It’s really difficult to comment on tonight’s loss which ends the 23-24 season of the girls with the V on their chest
I specified the V on the chest precisely because only two members of tonight’s match proved worthy of that frieze on the shirt: Captain Cecilia Zandalasini and the Virtussino crowd.
The former closed his first season as Captain tonight by honoring the armband and offering his will to the last not to go out at the hands of the brave Ragusans; the second, protagonist only this evening, came in good numbers (1200 people probably can’t even access some Italian Serie A pitches) and supported the team beyond the confines of hope, when a more than unlikely comeback seemed impossible
A season ends and, we hope, a cycle ends which, after the serious investments that have brought the team to the level that is befitting of the name Virtus which he wears on his chest and the first trophy in the short history of the women’s section, has seen the team weaken and decline instead of growing during the sporting year
NEWS
Virtus has never been in the lead
We have to wait almost 5 minutes for Virtus to score the first two points with Zandalasini and Ragusa is already at 15, but we will have to wait another three minutes and for Ragusa to reach 20 (Bologna still at 2) for coach Vincent to listen to the public’s requests and he decides to ask for a minute to reset his girls’ ideas, which he must not have done well this time either because, apart from a rush from Peters who brings home 4 points, the first quarter ends at 24-6; Virtus shot in this quarter with an overall percentage of 16.7%
The second quarter is the only one that gives hope to the Bolognese public: Virtus plays, reacts, gets closer, gives the feeling that its superior means will ultimately prevail over the Sicilian team’s desire to win who, however, manage to stay ahead by 6 points also with the second quintet, which allows the starters to catch their breath
The third quarter is again a struggle, Ragusa takes the measure of the Bolognese and begins to slowly but surely widen the gap between the two teams again
The last quarter is the Sicilian apotheosis, first it counters the last fires of Virtussini then it spreads up to the final +17 of 57-74 on which the match ends
Said of refereeing worthy of a trio affected by bipolarism and which we can never complain about enough, but for the level that is expressed throughout the championship, let’s talk about our girls’ evening said by Zandalasini which I would propose to coach Banchi at place of Dobric, there is very little to save Peters, always relegated to the second quintet but effective like few others, stopped at the beginning of the second quarter by a fingerprint in the eye, she returns only in the third quarter with Jabbar-style goggles, she is brought back again for 4 minutes in the third quarter in which she gives her usual presence and is then forgotten on the bench, Del Pero (who until last year played in the national 3×3 team) NE, Consolini (formerly on duty and veteran of these battles) NE, Barberis has having once again proven that he is not that implacable defender who nullifies the opponent, Pasa makes a splash right in his specialty, entering the opponent’s area three times and three times failing to make the best three-point shots with 66%, Cox he wakes up late and insufficiently in the second half, Rupert played 31 minutes and scored 4 points, let’s say that all the admiration and gratitude towards him for two wonderful years and one so-so was at stake, perhaps the Prague violins are doing it distracting and the lack of participation in the Euroleague will give her the opportunity to listen to them more closely, but tonight she was truly a black hole all that was needed was for her to take an assist from Zandalasini, but the ball was taken, luckily for her, by Chidom first hit her, Dojkic has played half the season for two years (last year maybe a third), she is in fact an excellent player who is too often a foreign body to the team, tonight she scored ten points but she needed of 13 shots to achieve them, she finished with an unworthy 23.1%, luckily she has an insured annuity for which we will see her again next year, Orsili is the freshest note of the season, strong-willed again tonight even if less effective than usual, she fought and fought worthily in her 5 minutes
I am convinced that Vincent must have paid to have a season ticket in that privileged position, he won the Super Cup with his predecessor’s games, he failed in all the games to be won in the Euroleague especially in front of his audience, he did useless feats and made terrible blunders in the championship and was always humiliated playing at home, the only one among the top seeds, he didn’t reach the final four of the Italian Cup, the only one among the top seeds, he didn’t reached the semi-finals of the Championship: goodbye!
Technical staff: Virtus always has players who are injured or unwell: it can’t be, it can happen at the beginning of the season, it can happen in December, from February onwards it must not happen
Company staff “safe used” is good in cars (sometimes), better (and it has been seen) to snatch the strongest players from the opponents and think of giving continuous guidance to the team, but if you send Giroldi away, if you give the right served to Serventi, if you send Lardo away during a championship semi-final two days after he had lost his mother, if you don’t renew Ticchi after he had won the regular season and had reached the final, losing probably only because it was the best of three matches, then you have to understand that Vincent is no longer up to par much earlier and please understand that the team is made up of twelve players in the match as in training, the competition rotates the foreign players and adds players in view of the playoffs we enter the field with 11 regardless of the fact whether they are injured or not
SOON
See you in September when we will see if the club wants to continue with the conviction of the women’s Virtus project or if it will rethink the investments made and say that it is not worth it even if tonight there were 1256 of us who saw a quarter-final lose and we hope that FIBA will offer us ( as 3rd in the regular season) the possibility of accessing the Euroleague preliminaries, certainly winning tonight would have been easier.
Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs Passalacqua Ragusa: 57-74 (1Q 6-24, 2Q 27-33, 3Q 40-55)
Virtus Segafredo Bologna: Del Pero, Pasa 6, Peters 4, Cox 7, Rupert 4, Barberis, Dojkic 10, Andrè 3, Zandalasini 23, Orsili, Consolini.
Passalacqua Ragusa: Thomas 13, Spreafico, Di Fine, Milazzo 12, Salice, Jakubcova 11, Pastrello 5, Juskaite 16, Miccoli 4, Chidom 13, Nikolic.
Referees: Dionisi A. – Moretti M. – Rudellat M.
