Bologna –
Waited for years like its fatal Lilì Marlen, the Coppa Italia remains for Segafredo the last bulwark to conquer after having rejoiced in the last European campaigns with the Champions and in Italy with the Scudetto and Supercoppa.
To break the spell of the quarters with Brindisi, they’ll need a victory, first of all in the coloured area, the Happy Casa is the second of the lot in offensive caroms (11,2), where Nick Perkins (17,2 third scorer of the championship with 5,9 rebounds) and Mattia Udom (another 4,1 rebounds to the cause), whose ductility allows him to play also as a five. Then again the open court, where the absence of Josh Perkins will be compensated by the physicality of Raphael Gaspardo (10.1 points with 39.1% from 3) and Nathan Adrian (10.4 points + 5.4 rebounds). In addition to Perkins, who ended up in Turkey with Petkimspor, coach Vitucci’s team has also picked up something else from the market: pivot forward Maxime De Zeeuw, 34 years old, 206 centimeters, who moved to Brindisi with Hapoel Holon in the Champions League, and Alessandro Gentile from Varese. In the last three games, already partly with the new configuration, the team scored less (79 points vs 81,1), conceded less (80,7 vs 82), shot less from 3 (25,7 vs 27,9 attempts), captured more offensive rebounds (12,7 vs 10,8), distributed less assists (16 vs 17,6).
