Milwaukee Bucks: Getting to know 17th overall pick, Donte DiVincenzo

Who is Donte DiVincenzo?

Born in Newark, Delaware, DiVincenzo originally held a love for the sport of soccer. But before entering Salesianum High School, DiVincenzo pivoted to concentrate fully on basketball.

It turns out that decision set the trajectory for DiVincenzo as he gradually became a star player at Salesianum and won back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior seasons. In addition to his team success, DiVincenzo was named Boys Basketball Player of the Year by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association as a senior.

While DiVincenzo crafted a very accomplished career during his time at Salesianum, he was ranked as the 124th best recruit in his class, per 247 Sports.

However, that didn’t deter him from deciding on going to Villanova after weighing between going there or playing for Syracuse University as his coach Brendan Haley told Brad Meyers of The News Journal at the time of his decision:

"“For a couple of months, he’s been between those two,” the coach said. “He went up to the Villanova-Syracuse game last Saturday [at Syracuse]. So he’s done his due diligence, visited each of the places and met with the teams and the coaches, looked at the schools. I think he just knew, something in his heart was telling him that [Villanova] was the right place.”"

As we all know, the ripple effects of that decision can be directly tied to where DiVincenzo is today.