UDINE. You never forget the first time. Juvi Cremona, Apu’s opponent in the quarter-finals of the post season, is an absolute debutant in the A2 play-offs. Enthusiasm and no pressure: these are the peculiarities of the Lombard team that should worry Udine the most, who obviously start as the underdogs.
Juvi, to make clear the current situation, as soon as they were certain of being safe, dismantled the roster, giving the green light to the departure of Bernardo Musso (formerly Snaidero) and Daniele Magro, key men who landed in Cento and Forlì respectively.
The satisfaction at Juvi is quite evident, with just three victories in ten matches in the scheduled phase (including the one in Udine against Apu 86-68) after a brilliant first phase of the championship, which ended in fifth place with 55% win rate.
Talent, however, is not lacking in the team coached by Luca Bechi from Livorno, a 54 year old who grew up at the school of his fellow citizen Alessandro Ramagli.
The spearhead of the team is point guard “Vinnie” Shahid, who arrived in January from Varese to replace Lester Medford. For him there are 17.3 points and 2.6 assists on average” in 14 games.
The other foreigner is guard Tekele Cotton, a triple specialist with a nice 39% season average. The Italian package is made up of expert players in the category such as Lorenzo Tortu, Antonino Sabatino and Gabriele Benetti and emerging young players such as Cosimo Costi, Luca Vincini and Nicolò Virginio. The latter is a very interesting prospect: a product of the Varese Basketball academy, he arrived on loan at the beginning of April to replace the departing Magro.
In closing, some historical notes. JuVi Cremona was founded in 1952 in the city oratory of San Luca. The name derives from the Latin motto “juventute et viribus”, youth and strength. The relaunch of the company after the transfer of the rights to Leonessa Brescia is linked to the arrival of the Ferraroni Group, a company in the agri-food sector which allowed the climb to the A2 series in 2022, precisely in the year of the 70th anniversary of the foundation.
