A historic opponent is coming to the Unipol Forum: the club is not the same but the legacy is and, against Benetton, Olimpia has played many memorable games including two playoff series. By beating Treviso in 2005, clinching the series on the road in Game 5, Olimpia made it to its first championship series since 1996 and it was the first of the Armani era (at that time the brand was the club’s main sponsor). With ten games left in the regular season every win is important. Olimpia comes off a complicated week with back-to-back losses, in Bologna and at home with Fenerbahce in a cursed game in which two players were eliminated by injuries, Nikola Mirotic and Freddie Gillespie. So this game will also be faced with a obligated rotation especially in the middle with Zach LeDay, Willie Caruso and Ousmane Diop the only nominal centers available. Then there will be Pippo Ricci at the 4. More options obviously are available among the perimeter. However, regardless of the situation, Olimpia will absolutely have to use on all its strengths and secure the win in order to stay in the top places of the standings and in a position to try to improve. Treviso is not riding high as of now, having lost five of the last six games, however, the situation in the standings has remained secure, with three wins ahead of the last three teams and six teams trailing. Coached by the very experienced Frank Vitucci, Treviso can count on talented veterans such as Ky Bowman, D’Angelo Harrison, JP Macura, Osvaldas Olisevicius, Bruno Mascolo and the explosiveness of Pualy Paulicap, a fearsome offensive rebounder.
Tip off time on Sunday, March 9, will be 17:30 at Unipol Forum
TREVISO OUTLOOK – Frank Vitucci, who was Ettore Messina’s assistant in Treviso back in the day, rotates four players on the perimeter, Bruno Mascolo, Ky Bowman, D’Angelo Harrison and JP Macura, with the latter usually coming off the bench. Bowman is producing 16.3 points per game with 3.5 assists and an impressive 48.2 percent in three-point shooting on 5.5 attempts per game; D’Angelo Harrison adds 11.5 points per game, in addition to 3.1 assists. Mascolo is averaging 10.7 points per game with 4.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds. The fourth guy is JP Macura, 9.4 points per game, 61.4 percent on twos, a player with great energy and competitive spirit. Point guard David Torresani can complete the rotation. The forwards are Osvaldas Olisevicius, a Lithuanian with size and Italian league experience, who is the team’s top scorer with 17.0 points on average and 43.8 percent from three, and Jordan Caroline who replaced Justin Alston and produces 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. The center, retained from the last season, is Pauly Paulicap (9.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game), who is lethal under the offensive board as the 3.1 offensive rebounds per game that he captures seem to indicate. Andrea Mezzanotte (who shoots over 40 percent from three) and the veteran Valerio Mazzola, who recovered from an injury, complete the rotation of the big men.
TREVISO CONNECTION – Ettore Messina coached Treviso for three years, at the time of Benetton ownership, winning a championship and reaching a EuroLeague final in 2003, losing to Barcelona on the road. In those three years he won the Italian Cup three times. Giordano Bortolani played in Treviso on loan two seasons ago, winning among other things the FIBA BCL best young player award. Bortolani scored 11.8 points per game in the league, 354 total points over 30 appearances with Treviso. David Torresani, 19, a point guard, started playing minibasket at Olimpia before his family moved abroad and then returned to Italy.
