Cantù-Varese, third day of return of the Serie A UnipolSai 2020-’21 championship. Not a salvation play-off – because the calendar will put in front of the Canturini still many matches, eleven after this one – but it is clear that in the derby scheduled for Sunday 31 January at the “PalaBancoDesio”, duo at 16:00, Acqua S .Bernardo will play a lot of his season. Cantù, in fact, currently has 8 points, two more than Varese which, however, has yet to recover three games, respectively against Brindisi, Brescia and Fortitudo. The ranking position of the two Lombard teams, therefore, certainly portends a crucial challenge, at the same time, however, not sentencing, with still four months to go until the end of the regular season.
The fact remains, however, that Cantù, also winning this derby (also won the first leg played in Masnago), would take an important step in the long-distance duel with the historic red and white rivals, taking the 2-0 in direct clashes and this, for Varese, it would necessarily mean having to win one more match of Cantù to put his head forward.
It will not be a derby like the others – this is self-evident – but, in addition to the significant stake at stake, the 148th match between Cantù and Varese will also be made even more exclusive by a couple of peculiar circumstances. The first: the covid. If the virus, in fact, had already sneaked into the first leg, forcing S. Bernard to renounce Jaime Smith, then the return derby will also be affected by the coronavirus, with Openjobmetis players and staff recently hit en masse. The second, however, is linked to the change on the bench just before a derby: as on the eve of the second leg of the Supercoppa, in fact, Cantù, like Varese, has chosen to replace his head coach. In September Varese chose to entrust the technical guide to Massimo Bulleri, who took over from Attilio Caja (although the assistant Vincenzo Cavazzana went to Desio on that occasion). Cantù did the same in the week leading up to the match most felt by the fans, entrusting the management of the team to coach Piero Bucchi. 62 years old, from Bologna, with 623 appearances in Serie A, coach Bucchi took over from Cesare Pancotto this week and, against Openjobmetis, not only will make his debut on the biancoblù bench, but will try to hit the 330th victory of the his long and esteemed career.
Bucchi, who directed his first training session in Cantù on Tuesday evening, has already brought to the team a strong wave of enthusiasm and energy, qualities necessary to turn the season in full swing of the second round, in which enthusiasm and energy will have to do rhymes with victories.
“Even though I am aware of making my debut on a prestigious and important bench like that of Cantù – said Bucchi during the presentation -, which arouses so much pride in me, my state of mind is very similar to that of all the other debuts of my career. I feel great desire and tension, but also the right attention to face a race. In any case, a positive emotion, certainly ».
On the match and the situation of the opponents: «Sorry for Varese; this, due to covid, is confirmed as a strange season. However, I am convinced that an equally fierce team will arrive in Desio, as in the match against Trieste. For us, therefore, it will not be an easy match but we are ready. The team, available immediately, is working with good energy and intensity, qualities that must necessarily be transformed on the pitch on Sunday. Finally, the mental aspect will be important. A tough and intense match awaits us »concluded the new head coach of San Bernardo.
THE ROSTER OF VARESE
The starting point guard is the 27 year old from Trieste, ex Vanoli Cremona, Michele Ruzzier; with assets also two appearances in blue. His natural change in that role is another Italian player, Giovanni De Nicolao, making his debut in the top category after a solid run in Serie A2; his brother Andrea, under Reyer, also wore the Varese jersey between 2012 and 2014. The starting guard is US veteran Toney Douglas, 35 years old in March, with a long experience in the NBA, the championship in which boasts nearly 400 appearances and more than 3000 points scored; in the 2009 draft he was chosen on the first lap by the Los Angeles Lakers, with the call number 29, one round before Christian Eyenga, former red and white. Quickly traded with New York, where he played his first three seasons, Douglas ended his NBA stint four years ago, making 24 appearances for the Memphis Grizzlies. However, alternatives in that role are not lacking in Bulleri, who, from the bench, can certainly draw two important cards: the Latvian Ingus Jakovics, in his second year in red and white; and the American Anthony Beane, taken from Virtus Roma, with whom the Illinois native had started the season; both are two excellent shooters, despite the three percentages being misleading. The small forward is the mighty Arturs Strautins, who is experiencing an amazing personal season and probably well above the initial expectations; he is an extremely flexible player, who can be enlisted both as a guard and in both wing spots. Latvian by birth but Italian by training, Strautins also has an excellent hand from the outside, as well as being tough on defense and rebounding; essential pawn for this Openjobmetis. Just as essential is also the presence on the field of the almost 41-year-old Argentine Luis Scola, icon of South American basketball and one of the brightest stars in the championship, who the record-holding center of the “albiceleste” national team dominates since the beginning of the season, permanently at the top of the ranking of the markers. The other rotating players are Anthony Morse, who changes Scola in the role of “five”, fresh from the contract extension; captain Giancarlo Ferrero, flag and symbol of Varese since 2015; and winger Niccolò De Vico who, after a fluctuating start, has finally found – also thanks to the departure of the Swede Danzel Andersson – minutes and personality to establish himself as a starting “four”. However, thanks to the probable defections from covid in the external ward, coach Bulleri may still have to resort to the use of the “under” Nicolò Virginio and Matteo Librizzi, employed in the field with important minutes in the midweek match against Trieste. Virginio – who is talked about very well – is a class of 2003 and, with Allianz, he even started in the starting line, playing almost 20 ‘. Finally, the official announcement of John Egbunu, a burly Nigerian center, born in 1994, weighing 208 centimeters by 111 kilos, is yesterday’s news. Released in 2018 by the University of Florida, where he had former biancoblù Kevarrius Hayes as a teammate (and departmental), Egbunu has a year in the G-League behind him and some appearances in South Korea; due to bureaucratic reasons, however, he will not be available for the trip to Brianza.
PREVIOUS
There are 147 challenges between Cantù Basketball and Varese Basketball: guests ahead in the balance of victories with 88 statements, against 59 successes of the Brianza. This Sunday will be the fourth derby between the two teams during the season: the two teams have already met on three occasions; twice in the Super Cup, in addition to the first leg. In the last two comparisons the victory has always gone to Cantù, victorious in Desio 81 to 72 in the second leg of the Supercoppa group; and, with the final result of 90 to 80 in his favor, also in the first leg of last 11 October, which took place in Masnago.
GENERAL INFO
The match between Cantù and Varese, live on Eurosport Player – radio commentary on Radio Cantù 89.6 FM and streaming on radiocantu.com – will be refereed by Messrs. Saverio Lanzarini, Denis Quarta and Valerio Grigioni. On Wednesday evening, however, at the “PalaRubini” in Trieste, Openjobmetis played its first race of 2021 (recovery of the 14th day), after having missed four of them due to postponements from covid. The hosts took advantage of Varese’s limited rotations – who had Jakovics, Douglas and Beane out – to push their foot on the accelerator pedal in the last quarter of the game, when the energies of Ferrero and his teammates inevitably came to to miss. 108 to 83 the final result, a rather clear difference that highlighted the gap between the two companions in terms of physical strength and match pace. However, the “usual” two red and white “bombers”, namely Scola and Strautins, emerged in the kappaò in the Julian soil, respectively on the scoresheet with 17 and 19 points. The Italian-Latvian, however, has unlined a sumptuous double double, also capturing 14 rebounds.
NUMBERS AND STATISTICS
About Strautins: the young man of Baltic origins travels at 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds on average; second scorer of the team behind Scola and fifteenth in the general classification of the LBA. In the rebounds, however, Strautins is in the Top Five, tied with the “Brindisi” Derek Willis. As for Scola, juxtaposed, the Latin veteran has been at the top of the scorers’ standings for the whole championship, averaging over 21 points; to which are added almost 7 rebounds per game. Not surprisingly, the red and white are ninth in LBA for captured carom, more than 36 per match. After Treviso, however, the players from Varese are the team that receives the most points (88.4) in the LBA; Cantù, on average, suffers about four fewer (84.5). Finally, Varese is back from 5 consecutive defeats: coach Bulleri’s men, in fact, have not won since the trip to Trento on 22 November last, the ninth day of the championship.
