only won an NCAA title — he won two in his three college seasons before leaving for the 2018 NBA draft.

So for players about to embark on what they hope will be a long run in the tournament, Brunson is the perfect person to ask the holy question: What does it take to be great in March?

Jalen Brunson of the Villanova Wildcats cuts the net after defeating the Michigan Wolverines in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four national championship game at the Alamodome on April 2, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

“I think the most important thing, even if it’s not, you have to prepare for it and treat it like another game,” Brunson said after a quick reflection. “If anything, treat it like your last, because it could be. I think, more importantly, don’t stray from your routine. Yes, it might not be just another match, but your preparation and everything that goes into it is very similar.

“You do anything that’s not part of your usual routine, subconsciously things may be different. Just try to keep the same things as much as possible and do your best to prepare.”

Of course, Brunson’s advice is easier said than done. The stakes are higher, the possessions are more tense and the atmosphere can be overwhelming. But Brunson and his Wildcats teammates, including fellow Knicks Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, ignored all the noise and did their best to treat everything as just another game in the end.

As the tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday night to narrow the pool down to 64 teams, Brunson knows the locker room talk will start to heat up about the tournament. He has every right to brag about ‘Nova given his history, but that’s not the case.

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson takes the ball up the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)

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However, that doesn’t mean he and his fellow Wildcats aren’t listening.

“No, we don’t talk about Nova a lot, but every time someone says, ‘Oh, my team in college was next,’ we just look over and smile,” Brunson said, smiling. “They say, ‘All right, you’re out of this conversation.’ We are always left out, but it goes without saying that we have the upper hand over everyone. »

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