ORLANDO -- First comes a laugh. Then a smile, followed by the statement, "It's a long, long, long story," which is said in a thick Colombian accent.
Nothing about Braian Angola-Rodas' life is straightforward. His road to becoming a junior shooting guard on the Florida State men's basketball team began when he was an 11-year-old playing an otherwise unconventional sport in soccer-crazed Colombia.
Good enough to play for the nation's under-18 basketball team, Angola-Rodas was soon off to the United States. He went to high school in Nevada, attended junior college in Idaho before transferring and settling in Tallahassee.
"When I came on my visit, I felt like it was home for me," said Angola-Rodas, who was also pursued by Texas A&M, Oregon and Washington. "I just felt pretty comfortable, so that's why I decided to come here."
Angola-Rodas' winding path has led him and his teammates to the NCAA Tournament. FSU (25-8) opens with a first-round game in the West Regional against Florida Gulf Coast (26-7) at 9:20 p.m. Thursday at the Amway Center.
He enters the NCAA Tournament coming off his best game in Division I. He scored a career-high 17 points in 24 minutes in FSU's 77-73 loss to Notre Dame in the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Teammates have enjoyed seeing his success.
"It's great, especially knowing the things we know about him and his background like losing his dad," senior forward Jarquez Smith said. "His mom and his siblings are back home, and he always talks to them. I think they're his motivation, and he just wants to make them proud."
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Angola-Rodas grew up wanting to play a unique sport, which is how he came to basketball.
Colombia, which has a population of 47.2 million, has more than 2,700 soccer clubs. FIFA, which is soccer's governing body, estimates more than three million Colombians play soccer.
There only have been 16 Colombians to ever play college basketball in the United States, and Angola-Rodas is one of four to ever play at a Power 5 program, according to RealGM. Furthermore, a Colombian-born player has never played in the NBA.
Angola-Rodas said both of his parents played basketball, but it was his late father, Hugo, who really drove him to play.
Seminoles assistant coach Stan Jones said Angola-Rodas' parents were separated for a time but reunited. Shortly thereafter, Hugo died of a heart attack.
"A lot of kids who've had tough backgrounds, they may go into shells," Jones said. "But in team meetings we've had and team-building sessions we've had, he says, 'This is why I am doing things,' and 'This is my situation,' and 'This is how I cried when my father died just after him and my mom had reconciled,' and they thought their family was back strong."
Angola-Rodas said his father was -- and still is -- his best friend.
His goal is to become the kind of player who can someday use the game to make life better for his mother and two siblings who still live back in their hometown of Villanueva.
Providing a better life is why Angola-Rodas took the rocky path he chose to Florida State. He left home as a teenager to play for Findlay Prep in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, N.V. He then attended North Idaho College, where he played for two seasons.
The latest step in his journey brings him to the NCAA Tournament, one of the biggest stages in American sport.
"I think the first day I would have told my dad that I was in the NCAA Tournament, he would have cried," Angola-Rodas said. "I think he would be really, really proud of me and where I am at."
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