Villanova Basketball: Jalen Brunson Is Make-or-Break Player in Class of 2015

With the new basketball season on the horizon, the Villanova Wildcats are in a good position in regards to recruiting for the class of 2015. 

Tim Delaney, Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson will all become Wildcats starting with the 2015-16 season. 

Many top players are still available, but the Wildcats have not been seriously linked with any of them in quite some time.

Since the Brunson commitment, the Wildcats have not been very active on the class of 2015 front, and it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon. 

The one name that was associated with Villanova during the summer was Isaiah Briscoe, but it looks like he has his sights set on joining another program. 

Briscoe will cut his list of prospective schools down to three, per USA Today's Jason Jordan, and Villanova is expected to be nowhere near the list, with St. John's being one of the front-runners. 

He was the main guard the Wildcats were having a look at before the Brunson commitment, but he was not considered a main target after Villanova earned the signature of the guard from Illinois. 

After Briscoe, the other potential members of the class of 2015 are players who are not consistently looking at Villanova. 

According to 247Sports, only two other players are listed as interested in offers from the Wildcats, which makes things look bleak for the rest of the recruiting window. 

Despite the lack of interest from other potential players, Villanova is in great hands with Brunson joining the program.

In many ways, Brunson is the make-or-break stud in the class of 2015 for the Wildcats, as he is a player who can make an impact from the first day he steps on campus. 

Brunson has the potential to elevate the program to a higher level during his time there, whether it be for three or four years. 

With all due respect to Ryan Arcidiacono, the Wildcats haven't had a player like that since Scottie Reynolds, who was the heart and soul of the team from 2006 to 2010. 

Before Reynolds, Villanova had athletes like Randy Foye and Allen Ray lead the way from the guard position. 

As we saw last season with Villanova, the team played fine during the regular season, but once it faced tougher opposition in the postseason, it crumbled under pressure and was eliminated in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Brunson will take the guard position to the next level at Villanova, which means he should make every player around him better as well.

If a Brunson-led Villanova team can go far in March each year, he will mean more to the program, as more high-quality recruits will be attracted to the program even though the Wildcats play in the lowly Big East. 

There will always be players who overlook Villanova for higher-profile teams in bigger conferences, but if Brunson proves that he can take the Wildcats far in the postseason, it will allow a few of those players to take a serious look at the program. 

With on- and off-court success in front of them when Brunson arrives, the Wildcats have no need to find another make-or-break recruit for the class of 2015 because they have already found him.