italy
ngry
Marco Belinelli (Italy)
sport of basketball in Italy. Apart from being a great rebounder and patenting his legendary hook shot, Dino Meneghin will always be remembered for his “charisma” and leadership.
Scouting report
Under coach Carlo Recalcati, Italy is now experiencing a big change in their style of play. The arrival of young talent Marco Belinelli, who starred at the last World Championship, forced the coach to change some things. Recalcati gave Belinelli the freedom to create his own shots outside of the offensive scheme more than he has with other players in the past. The veterans of the team accepted this without any problem, a tribute to Belinelli’s talent. Now, Italy is looking forward to EuroBasket 2007 with two more young stars on their roster in NBA Rookie of the Year candidate Andrea Bargnani, and 19-year-old Danilo Gallinari, a 2.08 m sensation that can play both forward positions. Recalcati can change the offense all he wants but one thing is never going to change, which is his focus on the defensive end of the floor.
Prediction
Like nine or 10 other teams, Italy is looking to secure a spot for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Everybody knows that EuroBasket is the most competitive tournament in the world and that the difference between going to China in 2008 and staying home will be slim. Considering the last two seasons, it is fair to give a maximum amount of respect to Spain and Greece as the deserved favourites. Behind them, there will be a dog fight and Italy hopes to come out on top. A great result would be a trip to the podium. A good finish would be to earn a spot for the Pre-Olympic tournament in July 2008. Anything else would be a failure.
Likely Squad
Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, Meneghin was,the symbol of the National Team for two decades. His domination typically did not show on the stats sheet, but in other important ACCUMULATED ways he was indispensable and came to embody the Player
How did they qualify? Eurobasket 2005, Final Round Tied for 9th place, (1 W - 3 L)
Results
Date Sept-16th 2005 Sept-17th 2005 Sept-18th 2005
Game Germany b. Italy Russia b. Italy Italy b. Ukraine
Elimination game
Sept-20th 2005 Croatia b. Italy
Result 74-72 87-61 99-62 74-66
Coach Recalcati will rely on two new National Team players in Gallinari and Bargnani. Massimo Bulleri probably will be back after the rest he took last summer as will team captain Giacomo Galanda to help smooth the transition of a new kind of big man. The veteran – and only true center – Denis Marconato is questionable after so-so seasons in 2005 and 2006, with the idea to use power forwards like Galanda and Gigli as centers, replacing him. So it looks like Massimo Bulleri, Gianluca Basile, Marco Belinelli, Marco Mordente and Matteo Soragna will be the teams guards. Danilo Gallinari and Andrea Bargnani are forwards and Mason Rocca, Giacomo Galanda and Angelo Gigli will play down low. That leaves two shirts, and the trip to Spain that goes with them, still up for grabs.
STATISTICS IN 2006 FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Marco Belinelli Matteo Soragna Fabio DiBella Gianluca Basile Marco Mordente Richard Mason Rocca Andrea Gigli Stefano Mancinelli Denis Marconato Luca Garri Andrea Michelori Andrea Pecile TOTALS
G Min FG 6 21 26-73 6 24 22-47 6 20 17-32 6 20 13-41 6 23 13-33 6 17 16-24 6 17 13-32 5 7 11-14 6 17 10-26 6 12 8-25 6 14 7-19 5 7 4-9 6 - 160-375
109
% 3pts FT Rb As 35.6 14-49 15-20 1.5 1.7 46.8 7-12 11-13 1.8 2.7 53.1 5-12 8-12 4.2 2.2 31.7 7-22 8-12 2.5 1.7 39.4 7-17 8-9 2.5 2.3 66.7 - 6-20 5.0 0.5 40.6 4-10 1-5 2.3 0.7 78.6 1-1 1-4 1.2 1.2 38.5 1-2 6-8 4.8 0.5 32.0 4-15 6-7 2.3 0.5 36.8 1-4 9-10 3.0 0.7 44.4 2-5 2-2 1.0 0.4 42.7 53-149 81-122 31.8 14.7
St 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.8 1.2 0.7 1.0 0.8 0.3 0.2 0.2 7.5
BS TO - 1.3 0.2 1.8 - 1.8 - 0.8 0.2 1.8 - 0.8 0.8 1.0 - 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.8 - 0.7 - 0.2 2.0 12.0
Pts 13.5 10.3 7.8 6.8 6.8 6.3 5.2 4.8 4.5 4.3 4.0 2.4 75.7