Final Eight basketball Turin: today’s programme

Premised on the eve, avoiding the usual two foxes pretending not to know what type of grape could pass through the vineyard of their convent, the Italian Cup is worth more than the Super Cup assigned in September; less than a landing in the Euroleague playoffs and the spring-summer collection championship still to be put in the closet. Warnings necessary only for the couple who explode if they don’t squabble for any Italian title, Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna, and from which the other six in the realm go beyond: a cockade is well worth almost an entire season for the third wheel designated Tortona, for the spectacular Varese and Pesaro and also for the gloomy ones, as well as reported in crisis but with the opportunity to recover, Venice, Trento and Brescia.

The Final Eight have always been full of surprises, despite the predictions on the eve not going beyond two or at most three solutions. Flying with your imagination, in a trap of 3 dry competitions in four or five days, costs nothing. The predictions of the majority are divided, in strict ranking order, between EA7, reigning Italian champions and holders of the trophy in search of the hat-trick, Segafredo, who has already put a notch on the bulletin board with the Supercoppa, and al maximum extend to Bertram Yachts, third in the class for a year and a half now as well as finalist in the past season in Pesaro. Who has already won its Coppa Italia, regardless of who lifts it on Sunday evening, is Turin, once again the capital of baskets seven years after the unfortunate Pre-Olympic for Italy and four since the last Serie A match in the city: the two sold outs for the semifinals and the final, over 11,000 spectators at the Pala Alpitour, represent a treasure not to be lost for the parish of Italian basketball.

Today’s two races
Quarter finals
– 18.00: EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Germani Brescia
The inauguration of the five matchdays in Turin, including Friday off for everyone, belongs to the spin of the magnificent eight: Olimpia Milano, still top of the class, against Brescia, eighth at the halfway point in the league in the midst of a crisis six consecutive losses. Milan, in the city where he won the first (in 1972), dreams of his ninth Italian Cup, as well as third in a row, and the highly decorated Messina, who has reached 32 titles in his career, longs for his tenth personal cockade. Having re-emerged with four joys in a row between the championship and the Euroleague with the arrival of Shabazz Napier, EA7 lands in the Final Eight in the best moment of form in recent months. Still absent the bruised Shields, Pangos and Baldasso from Turin and with three foreigners destined to remain in civilian clothes due to turnover (the most suspects are Mitrou-Long, Thomas and Voigtmann), the old wolf Ettore Messina preaches the old adage to think one game at a time: «We face a competition that we have won in the last two years and we would obviously like to win again, but as always in this type of tournament all the participants have the chance to go all the way. For the moment we are not thinking about the Coppa Italia but only about the match against Brescia, which has put us in great difficulty in the league, has talented and experienced players, and is gradually recovering the injured. In knockout matches, the little things are decisive, such as limiting turnovers, not allowing offensive rebounds, not allowing the opponent to go too far into the line or to score easy baskets in transition. We will build our game on these little things». Diametrically opposite period for the Lioness, always beaten in the four previous Italian Cup matches (two in 1984, one in 1988 and one in 2022) with Olimpia, which can field three famous exes such as Moss, Della Valle and Burns. «We leave for Turin with great enthusiasm and with a clear mind: we want to try to play it to the end – says Alessandro Magro, coach of Germani, closing the press silence established after the knockout in the last round of the championship with Sassari – and enjoy the magic of the Final Eight. The Coppa Italia finals are a particular moment where everything comes to zero, each team that participates has the same percentage of making these days memorable. However, a complicated match awaits us against Milan: we face the strongest team in the championship, which in the last few games has once again changed its balance, inserting a player like Napier who has outlined and made the hierarchies within the roster clearer » .

– 8.45 pm: Carpegna Ham Pesaro – Openjobmetis Varese
The first evening of the Pala Alpitour ends with the two opposites, not even so much in the standings (fourth against fifth), who created a show in the first round. In the many challenges within the most intriguing challenge of the quarterfinals, also due to the tactical and conceptual differences of the two rivals, the one between the two strategists on the bench stands out: on the one hand the highly experienced Croatian Jasmin Repesa, on the other the rampant American Matt Brase. Not least the one between the two strikers: Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, fourth in the scoring charts (16.5 points per game) against Colbey Ross, second at 16.8. The duel in the paint between Kravic and Owens is also teasing, with the blue Caruso who promises to participate actively. Not to mention the one between the wingers: Gudmundsson, Charalampopoulos, Cheatham and the eternal Delfino for Carpegna facing the opposite Brown, Woldetensae and Johnson for Openjobmetis. The patience, the use of post games and the physicality of Pesaro cross the frantic run, the athleticism and the transitions at a thousand per hour of Varese. Victoria Libertas, despite the knockout with a fresh coach change in Venice and the ruinous one (-36) two weeks ago in Sassari, lands in Turin with a roadmap of four victories in the last six games and without one of the elements most prominent: Davide Mazzola out for the whole season due to Achilles tendon rupture. And even Davide Moretti, out with flu in the last round of the championship, is not announced in his top conditions. «It will be a very demanding match, we will have to try to limit their pace, but without distorting our nature. They are the formation that plays the highest number of possessions in Serie A in attack », reasons Bruno Savignani, Repesa’s assistant coach. The infernal machine of Varese, in recent weeks, appears a little more crowded than in the first kilometers of the season: three joys and three sorrows, two with Tortona and Milan, in the last six outings. The Pesaro scalp would represent a sort of liberation for Varese: so far the balance against the first four in the class, namely Milan, Bologna, Tortono and Carpegna itself, certifies a heavy 0-6. «We have prepared well for the Final Eight – announces coach Brase – and we hope to play good basketball. I don’t know if we will be the surprise of the tournament, the most important thing is to be focused on the match against Pesaro».

PROGRAM and TV
Quarter finals
Wednesday February 15th
– 18.00: EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Germani Brescia (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, DMAX, discovery+).
– 8.45 pm: Carpegna Prosciutto Pesaro – Openjobmetis Varese (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, DMAX, discovery+)

Thursday 16 February
– 18.00: Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Umana Reyer Venice (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, DMAX, discovery+)
– 8.45 pm: Bertram Yachts Derthona Tortona – Dolomiti Energia Trentino (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, DMAX, discovery+)

Semifinals
Saturday 18 February18.00: first semifinal among the winners on Wednesday (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, NOVE, discovery+)
Saturday 18 February8.45 pm: second semifinal between Thursday’s winners (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, NOVE, discovery+)
The final
Sunday February 19th18.00: final (Eleven Sports, Eurosport 2, NOVE,discovery+)