Anaheim, near Los Angeles, is usually a place we go to for other reasons, probably related to a couple of Mickey’s ears placed on the head. Anaheim is the place where Disneyland is located, in California. But at the end of March, in 2019, Davide Moretti was in Anaheim because his Texas Tech Red Raiders had to play the Regionals of the NCAA Tournament, and a chance to move on to the Final Four in Minneapolis. A unique experience. Moretti was in his second year at Texas Tech: during the first, his team’s run had stopped in the Regionals, what they call Elite Eight in America, but he was a back-up on the team led by Zhaire Smith (later selected in the first round of the NBA draft by Philadelphia). Texas Tech lost to Villanova who then went on to win the NCAA championship a week later. But that was in 2018.

In 2019, Texas Tech had other ideas, aspirations, and a greater awareness of its potential. Regarding Moretti, he was no longer a reserve. He was the starting point-guard of a great team. Chris Beard, his coach, at the same time, represents an incredible story, because before reaching Texas Tech he had coached in places like Angelo State, McMurry and Little Rock, very far from big-time college basketball. During his career, however, he had also coached the Swiss national team, developing a certain passion for the European style of play and a lot of confidence in overseas players. The attempt to recruit Moretti had started years earlier, at an Under-18 European championship. “In America, there was the possibility of playing basketball and study at the highest level, I thought it was the right way to go,” said Moretti at the time of his arrival in Lubbock, “a city that is considered small here, but in Italy it would be one of the largest towns, Texas is huge.”

That day in Anaheim, before the game against Michigan, Chris Beard called the team for the usual pregame meeting. At one point, the Coach invited Davide Moretti to stand up. He wanted him to talk to his teammates, to explain what he was really playing for. Why do you want to play Davide, why? The Italian boy, born in Bologna, but already gone through various experiences, in Pistoia, Rome, and Treviso, who had had the honor of playing at the Michael Jordan’s camp, took the microphone and began talking about the family away from him. At that moment, in the back of the room, the door opened and Davide recognized three known faces: his father Paolo, his mom Mariolina and his younger brother Nicolò. The video, taken by Texas Tech and posted on its social media, went viral.

In the evening, Texas Tech defeated Michigan, Moretti scored 15 points and added four assists. He went 3-for-4 from three-point range. Two days later he scored 12 more points against Gonzaga, another win, and the trip to the Final Four was clinched. Davide took over the net from one basket and gave it to the person he trusts the most: Nicolò Moretti. It’s a family affair.

Paolo Moretti was born in Arezzo, but grew up in the Siena’s youth teams and there he emerged at a very young age, then moved to Verona at the age of 18, where he won the A2 championship and the Italy Cup, the only A2 team capable to win it, and finally in 1992 he was acquired by Virtus Bologna along Riccardo Morandotti. The Virtus coach at the time was Ettore Messina. In 1992, Virtus won the championship by beating Treviso in the final. Moretti witnessed that game on crutches, after suffering a catastrophic knee injury two days earlier in Treviso. Moretti recovered from that injury, and eventually won two more league championships in Bologna. In 1996 he was one of the first Italian players to move abroad to play for Peristeri Athens. Finally, he returned to Italy, won the Italian Cup again, with Fortitudo Bologna and retired in 2000, at just 30 years of age, for health reasons that he was able to overcome.

His retirement as a player, when Davide was two-year old, however, offered him the opportunity to jump-start his coaching career. At 35 he became head coach in the Italian top league, in Livorno, then he coached in Reggio Calabria, Brindisi, Varese and twice in Pistoia. In 2014 he was coach of the year and in the playoffs, with players like Brad Wanamaker, Deron Washington and JaJuan Johnson, his team forced Olimpia into a dramatic quarter-final game 5. His son Davide eventually made his Italian league debut in Pistoia, but he was a top prospect for Stella Azzurra too and in Treviso he was going to be one of the best youngsters in the second league.

Davide on April 6, 2019, helped Texas Tech in the win over Michigan State 61-51 conquering the first-ever championship game in the history of the school. Two days later in a dramatic game, he scored 15 points in the defeat after an overtime against Virginia. At the end of that season, his friend Jarrett Culver was chosen in the first round of the NBA draft by Minnesota, where Gianluca Pascucci, the former Olimpia general manager, is now part of the front office. Davide instead remained with the Red Raiders, and became the captain, a solid leader. During the 2019/20 season he averaged 13.1 points per game, improving from the previous season. For his career, he is a 90.2% free-throw shooter. But although he is known as a high level shooter, it is no coincidence that his idol is Steph Curry, and his father Paolo was an exceptional shooter himself, Davide during his three years under Chris Beard has improved especially defensively, at putting pressure on the ball. “The truth about Moretti – says his coach at Texas Tech – is that even if he didn’t play the game, he would still be the smartest guy in any room”.

Last season, Moretti had a heavier role than the previous one. Significant was the game won against Louisville, one of the best of the season for Texas Tech, in which an important player of the team like Jahmi’us Ramsey was also absent. That evening, Moretti scored 18 points and went 8-for-8 from the line. At West Virginia, it’s another example, he scored 16 points with four threes, and against the same opponent at home, he scored 25 points with six threes, against Kansas State he had 18 points connecting four time from downtown, 13 of those points were scored in the second half. Finally, in the last game of his career at Texas Tech, against Kansas – then the number 1 team in the ranking – Moretti scored 18 points over 38 minutes, while guarding the Kansas star, Devon Dotson, and leading the comeback that brought the Red Raiders back to within three with 12 seconds to play before losing by four. And now he’s in Milan, leaving behind a trail of fans who appreciated his enthusiasm, seriousness and leadership. Now it’s time to take another step up.