It Ain't Going to be Easy Landing Angelo Brizzi
Angelo Brizzi was once an under-the-radar recruit not garnering much attention from high-major schools and mostly talking to Ivy league schools.
Those days are long gone.
In the month of April, the 6-foot-4 guard picked up offers from Virginia Tech, Villanova, California, Georgetown, LSU and Colorado. He’s talking to schools like Marquette, Virginia and North Carolina.
“It's really fun and it's exciting,” Brizzi said about talking to a bunch of coaches over the last couple of months. “Obviously it's way different because you're supposed to be out playing AAU right now and they're supposed to be watching us and stuff, but it's just really different.”
The three-star recruit is supposed to play for Team Curry, based in Charlotte, if AAU ball picks up again. Which still could happen and go into late July.
He averaged 20.3 points and 6.6 assists as a junior, shooting 47 percent from the field and 35 percent from three.
Brizzi first got in contact with Colorado during the wintertime when assistant coach Anthony Coleman was in the D.C. area. He met with Coleman and they have stayed in contact ever since.
Brizzi, being from Monterey (Va.), admittedly did not know much about Colorado.
“Before I met coach Coleman, I kind of knew nothing (about Colorado). I'm not gonna lie,” Brizzi said. “But yeah, I knew nothing at all. But I've learned a lot about it since then. It's a really, really good academic school. It has the major I'm interested in. And obviously the basketball was top 15 for a while this year and top 25, it’s been a really good program as of late.”
The sharpshooting guard prioritizes academics and wants to major in something environmental. Which happens to be something Colorado is known for.
He’s recently had multiple conversations with the coaching staff and on a zoom call with the entire staff last week they reached out with an offer.
One of the other reasons Colorado is enticing is the departure of McKinley Wright. He is currently testing the NBA Draft waters but is expected to return for his senior year. If Wright comes back, Brizzi will be coming in to replace Wright.
“Yeah, that's that's part of the pitch because they're not bringing in a point guard for 2020 and McKinley Wright is going to be a senior so they’ll need a point guard,” Brizzi said. “So that's been the pitch and It's a little intimidating but not a bad way. It's like, you got big shoes to fill but it’s also a really good opportunity.”
Head coach Tad Boyle has discussed the sort of playstyle he likes in a point guard and Brizzi feels like he matches that.
“Coach Boyle has just told me that he loves scoring point guards and he wants his point guard to be able to score and create shots for others and himself,” Brizzi said. “And they play up-tempo which I love too.”
Brizz says he will take some time and might start to create a list and narrow down his schools in the near future. There are no leaders at the moment and he would like to take his visits before he decides anything. He wants to officially visit the schools that are further away such as California, Colorado, Stanford (if they offer) and Marquette (if they offer). Then he can’t take unofficials to the schools close by.
Villanova is definitely a school that would have a shot here due to their pedigree of putting point guards in the NBA.