One shining moment. A shining moment. The slogan of the American university championship applies well to the event that rewrites the history of youth basketball in Faenza. The Raggisolaris are expected at the national finals of the Under 19 Gold category, the three days that can give the city a trophy that has never arrived for the «boys». Who are trying to emulate the cadet title won in 1988 by the Athletic Club, then sponsored by Omsa. These are the challengers of the boys trained by coach Pio.
CLUB FRASCATI
Sports club founded in 1981, the first team plays in Serie C, where several members of the Under 19 group, led by the eclectic Paolo Rozera (general director of Unicef Italia who coaches in his free time) have played on a permanent basis, while the others have played the DR2, the former Promotion, together with the Under 17s. The most futuristic element is Leon Ramiro Guaita, a 202 cm Argentine power forward, who has won titles repeatedly in his homeland, becoming MVP of the under 17 finals and called up to the national teams juvenile albiceleste. He plays in three roles, inside and outside the perimeter, and scored 19 points on average in Under 19 (9.2 in Serie C). Next to him Gaoussou Thiam, a 206cm Senegalese centre, the other forward Mattia Marrella and the winger Mattia Nasti, form a front court full of solutions. It qualified for the Final Eight by finishing third in Lazio, and then overcoming Ormelle and Argenta in the inter-regional championship (73-59).
ROME PASS
Basketball school founded in 1970, whose first team, replenished with elements from the youth team, won the Lazio Serie C last season, only to then lose the title to Fiumicino. The Under 19 team came second in the region, despite being without important international “grafts” like Frascati. In the inter-regional championship played in Fidenza they beat Rapallo and Cecina (79-73), depriving the Tuscans of the possibility of playing the finals at home. Coached by Matteo Di Giovanni, previously on the staff of the thriving cantera of Bassano del Grappa, it showed excellent elements such as winger Tristano Cecchini (12 average points in Serie C) and Marco Di Marzio, Olimpia Roma school.
JUNIOR CURTATONE
Reinforced with the exoduses from the Stings of nearby Mantua, they won the challenging Lombard group, and then subsequently overcame Orsa Barcellona and San Mauro in Anagni (65-49). It has a solid Argentine soul, right from the coach (Pablo Romero), through the most effective elements such as point guards Peralta and Aguirrezabala, while the guards Almeida Pires and Miladinovic come respectively from Brazil and Serbia, all also involved in the first team which the Serie C play-offs are being played.
BLUE STAR ROME
One of the clubs that made the history of national youth basketball, founded in 1938 and winner of repeated championships (4 in the U19, 3 in the U17 and 5 in the U15 in the last decade alone), whose first team played in the top flight in 70s (best result: fourth, boasts two participations in the Korac Cup). He won the Lazio tournament in a carriage, and then took a stroll at the Interregional asphalting Florence (106-40) and Caserta (87-57). Obligatory favourites, with an infinite roster that also played the Lazio C team, stopping only in the playoff semi-final, in which the Varese playmaker Mattia Santinon (19 on average in C), the Marche guard Alessandro Forconi, the Congolese big man Ntsourou and two external class of 2007: Granai and Passalacqua.
ABA LEGNANO
The Altomilanese Basket Academy, founded in 2009 from the collaboration of the presidents of Legnano and Sangiorgese, after losing the Lombard final with Curtatone, overcame the Atri Interregional by beating Fasano and Ozzano (78-70), focusing on elements who made their debut with the Knights in Serie B like the big man Francesco Amorelli, the winger Edoardo Pirovano or the guard Matteo Dagrì. Bruno Bianchi coaches them, for years on the Varese staff, where he also acted as assistant to Pillastrini in the year of his rise to Serie A.
NOVARA COLLEGE
Founded in 1972 in Borgomanero, subsequently moved to the capital in the year of promotion to Serie A (2002), the Piedmontese reached the Final Eight after winning the regional title and having defeated Aprilia and Porto Sant’Elpidio in Passignano (75-65 ). In the group, which has played regularly in Serie C, the guard Nicolò Pagani and the center Osawaru Andrew Osasuyi stand out.
CALORFLEX OZZANO
Second in Veneto, the Treviso team qualified for Cecina by beating Pontevecchio Perugia e Jesi in Fidenza (66-62 in overtime). Several players have played at the same time in Interregional B: the guards Leonardo Falqueto and Tommaso Marin are the most promising available to coach Lorenzon, who also coaches the first team.
