VILLANOVA, Pa. – Jeremiah Robinson-Earl was selected by the New York Knicks with the 32nd overall pick in the 2021 National Basketball Association Draft on Thursday night held in Brooklyn, N.Y. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, his rights will be swapped to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
 
            The Wildcats' leading scorer (15.7 points per game) and rebounder (8.5 rebounds per outing) in 2020-21 watched the event with family and friends in Chicago.

            "The Thunder are lucky to be getting a high-character, hard working young man," tweeted Villanova head coach Jay Wright shortly after the pick was announced. "Jeremiah is ready to compete at the next level in the NBA."
 
            Robinson-Earl spent two seasons at Villanova after a stellar prep career that began at Bishop Miege High School in Kansas City and concluded at IMG Academy in Florida. As a sophomore, he was a cornerstone for a Wildcats team that posted an 18-7 overall record and claimed its seventh BIG EAST regular season title in the last eight seasons before advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
 
            The Kansas City native was a third team All-American and a third team CoSIDA Academic All-American. He also earned BIG EAST Player of the Year honors and was a finalist for the Karl Malone Award honoring the nation's top power forward.
 
            A Villanova player has been selected in six of the last seven NBA Drafts, a run that began with the 2015 selection of Darrun Hilliard by the Detroit Pistons. Ironically, the only season in that span when the Wildcats didn't have anyone selected came in 2016 in the wake of winning the 2016 NCAA national championship.
 
            Robinson-Earl becomes the ninth Wildcat player selected in that span, joining Hilliard, Josh Hart (2017), Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo, Omari Spellman, Jalen Brunson (2018), Eric Paschall (2019) and Saddiq Bey (2020). Paschall (Golden State) and Bey (Detroit) were both named to the NBA All-Rookie teams in the past two seasons.