Olimpia vs Virtus is a game that never needs to be explained, given that it was staged in each of the last four championship finals and has a history behind it that begins in the 1950s when the two most successful teams at national level competed for championships repeatedly. Both come off a defeat in the Italian league, Olimpia against Tortona, Virtus against Brescia. The fatigues of the EuroLeague have already left its mark a few times and created traffic at the top of the Serie A standings. Furthermore, this game comes after two EuroLeague rounds and both teams played on Friday, so they will step to the court with less than 48 hours since the last effort, however in equal conditions. Olimpia has high morale: they won the two games played at the Unipol Forum in the EuroLeague, scoring 193 points combined and putting the record back in order on the eve of two road games of the highest possible level of difficulty, in Barcelona and Athens -Panathinaikos. Virtus comes from a turbulent week because they lost two games and changed coach, replacing Luca Banchi with Dusko Ivanovic, who has a long history against Ettore Messina at the EuroLeague level (they coached one against the other in first ever EuroLeague final in 2001), even if for bureaucratic reasons he cannot go on the bench immediately. Caught in the grip of the hectic EuroLeague schedule, it might seem like a “second tier” classic but the truth is that both teams for different reasons need a win and will give everything. Virtus for regain confidence primarily and because it comes off a losing streak of games; Olimpia because it has already lost three times in the Italian league and needs a win to improve the record. Bologna shows up at full strength, so Ivanovic will have to choose the first turnover among the seven foreigners available. Milan has recovered Diego Flaccadori and Stefano Tonut, but not yet the other members on the injured list such as Josh Nebo and Leandro Bolmaro. This year there have already been two official games between the teams, one in Bologna and another in Milan (leaving aside the tournament in Crete). Olimpia won both but for example in the Super Cup it did so after a long comeback and overtime. The difficulties of the games are evident, and tiredness will probably affect the quality of the game between two teams who have faced each other 39 times in official games from 2020/21 to now with a record that is practically equal, 20-19 in Olimpia’s favor. “It is an hard game to figure out because both teams are coming off a very demanding week both physically and emotionally so find energy will be crucial,” Coach Ettore Messina said after playing homage to Luca Banchi and welcoming “a huge rival and a friend like Dusko Ivanovic.”
Tip-off time on Sunday will be 18:15.
VIRTUS BOLOGNA OUTLOOK – Center Ante Zizic and Isaia Cordinier are the most frequent players among the starters. Three players took turns at the point, Alessandro Pajola (3.6 points and 4.6 assists per game, 30.8 percent three-point shooting), Matt Morgan (9.8 points per game, 45.2 percent three-point shooting) and Daniel Hackett (5.1 points per game, 46.3 percent from three). The guards are Isaia Cordinier, an Olympic silver medalist in Paris 2024, who averages 9.5 points per game to which he adds 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game and shoots 67.6 percent from two; Rayjon Tucker in his second year in Italy after his debut in Venezia (5.8 points on average); and Marco Belinelli. The former San Antonio Spurs player, who won an NBA championship in 2014, produces 13.4 points per game in 20.4 minutes on the court. Belinelli is shooting 44.9 percent on 5.4 three-point attempts and 63.6 percent from two. The starting small forward is Will Clyburn, one of the great EuroLeague stars of the last decade, who is producing 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, shooting 56.8 percent from two. The power forward is Tornike Shengelia, the team’s leading scorer with 15.0 points per game, leading rebounder with an average of 5.9. The Georgian international is shooting 67.3 percent from two. The alternatives at that spot – Shengelia also plays minutes as a center – are Achille Polonara (7.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game) and the Latvian Andrejs Grazulis (4.0 points per game). The centers are Ante Zizic, a Croat with NBA experience in Cleveland and in the EuroLeague with Efes and Maccabi, averaging 8.0 points and 5.6 rebounds. 2.1 of his rebounds are offensive (he is shooting 63.4 percent from the field), and Momo Diouf (6.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game).
VIRTUS BOLOGNA CONNECTION – Giampaolo Ricci played for Virtus Bologna for two seasons, winning the 2021 Italian championship as team’s Captain. Nico Mannion spent two seasons in Bologna finishing his Golden State rookie year. Daniel Hackett played in Milan for two years, winning the 2014 Italian championship. Ettore Messina has coached in the Virtus youth teams since the 1983/84 season when he was also Alberto Bucci’s assistant and as such won the Italian championship by beating Olimpia in the final series. He became head coach in the 1989/90 season and remained there until the 1992/93 season included, only to return in 1997 and remain there until 2002. In these two periods he won the Euroleague twice (1998 and 2001), the second European Cup once (1990), three times the Italian championship (1993, 1998 and 2001), three times the Italian Cup.
