NCAA basketball champion's Jamaican roots

Point guard Jalen Brunson, who helped Villanova University to an exciting 77-74 win over North Carolina Tar Heels to win the NCAA Men's Division One Basketball Championship in the United States on Monday night, is the son of a Jamaican.

Brunson's Jamaican mother, Sandra, met his father, Eric Daniel 'Rick' Brunson, in college in Philadelphia.

The younger Brunson played 22 minutes, scored four points one rebound in the final, and had his hand in helping the team reach the pinnacle of college basketball for the first time in 31 years.

Brunson averaged 9.7 points and 2.6 assists per game in his first season starting for the Pennsylvania-based Villanova.

The NCAA Basketball Championship is one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States.

The 19-year-old Brunson, who graduated from Stevenson High School in Illinois, is a freshman point guard. He featured in all but one of the 40 games played by the new national champs.

His other achievements include helping to lead Adlai E. Stevenson High School to a 2014-15 IHSA Class A championship. He won Illinois's Mr Basketball title in 2015; first Team Parade that same year USA Basketball male athlete of the year; McDonald's All-American 2015, and FIBA Under-19 World Championship MVP.

His parents, Sandra and Eric, met at Temple University, where Rick played for the Owl's Men's Basketball team and Sandra played volleyball.

Eric Brunson is a retired American professional basketball player who featured in nine seasons in the NBA and has also worked as an assistant coach for several teams.

He played for the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Portland Trailblazers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, 2004 Progresso Castelmaggiore in Italy, Los Angeles Clippers, Seattle Supersonics and the Houston Rockets.