San Antonio — Jalen Brunson’s last two NCAA tournament opponents have featured Big 12 standout guards Keenan Evans and Jevon Carter.

This time, though, he’ll be matched up against the Big 12 player of the year — recently-named AP first team All-American Devonte’ Graham.

“He’s a great player. He’s well deserving of all his accolades,” Brunson said. “His career over the past four years has been great. I really respect his game.”

Brunson knows he’s part of the prime-time matchup on Saturday. Still, the talented guard — and Bill Self’s pick for National Player of the Year — wanted to make sure that fans were paying attention to the right things.

“I’ve been asked a lot about it,” Brunson said. “I just know it’s Kansas vs. Villanova. It’s so much more than that one-on-one matchup.”