Olimpia will begin its Italian league journey in Milan, on Sunday, against Treviso. It is a very meaningful game for emotional reasons, since it is the first Olimpia will play before its hone crowd after winning the 30th championship, last June. Expect some festivities before tip-off and a halftime show dedicated to the glorious history of the club. Treviso is a very renovated team but the new coach, Francesco Vitucci, is a veteran of the league and is coming from Brindisi where he coached his entire starting backcourt, formed by Ky Bowman and D’Angelo Harrison and also Andrea Mezzanotte, a dangerous shooting big man. “Treviso is a relying a lot on transition game, offensive rebounds and one on one situations. They have three perimeter guys who can change the outlook of any games because of their scoring abilities. We need to be physical and intense since the very first possession to start the season the right way,” assistant coach Mario Fioretti said after the last practive.

Olimpia is riding a seven-game winning streak in Italian league openers and spent the entire week working inside the friendly confines of its facility to prepare for the official start of the season. The team is coming off a very good preseason and a disappointing loss in the Italian Supercup last Saturday. Potentially, three players are making their debut in Italy, Nikola Mirotic, Maodo Lo and Ismail Kamagate, but the roster will be decided by the coaching staff and the limit of foreigner players usable obviously will play a part in it. Giordano Bortolani, who was especially brilliant in the Supercup game, will face his former team. He spent one year in Treviso and was named the best young player of the FIBA BCL. He averaged almost 12 points per game in the Italian league for Treviso. Ettore Messina himself has coached three seasons in Treviso with an Italian league championship and a trip to the EuroLeague championship game. Tip-off time will be at 18:15 Italian Time.