Naples –
At the end of the game against Gevi Napoli, valid for Round 5 of the LBA regular season, these are the words of coach Banchi: “An important victory that comes after a cycle of very tough games, two consecutive away games. We bring home as many victories and file this trip with satisfaction, with the knowledge that today we violated a court where few teams will be able to win this season, we did it with good authority, built on an important second period and with a second quintet able to keep up the level of intensity and quality, without giving space to our opponents. We were not as accurate on the inevitable comeback, especially from an emotional point of view, of Napoli to preserve a resilient lead, but nevertheless Napoli never got to a single-digit disadvantage distance and this convinces me that we are on a good path but still with the margins to express a continuity of play that would do more honor to the effort we produce, especially in the defensive half of the court. This is a team that has its own clear identity, we work on a pre-existing structure and on an emotional value that is linked to the previous season, a season of finals but unfortunately of lost finals. After the Supercup Bologna has definitely accumulated a lot of desire and a lot of will to want to prove that it wants to compete. Having in the team veterans and players of such experience certainly facilitates the coach’s task, because they are by my side in trying to keep the level of tension high in a league that does not give us room to maneuver because the level of the contenders is very high and in a Euroleague where we are among the last to arrive and we are trying to continue on a promising start to the season. There is so much to do in terms of continuity and performance, we can’t stay out of trouble, even tonight too many lost balls and avoidable and trivial mistakes that don’t fully do justice to a team that is producing a great effort. I stand by my application and willingness, but I am aware that there is still a lot of room to try to get this team to performance levels that can allow us to fuel our aspirations and ambitions. I’ve been doing this job for a long time even though I missed the Italian league for a while, the calendar in the initial phase has a bearing on the current rankings because it is inevitable that it can generate inequalities, there are teams that have a different level of preparation and cohesion. In the Italian league, the ranking should be looked at the end of the first leg, deadline that determines the eight teams that will go to the Coppa Italia, which will be played on a neutral field with dry matches. From there, over a range of 15 games, you can see the trend of a team.”
