Three games in three days, all three of them starting at 9:00 in the morning. If participating in the EuroLeague Next Gen in Berlin as one of the fantastic eight Under 18 teams in Europe wasn’t already something of the highest degree of difficulty, the Olimpia boys will also have to overcome the pitfalls of an objectively unusual tip-off time. Fresh from the Italian championship with which this group achieved a sort of Grand Slam (Italy’s Next Gen Cup, Italian championship, and Carnival Cup), Olimpia will debut in Berlin – on Thursday 23rd – against one of the big favorites of the tournament, Real Madrid. In Group A Olimpia will also face the Germans of Ulm (on Friday 24th) and the Serbians of Mega Mis (on Saturday 25th). Only the first team of each group will play a fourth game, on Sunday 26th, with what can be considered a sort of European title at stake. Achille Lonati is on the above picture.

THE TEAM – To feature the best possible team, Olimpia has sacrificed the Under 17 Italian championship with the final act taking place at the same time in Agropoli, therefore it will have the three most experienced 17-year-olds players available, Diego Garavaglia, Achille Lonati and Luigi Suigo. Looking at the rotation regularly used, Omar Karem, a speedy point-guard diverted to Agropoli, is not available while Francesco Marcucci cannot play because he is one year over the age limit for the tournament. To beef up the roster, Olimpia will feature Andrija Josovic (a Montenegrin from Tortona, who was also with Olimpia in Belgrade, where he averaged 12.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game) and the Italian international Charles Atamah from Bassano, who has a fair amount of international experience having played the Mannheim Tournament with Italy’s Under 18 team along Miccoli, Garavaglia and Suigo. Olimpia obtained this “invitation” thanks in large part to the kind of outings provided in Belgrade in March where it won three out of four games, losing to Barcelona in the championship game only. In Serbia, Denis Badalau’s performance was exceptional as he closed the tournament averaging 21.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Combo guard Samuele Miccoli was the team’s second-best scorer (13.2 per game) and the first in assists (5.8). The eyes in Berlin will also be on the younger Achille Lonati (10.5 points per game in less than 20 minutes on the court in Belgrade) and Diego Garavaglia (10.0 points and 7.0 rebounds), on the charismatic personality of Riccardo Casella (38.5 percent from three in Belgrade) and the all-around impact of Davide Toffanin. Luigi Suigo and Leonardo Van Elswyk, the two established centers, will have the most difficult task to handle, because at these international levels the physicality and size of the opposing centers is often what determines the difference as Olimpia experineced in Belgrade when faced Barcelona.

THE OPPONENTS – Real Madrid will immediately represent a tremendous impact for Michele Catalani’s team. The Spanish team features Ismaila Diagne as center (11.0 points and 7.8 rebounds at the Podgorica Next Gen). He is 2.14 mt tall and has already been seen with Real Madrid’s major team. In Podgorica, however, the MVP was another player who frequently joins the first team, Hugo Gonzalez (13.8 points per game), a 1.98 forward who was also the MVP at last summer’s Under-18 European Championships where Spain finished second to Serbia, led among others by another Real Madrid player, Mitar Bosnjakovic (11.2 points per game in Podgorica, 21 points at the European Championship gold-medal game). Another player who has already emerged is the Russian point-guard Egor Demin (13.5 points and 6.0 assists in Podgorica). The second Olimpia opponent will be Ulm, a club that lately has focused heavily on developing young players and won the Next Gen in Dubai by defeating the highly rated Zalgiris Kaunas in the championship game. Here too, the most fearsome player should be the 2.05 mt tall Noa Essengue, a French youth team international, named MVP in Dubai where he averaged 20.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, on 69.2 percent two-point shooting. German international Jervin Scheffs (who averaged 13.8 points per game on 46.2 percent three-point shooting in Dubai) is a great scorer just like point guard Jordan Mueller. Guard Joel Cwik was also crucial in Dubai (14.8 points per game). Finally, the third opponent will be Mega Mis who was eliminated by Barcelona in Belgrade before they could face Olimpia. This is team with great recent tradition at the youth level. Its star should be the 2.13 mt. tall Malian center Abdramane Siby (18.5 points and 8.8 rebounds on average in Belgrade), who went to Serbia from Vado Ligure. In Belgrade, power forward Ognjen Nikolic (12.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game) and the shooter Aleksandar Vojinovic (18.0 points on average with 38.1 percent three-point shooting) also played very well.

THE OTHERS – In Group B obviously Barcelona should be the team to beat thanks to the presence of the Lithuanian Kasparas Jakucionis, the Italian guard Dame Sarr, the shooter Mathieu Grujcic and the size of the big men (the 2.12 Sayon Keita scored 23 points against Olimpia during the Belgrade final; Abdrahamane Kone is another Malian specimen; and in general, they have four centers over 2.08 mt). INSEP Paris reached the final at the Paris Next Gen where the most effectice players were Jonas Bulefaa (14.5 points per game) and Yinga Moukouri (also 14.5 per game). Alba Berlin will have home court advantage and finally the novelty will be represented by the Americans of Overtime Elite, the development league that has already sent several players to the NBA. They are expected to be athletic and deep.

HISTORY AND TRADITION – It must be remembered that over 50 players who have played in the EuroLeague this season have passed through the Next Gen of the EuroLeague at some point, including Nikola Mirotic (six games in two years, 134 total points), Nemanja Nedovic, Mario Hezonja, Dzanan Musa, Milos Teodosic, Mathias Lessort, Marius Grigonis, Marko Guduric, Nikola Milutinov, Willy Hernangomez, Isaac Bonga and others who are in the NBA including the great Luka Doncic (nine appearances, 111 points over the 2014/15 season). As for Olimpia, it had participated in the 2014 edition of Milan as host club, only. Diego Flaccadori was part of that team.