By Luca Virgilio
After the first three days of competition at Udine we have the first results of U19 Italian Final Round. Virtus Roma, Montepaschi Siena, Biella and Virtus Bologna have direct access to the quarterfinals, which will be played tomorrow. Today, however, will be held the four playoffs to the quarter-finals. But now we gonna analyze what happened round by round:
Group A: Biella has won without too many problems his three games, playing without Lagana (high fever), demonstrating that they are candidates for final victory. The Stella Azzurra has beaten both Trieste and Treviso earning the second place in the standings and playing a very aggressive and energic basketball. Treviso was a bit of a disappointment -they are the reigning champions of the event- but Ivanov has completely mistaken the game against the Stella Azzurra (only 4 points), and he redeemed himself in the game against Trieste scoring 29 points.
Final Standings: 6 Biella, 4 Stella Azzurra , 2 Treviso, Trieste 0
Group B: this was without doubt the most entertaining group. Virtus Bologna has proven to be a canditate for the title, because he has players like Imbro, Landi, Pechacek and an extraordinary Fontecchio (22 points average for him that was born in '95). The Virtus Siena has risked a lot, because they lost the opening match against Ruvo and they are qualified by the basket's difference. Despite a difficult start, this team remains a tough opponent for everyone because Tessitori -at the pic- is in extraordinary form (24 points on average).The big surprise of these national finals was undoubtedly Ruvo di Puglia who beat Virtus Siena and was defeated after 2 overtimes from Virtus Bologna (Imbro's buzzer beater). This team has players like Laquintana , Merletto and Siqueira and they are very difficult to face.
Final standings: Virtus Bologna 6; Virtus Siena 2; Ruvo di Puglia 2; Montecatini 2.
Group C: This group has dominated the Montepaschi Siena of Monaldi, Udom and Severini. This team has many years that is one of the best of his age and will try to finally win the title. Rimini is also a good team because the have interesting players like Bortolin, Dimitrov and Tenchev but lost their match with Siena and has had to settle for second place in group c. In the challenge valid for the last playoff spot Bergamo defeated Pesaro thanks to a good team performance and especially thanks to 20 points of Carnovali and 16 of Tomasini while in Pesaro are not enough the Tortù's 14 points.
Final standings: Montepaschi Siena 6; Rimini Crabs 4; Comark Bergamo 2; Scavolini Pesaro 0.
Group D: Virtus Roma in this group had life too easy, no problems winning all three matches. The team is guided by the experience of the point guard Marchetti and a long roster that could enable them to aspire to fight until the end for the title. Livorno have confirmed the predictions took second place in the group thanks to the good performance of their center Benvenuti ('95),we probably expected something more from Casale Monferrato but instead he was qualified for the playoffs only at the last game against Varese thanks to baskets of Giovara, Di Prampero and Strotz
Final Standings: Virtus Roma 6; Livorno 4; Casale Monferrato 2; Campus Varese 0
Today they will play for the playoffs to the quarter:
Game 1 Stella Azzurra - Ruvo di Puglia; Game 2 Virtus Siena - Benetton Treviso; Game 3 Rimini - Casale Monferrato ; Game 4 Don Bosco Livorno - Comark Bergamo
These however are the pairings for the quarterfinals to be played tomorrow:
Biella - Game 3
Virtus Bologna - Game 4
Montepaschi Siena - Game 1
Virtus Roma - Game 2
Twitter of the author: @lucavirgilio
Photo: web.worldbasket.com (Amedeo Tessitori)
