Olimpia will be the first team involved in the 2024 Italian Cup’s Final Eight in Turin. In the quarterfinals, it will face Trento, “and this is where our attention is at the time,” Coach Ettore Messina said upon leaving Milan after practice. “It is a very important competition that everybody wants to win, but as of now the first opponent is all we care about. We know we are considered favorite against Trento, but they are a well-coached team with a lot of offensive potential and to defeat them a high-level game is mandatory,” he added. Should Trento be beaten, Olimpia will return on the court on Saturday afternoon against the Venezia-Pistoia game.
Olimpia’s won the trophy eight times. Coach Messina’s won it nine times, which is more than any team has won. It is the first time between Milan and Trento in the Italian Cup but over the last ten seasons the teams faced other 38 times including four playoffs’ series and a championship series when Shavon Shields and Diego Flaccadori played for Trento. On top of it, Coach Paolo Galbiati is a product of Olimpia’s academy and Paul Biligha and Davide Alviti have won the trophy before, in Milan. A lot of storylines are involved.
Olimpia defeated Trento early in January but back then Trento didn’t have Prentiss Hubb, its starting point-guard (12.4 points and 6.1 assists on average) and one of the offensively gifted players Coach Messina was mentioning. Hubb is shooting over 37 percent on more than seven three-point attempts per game. The other lethal scorer is Kamar Baldwin (more than 13 points, four assists and four rebounds per game). Matt Mooney, signed a few weeks ago, is adding some perimeter firepower, replacing Myles Stephens. The other key element is Latvian international Andrejs Grazulis, an Italian league veteran who is playing at the 4 and can shoot the lights out (45 percent on threes while averaging 14.1 points per game). Biligha is the defensive anchor. Alviti is another dangerous shooter both from inside (72 percent on twos) and out.
Olimpia is riding a six-game winning streak in the Italian league, has won nine of its last ten games and considering the EuroLeague is coming off a big win over the defending champions of Real Madrid. Maodo Lo just joined Billy Baron in the injured list. The others are all available. Tip off time is 18:00 on Wednesday.
