Ryan Arcidiacono

Ryan Curran Arcidiacono (born March 26, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Windy City Bulls of the NBA G League.

Nicknamed "The Arch of Dimes", he has represented Italy in international competition.

He attended Neshaminy High School, where he averaged 20.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior to lead Neshaminy to the PIAA playoffs.

As a freshman at Villanova, Arcidiacono was named to the Big East Conference All-Rookie Team.

As a junior, he was co-winner of the conference's Player of the Year award.

Arcidiacono was born on March 26, 1994, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He has three older siblings, Sabrina, Nicole, Michael; and younger twin siblings, Christopher and Courtney.

His parents, Joe and Patti Arcidiacono, met at Villanova University, where Joe was an offensive lineman on the football team.

His father installed a 6-foot plastic hoop in the family living room.

Young Arcidiacono would often practice shooting jump shots and hitting layups on the small hoop before progressing to an actual basketball court.

At one AAU game, Arcidiacono scored 50 points.

At another, he hit eight three-pointers in a row.

When he was in 7th grade at a basketball camp, Villanova coach Jay Wright said he would one day play for the Wildcats.

Growing up, his favorite athletes were the 76ers' Allen Iverson and the Eagles' Brian Dawkins.

In eighth grade, Arcidiacono trained with former Penn State player Ben Luber.

Arcidiacono attended Neshaminy High School, where he was coached by Jerry Devine.

Arcidiacono led the team to a PIAA Class AAAA tournament as a sophomore.

In a playoff game against Bartram High School, he tallied a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

He averaged 18 points per game and was named to the Class AAAA second team.

At the end of his sophomore season, Arcidiacono traveled with his AAU team, the PA Playaz, to North Carolina for the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.

In the first game of the tournament, he crashed into the floor face-first, an injury that required eight stitches.

Despite the advice of doctors, he decided to play in the following game and responded with 35 points.

He continued to score at the same pace for the remainder of the tournament, and major college programs took notice.

Arcidiacono received recruiting offers from Syracuse, Florida, Texas, and Villanova, among others.

In October 2010, after attending Villanova's Hoops Mania event, he committed to play for the Villanova Wildcats.

As a junior, Arcidiacono guided Neshaminy to a 22–7 record while averaging 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.2 steals.

He surpassed the 1,000 point mark in a game against Pennsbury, scoring 29 points in an 83–52 win.

The Neshaminy Redskins reached the state quarterfinals in 2011 before losing to Penn Wood.

After his junior season, he was named the Bucks County Courier Times player of the year.

The Philadelphia Inquirer selected him to the first-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania.

He began to feel pain in his lower back shortly after the end of his junior season.

In May 2011, while attending a basketball camp at the Deron Williams Academy in Chicago, Arcidiacono complained of poor mobility and soreness.

He was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back, forcing him to miss his senior season.

Arcidiacono had surgery to repair the disk on December 21, and he could not leave his house for two weeks thereafter.

Arcidiacono finished his career at Neshaminy High School as the program's all-time leading scorer.

He tallied 1,498 points, 449 rebounds, 378 assists, 178 steals, and 160 three-pointers.

Despite missing the season, ESPNU ranked him among the top 50 seniors in the country.

Arcidiacono began his freshman season not fully recovered from his back injury.

As part of Villanova's 2016 national championship team, Arcidiacono was awarded the Most Outstanding Player award and assisted on the game-winning basket to Kris Jenkins as time expired in the championship game.

He is widely considered among the greatest players in Villanova history.