Villanova guard Donte Divincenzo has been the star of the first half of the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. Through 20 minutes, he's come off the bench to score a team-high 18 points, including a 3-of-4 effort from behind the arc.
DONTE pic.twitter.com/R1aFx2HyAI
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 3, 2018
Donte DiVincenzo from DEEP. pic.twitter.com/ROTtnDWd7Y
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 3, 2018
So who is this ultimate sixth man on Villanova's star-studded team?
He was a blue-chip recruit out of Delaware in 2015
DiVincenzo was a four-star prospect out of Delaware's Salesianum High School in Wilmington and the top overall player in the state, according to 247Sports' composite rankings for 2015.
He has one of the best nicknames in college basketball (and maybe all of sports)
As you can gather, the "Big Ragu" is based on his Italian last name. But how did he get it? Look no further than veteran and excitable play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson, who dubbed DiVincenzo the "Big Ragu" after a tip-in winner against Virginia in 2017.
He's already become a Twitter meme
When you come off the bench to outscore everyone else on the floor, social media takes notice. And you can believe that DiVincenzo quickly became the subject of many Twitter puns and memes, both good and not so good.
it's not delivery, IT'S DIVINCENZO
— Joe Polito (@JoePo89) April 3, 2018
DiVincenzo sounds like a delicious pizza tbh
— Morgan Moriarty (@Morgan_Moriarty) April 3, 2018
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) April 3, 2018
Please allow me to be the first to cleverly put the words DONTE'S INFERNO together.
— Steve Greenberg (@SLGreenberg) April 3, 2018
Donte’s en fuego.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 3, 2018
Make no mistake about his place on the team
While Mikal Bridges is getting love as a likely NBA lottery pick and Jalen Brunson is College Basketball Awards: CBS Sports' 2017-18 All-America teams and Player, Coach and Freshman of the Year, sometimes it's easy to forget that Villanova has another two or so future pros on this team -- and one of them is DiVincenzo. The guard is freaky athletic and a sharpshooter at about 47 percent from the field and nearly 40 percent from the beyond the arc.
NO EASY BUCKETS pic.twitter.com/FjeeiWzCAh
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 3, 2018
The redshirt sophomore may not jump to the NBA after this season, but with Brunson likely going, this will be DiVincenzo's team by 2018-19. Beyond that, a career in the pros seems likely for this guy.