The Atlanta Hawks selected Omari Spellman, a North Royalton, Ohio native and former Villanova Wildcats power forward, with the final first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York Thursday night.
In his only year with the Wildcats, Spellman averaged 10.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.5 blocks over 28.1 minutes in 40 games, 39 of which he started for a Villanova team that won both the 2018 Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament championships.
The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Spellman shot 47.6 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three-point range and 70.0 percent at the free-throw line during the 2017-2018 season.
Spellman played a key role for the Wildcats in their 95-79 dismantling of the Kansas Jayhawks in the national semifinals at The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Spellman converted six of his 15 attempts from the field, with a three-for-nine showing from three-point range, on the way to a 15-point effort in the win over Kansas. Additionally, Spellman finished off a double-double with 13 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots in a winning effort.
The Wildcats started the game with a 9-2 run that forced the Jayhawks into a timeout, and they held a 16-4 edge over Kansas at the 14:21 mark of the first half.
After two misses from three-point range at the start of the game, the Wildcats got triples from forward Eric Paschall and Spellman, and guard Mikal Bridges joined in on the barrage by knocking down a shot of his own from long distance over an 88-second stretch.
Out of the break from Kansas’ timeout, Villanova guard Jalen Brunson buried a jumper and Spellman connected on his second three-pointer of the half.
Brunson Gallop To Cross Sets Up Spellman Rhythm Dip Hop In Place 3 Ball@bballbreakdown pic.twitter.com/EFbmLyUb2p
— BBiomechanics (@BBiomechanics) April 1, 2018
Spellman proved to be about far more than three-pointers, as with 2:34 to play in the first half, he caught a lob pass from guard Phil Booth, waited for the defense to attempt to block his shot, and then, threw down a two-handed slam.
OH MY SPELLMAN! 😳😳😳#FinalFour #LetsMarchNova pic.twitter.com/IwtepHqiO1
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 1, 2018
And that proved to be the first of two tone-setting dunks from Spellman.
As Kansas tried to make one final attempt at a comeback with just under six minutes to play in the second half, Spellman answered a dunk from Legerald Vick with another throw-down, which was set up by a pass from Brunson.
Brunson got into the lane and dribbled toward the three-point line before threading the needle through Kansas’ defense to Spellman, who caught the ball under the basket and slammed it home.
Jalen Brunson finds Omari Spellman for the easy flush! #LetsMarchNova #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/9dxHbqFKFw
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) April 1, 2018
Spellman’s performance against Kansas was similar to what he did against West Virginia in the NCAA Regional Semifinal, where he blocked a shot that was barely out of the hands of the shooter, outleted the ball to a guard, hustled down the field and cleaned up a miss with a put-back dunk, all in the span of 15 seconds.
Omari Spellman just went BERSERK. pic.twitter.com/x3GrxuF76N
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 24, 2018
To close out his only season with the Wildcats, Spellman scored eight points and pulled down 11 rebounds in Villanova’s 79-62 victory over the University of Michigan in the National Championship Game.