Wet wave lucky wave? That’s what everyone at home hopes for Varese Basketball who this evening, Tuesday 7 May, at Caffè Broletto, greeted the 2023/2024 season with sponsors, consortium members and fans.
A moment of greeting in which the absence of stands out strongly, very strongly coach Tom Bialaszewski and which now seems like a definitive ruling on what the future of the Buffalo coach will be, i.e. no longer on the Varese bench.
However, there was an opportunity to take stock of the situation with some protagonists of the red and white team, starting from President Toto Bulgheroni: “We made some bets with the available budget, we won some, we lost some. Where we believe we have made a mistake it will serve as a lesson for us but we start again with a lot of confidence ahead of next year, especially seeing how we ended the season. The intention is to try to confirm a good part of the roster, especially for those who have an option to remain in the contract. Having said that, we will try to do the most with the available budget with as few errors as possible. A vote for the season? It’s difficult, because too many things have happened and changed. The fact that we were saved is positive but not having made the playoffs leaves a bad taste in our mouths. I feel like a guarantor of the program that the company and Scola are carrying out, I am convinced that we will arrive, every now and then I make a joke to Luis and tell him to hurry because I am of a certain age but we will arrive“.
Players and confirmations, a fundamental point in view of the market that will outline the next Pallacanestro Varese, of which it is not yet known whether it will be part Davide Moretti who, however, has very clear ideas in this regard: “In Pistoia we ended the season well, saying goodbye to a complicated year. From a personal point of view, I am happy to be back in Pistoia doing an important test. The regret remains for how the dream of the FIBA Europe Cup ended in the semi-final, but it is the same regret we had for a few games in the championship that could have taken us to the playoffs. We gave everything, the regret of not having won the cup is there, but let’s try to look at the good things we have done this year. I’m very happy with the season I had, I responded well to the physical injuries I had and also from a mental point of view it wasn’t easy to manage everything that happened. As a team it hasn’t been easy to manage the many changes that have occurred, but all in all I have to say that I draw a positive balance, with regret as I said before for some important missed opportunities. Future? I would really like to stay, Varese is one of my first options, I hope there is the same desire from the club. I would really like the role of captain. It’s a role I found myself in already this year even without the official appointment. The fans have often made me feel their warmth in this sense and if I were to stay it would be a role I would take on with great pleasure.“.
Moretti was much less clear about the possibility of remaining in Varese Nico Mannion who, as already declared to us a couple of weeks ago, has not yet resolved his reservations about his future: “I am very happy to be in the running for both the MVP award and the best Italian player in the championship. I’ve come from two difficult years as you all know and being back playing demonstrating what I can do has been very nice in recent months. The emotions felt here in Varese were wonderful, you can see that it is a city that lives for basketball and you can feel this everywhere, not just in the arena. It’s been a wonderful 4 months both in victories and defeats. We saved ourselves, an important result, but we would have liked to aim for more than salvation. Salvation was the first objective, but if we had won a few more games we would have been able to go to the playoffs. I don’t know what I’ll do yet, I love Varese with all my heart. I already said that here I rediscovered the love for basketball, it has a special place in my heart. I can’t say what I’ll do yet but Varese is truly unique. The club has already done a lot for me, I feel like family here“.
Those who grew exponentially during this year, albeit not directly and only with the First Team, were Elisee Assui: “I am very happy with the work I have done this year. I thank the company and the staff who allowed me to grow day after day. The level I have reached now must only be a starting point to do even better. I still don’t know what the future holds for me, we’ll see in the next few weeks“.
Alessandro Burin
