Elite point guard Jalen Brunson will choose between Illinois, Villanova

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, either Villanova or Illinois will secure its point guard of the future.

Jalen Brunson, one of the Class of 2015's most coveted point guards, revealed to Rivals.com on Monday that he has narrowed his options to those two schools and will announce his decision then. The 6-foot-1 Illinois resident previously also considered Michigan State, Purdue and Temple, but he narrowed his options after visiting Villanova and Illinois the past two weekends.

The addition of Brunson would be huge for either the Wildcats or Illini.

Villanova starting point guard Ryan Arcidiacono would be a senior when Brunson is a freshman if he sticks around that long, but they could likely play together and split the ball handling duties in Jay Wright's guard-heavy system. Furthermore, Brunson has Philadelphia ties since his father played for Temple and he spent a significant portion of his childhood in the area.

Of course, Illinois would even be more of a hometown pick for Brunson since he lives in the Chicago area now. Plus, the path is clear for Brunson to start right away at point guard for the Illini under coach John Groce, who has a history of developing talent at the position dating back to his days with D.J. Cooper at Ohio University.

Whichever school lands Brunson is getting a player ranked No. 15 in his class by Rivals.com. Those familiar with his game say the left-handed point guard handles the ball well, makes good decisions in transition and keeps defenders honest with his 3-point shooting ability.

The big losers in Monday's announcement are Temple and Michigan State.

The Owls were thought to be a favorite to land Brunson because of their plan to hire his father as an assistant coach, but his arrest scuttled that plan. Many believed that the Spartans inherited the role of favorite from Temple after that saga, but Brunson instead will go down as another Chicago-area product who spurned Tom Izzo.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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