Angelo Brizzi first visited UNC as a high school recruit during the Roy Williams era. Seven years, four programs and an unexpected NCAA waiver later, the veteran guard has finally made his way to Chapel Hill for one final college season.
Seven years ago, Angelo Brizzi visited Chapel Hill as a high school basketball recruit.
At the time, Roy Williams was North Carolina’s head coach. Caleb Love and Walker Kessler were among the other recruits on campus. Brizzi was considering the Tar Heels, but ultimately chose Villanova before UNC’s point guard recruitment completely played itself out.
He probably couldn’t have imagined then how long it would take him to ultimately wear Carolina blue (or if he ever would).
But after stops at Villanova, Davidson, Longwood, and Buffalo (and after believing his college career was already over) Brizzi has finally arrived at North Carolina.
Talk about coming full circle.
“I made the decision to commit to Villanova before Kennedy [Chandler] made a decision,” Brizzi recalled during his preseason press conference Monday. “It’s funny, but also pretty cool to be back here five, six years later. It’s just full circle.”
Brizzi’s road back to Chapel Hill somehow became even more unusual this summer.
After averaging a career-best 14.5 points per game at Buffalo last season, Brizzi had begun preparing to play professionally overseas. He had hired an agent and started discussing European opportunities because, for all intents and purposes, his college career was finished.
There was technically still an NCAA waiver hanging in the balance.
Brizzi just wasn’t exactly obsessing over it.
“I had forgotten about it,” he admitted.
Then, while Brizzi was in the gym one Tuesday, a text arrived around noon informing him that his waiver had been approved. Suddenly, professional basketball could wait. Brizzi had another year of college eligibility.
The next few weeks became a whirlwind. Buffalo didn’t have an available scholarship for him, so Brizzi needed a new home. Then came phone calls from new UNC head coach Michael Malone and associate head coach Chuck Martin.
“It was hard to turn down UNC,” Brizzi said. “It’s not every day you get a call from an NBA champion head coach.”
So, years after those initial conversations during the Williams era, Brizzi finally became a Tar Heel.
And perhaps the circuitous route is exactly what makes him such an intriguing piece for Malone’s first Carolina team.
Brizzi isn’t arriving as a wide-eyed freshman trying to figure out college basketball. He has played for multiple programs, experienced different levels of the sport and made 69 career starts before ever stepping onto the floor for UNC.
When asked what separates him in a talented Carolina backcourt, Brizzi didn’t hesitate.
“The one thing I bring to the table that most guys can’t is just experience, just from having been around the block,” Brizzi said. He believes he can provide a steady presence while playing either guard position, describing his likely role as some combination of the one and the two.
That versatility could matter on a roster featuring Terrence Brown, Neo Avdalas, Matt Able and Isaiah Denis. So could Brizzi’s perspective.
He’s already been through the recruiting hype. He’s transferred. He’s played at both high-major and mid-major programs. He’s experienced changing roles, injuries around him creating new opportunities and the uncertainty of thinking his college career was finished.
Now he gets one final season, at one of the schools that recruited him before the journey ever began.
Brizzi’s Carolina career may have arrived several years later than anyone expected.
But sometimes the best stories take the longest route home.
