Serie A basketball: Milan or Virtus, who will win?

It’s not just Milan and Virtus Bologna, even if it seems and if in the end it will be difficult to see others play for the scudetto. Four reasons to frame the season at the start.

1) the fourth chapter

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For the fourth consecutive year, Milan and Virtus start in front of everyone else. In the last three playoffs, before meeting in the final, only Milan lost a match in the quarterfinals, last May in Pesaro. Their commitment in the Euroleague, where the regular season is longer than in Serie A (34 games against 30), costs some defeats in Italy: in the last championship 7 each. Milan also lost six in the two previous championships, while Virtus stopped at 4 in 2021/22 when however they were playing the less expensive Eurocup, and reached 9 the previous year when they were third but then won the title. Today Olimpia celebrates their third star at the Forum against Treviso. “We will have to be physical and intense from the first minute,” said Mario Fioretti, deputy to Ettore Messina, 64 years old yesterday, who begins his 21st season in Milan. Virtus starts again from Scafati. “In the championship we will have to present ourselves with combative, well-organized and consistent basketball,” said Luca Banchi after the first full week of work with the team.

2) third to whom?

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Last year Tortona, in 2022 Brescia, Venice is the last to have won a championship, in 2019, before the so-called “duopoly” imposed itself. These are the best equipped for third place. Derthona has also extended the team in view of the European debut in the Champions League. He did not confirm the capricious talent of JP Macura and Semaj Christon who went to Brescia, took Kyle Weems from Virtus, Arturs Strautins fifth in the World Cup with Banchi’s Latvia and will give space to Tommasso Baldasso. Brescia is also a deep team even if they won’t compete in the Eurocup like last year. Miro Bilan guarantees danger under the basket, Jason Burnell solidity, Amedeo Della Valle the usual offensive flair. Venice starts almost from scratch. Once Walter De Raffaele’s cycle was exhausted, only Andrea De Nicolao remained of that nucleus. After the “package” Bruno Caboclo, here is Kyle Wiltjer, NCAA champion with Kentucky in 2012. Sassari historically fits into this level and in the last two seasons with Piero Bucchi has reached the semi-finals. The injury to Bendzius could complicate the first part of the season.

3) desire to surprise

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Finding a core of strong foreigners who play well together often means projecting yourself to playoff level. Varese’s season, before the penalty, is the latest example. This year too, Luis Scola has opted for a foreign coach, Tom Bialaszewski (former Messina assistant in Milan), and an interesting group of Americans including center Willie Cauley-Stein, chosen with number 6 by Sacramento in the 2015 draft. Also watch out for Langston Galloway of Reggio Emilia, like Napoli and Varese, starting with a foreign coach making his debut in Serie A. The very renovated Brindisi today plays for access to the Champions League against Cholet.

4) a-2 big names

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The A-2 also begins the last season structured on two groups with one promotion each and six relegations. From next year, single group with 20 teams. Historic squares and important cities including on the one hand Cantù, Turin, Milan, Rieti, Rome (with the Luiss university students) and the return of Vigevano, on the other Verona, Udine, Trieste, Rimini and Fortitudo Bologna which, at the third season in the second series, has collected 4,107 subscribers, slightly less than Milan currently has.