Coming off a couple of tough losses, in Trieste and Monaco, Olimpia failed to build on momentum created by winning the Italian Supercup in Bologna and now for its home opener has to play with humility and sense of urgency despite the injury that will affect its starting center, Josh Nebo, for a few games. Sassari has been a traditional opponent for the last ten years or so. They are coming off a hard home loss with Scafati in the first round so the mood will be more or less the same. Olimpia will play for the first before its fans and will celebrate the 31st Italian league championship won last June and, at halftime, will pay homage to its legendary coach Dan Peterson for his recent induction in the FIBA Hall of Fame. Without Nebo, more playing time is expected for Ousmane Diop, the center coming from Sassari: “For me it is like playing against home. I spent five great years in Sassari and built relationships that are great and still active. For me a lot has changed. The most complicated part is to be mentally ready to play even when I’m on the bench and be aggressive. There’s no time at this level to wait for the game to come to you,” he said. “They have an excellent mix of talent, with Bibbins and Fobbs and experience, especially Bendzius and Sokolowski – assistant coach Mario Fioretti pointed out – What’s important is to regain our defensive identity, our cohesion.”
Tip-off time will be on Sunday at 18:15.
SASSARI OUTLOOK – Dinamo has changed its roster but not its coach with Nenad Markovic remaining at the helm of the Sardinian team. The roster has been deeply renewed with the return of only two players, the point guard Alessandro Cappelletti and the power forward Eimantas Bendzius. The point guard is Justin Bibbins, 1.73 mt tall, coming off two years in Nanterre where he won the French Cup; the guard is Brian Fobbs coming from Bonn, Germany. The guards’ department is fortified by Cappelletti and a guard who is now a veteran, the shooter Matteo Tambone, in recent seasons in Pesaro. The small forward is the Polish Michal Sokolowski, 30 points in the first round against Scafati, MVP of the Final Eight of the Italian Cup last February when he was in Naples. Bendzius returned after a serious injury and is one of the best shooters with size in recent years (he is shooting 44.1 percent from three in his career in Italy). The Bosnian Miralem Halilovic is the center: he played for a long time in France, but last year he was at Galatasaray. The multi-purpose forward Nate Renfro, who has been in Greece for the last two seasons, and Mattia Udom complete the forward department. Among the wingers there is also the small forward Giovanni Veronesi who is a rookie in Serie A.
