PREVIEW VIRTUS SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA-ALBA BERLIN
Beaten at the last turn of the clock also in the LBA in Brescia, the black Vs are thrown back into the Euroleague. The arena reopens at the Fair and for the Virtus it will be a double home round, essential to get back on track. First match with Alba, to leave last place in the standings, followed by Red Star, where the public will have to skin their hands in greeting the latest Juventus icon, Milos Teodosic, and perhaps try to hide a tear. THE’Alba it is where it has been stationed for years in the Euroleague, almost fixed there, almost always certain to participate as if it were called by the board to find talent, regardless of the final result. And in the year with probably the weakest roster ever, the first 2 talents have Italian names, the already known and on the launch pad Spagnolo and Procida. Coach Gonzales’ team relies heavily on them, given the important exits they had in the summer (Brown, Thomas, Thiemann) and the disagreements that led to the divorce from Koumadje (the tallest player in the competition, it won’t be Tavares but with him on the pitch you get to the iron in a different way) and the many injuries (Olinde, Hermannsson, Bean). The recent arrival of former Olimpia Mc Cormack has closed the hole under the basket, where Travion Williams, who was also talked about in the summer for Virtus, operated alone. Apart from 2 victories, with Asvel as well as the daring one against Milan, the defeats are all significant, more towards the end than the last breath, hence the big difference compared to the Bianconeri, despite an identical record. Given the over 100 point difference in the balance scored/conceded, it is obvious that the statistics are all in favor of Virtus, it should be noted that the Germans are the team with the highest number of possessions per match, evolving at a very high pace and always shooting in the first seconds. Therefore, maximum defensive attention at the start of the action, strong pressure on the ball will be needed to be extended across the field in several minutes, avoiding venial fouls paid with bonus free throws (read Brescia), the attack instead will be able to benefit from the worst defense on the continent to go and take a fundamental victory both for the ranking and for breaking out of a negative spiral that always sees her succumb after having fought for a long time, drained of energy and points in the ranking.
