Big East Player of the Year Josh Hart Shows Relentless Perseverance and Incredible Sportsmanship

Villanova beat Seton Hall in a 55-53 victory last night to advance to the Big East Tournament Finals. While the game itself was a great one, the real beauty was watching Big East Player of the Year and D.C. local Josh Hart do what he does best. Hart finished with 19 pts and 10 rebounds to lead all scorers, but his determination and sportsmanship both could not be captured in a box score.

On any highlight reel, you will see Hart involved in almost every play. His ability to find the open player and never give up on a play with his relentless rebounding are valuable characteristics that earned him Big East Player of the Year and could earn him a spot in the NBA sometime soon. 

The second half involved a lot of back and fourth between the teams. Jalen Brunson's 13 points helped Villanova take a 52-50 lead with 2:20 remaining. A hustle play by Angel Delgado and Khadeen Carrington gave Seton Hall a three point play and a 53-52 lead with 1:43 left in the game.

With 13 seconds left, Villanova was down two and Kris Jenkins, the hero from last year's National Championship game, put up a long three and missed, ironically, but Josh Hart tipped it in off the rebound and was fouled, putting Villanova up 55-53 with 9 seconds remaining. 

Seton Hall had the opportunity to send the game to overtime and Angel Delgado got it down low off a nice post move, but missed the layup, securing the win for Villanova.

From there, you could expect any team to celebrate, but what Josh Hart did was extraordinary.

Any great player has unconditional respect for the game, and Hart proved his last night. Delgado was distraught, quite reasonably, but Hart approached him and gave him a few inspirational words to keep his head up.

"I just told him I have so much respect for him," said Hart. "He's a competitor. You've seen his development the last several years. I just told him to keep working because he has a bright future in this game, and carry this feeling into the tournament."

Hart reinforced the idea of why he is the Big East Player of the Year with last night's game. His relentless effort to never give up, despite being down seven at half time or being down one with 13 seconds remaining shows the perseverance of a good leader. The ability to acknowledge hard work and have respect for the players around him is hard to do after a big victory, but he showed his sincerity as a player and leader and his utmost respect for the game. 

"You know this feeling," said Hart to Delgado. "Don’t feel this again."

Both Hart and Delgado will remember how they felt last night and carry their momentum or hunger for redemption into the March Madness Tournament starting Tuesday, March 14th.