Coppa Italia 2009

[rikhardur]

The draw for this year's F8 was made known and the games will be played from 19th-22nd February at Futurshow Station (Virtus Bologna's arena):

Siena vs Cantù
Benetton Treviso vs Montegranaro
Teramo vs Avellino
Roma vs Virtus Bologna


Previous winners and final MVPs can be found here.

[l'emigrante]

Siena is the most realible candidate to win the title even if last year was the same but Pesaro kicked they out at quarterfinals.
Roma is the second strongest team but will play against the host, Virtus Bologna that last year kicked Roma out in quarter final.
Those two teams are the favorite but Siena is now 10 step ahead although in a single game roma could win (but it has to pass the first two rounds).
I say final Siena-Roma.
I am not going to say who is going to win (I should be in Bologna those days).

[rikhardur]

My predictions:

Siena vs Cantù
Benetton Treviso vs Montegranaro
Teramo vs Avellino
Roma vs Virtus Bologna

[rikhardur]

Surprising results (for me at least) for the quarter-finals day 1:

Teramo 76 Avellino 70
Roma 76 Virtus Bologna 85

[Guard]

Nothing surprising to me tbh.
Roma maybe, but they are playing very bad lately. Mainly because of Becirovic who is in his worst form of the season. If he doesnt play well Roma usually losses. Virtus is playing at home too.

Teramo is just the better side. Avellino has proved to be a mediocre team after surprising last year. I can see Teramo reaching the Final.
They have a very solid and organized team.

[rikhardur]

Virtus Bologna and Siena in the final. Siena is very likely to lift the trophy, but I'm rooting for Virtus.

[special-thanks-2]

Both games Siena played very bad. Today Treviso went ahead by 15 in the 1st half, but wasn't able to keep the lead when Siena improved defensively (another defensive performance close to perfection by Stonerook). Yesterday Terrell McIntyre struggled, tonight simply dominated the game, trashing poor DaShaun Wood, who's back from injury but far from his usual levels. This time Siena had to fight hard till the end to seal the deal, Treviso had concrete chances to win. I don't know if Siena is not in shape (it's probable, since some players appear to be tired) or they still have problems with single game situations like it happened last season when they were kicked out by Pesaro and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Italian Cup and Euroleague after dominating for months. I don't know what, but I really don't like the way they are playing in this competition and I expect a very difficult game vs Virtus tomorrow. Virtus has homecourt advantage and is playing great lately, since Earl Boykins finally understood European bball. He's scoring and dishing out many assists to his teammates, he's the main reason why a very athletic and quick big man like Sharrod Ford is doing great. He's in terrific shape, blocks whatever floats around the rim and is also scoring a lot, even from mid and long range. Reyshawn Terry is also playing extremely well, helping on both ends of the floor, thanks to his athleticism and good touch, a real deal for them. Virtus is in its best moment, Siena definitely not, plus they have all pressure on them. I think it will be a great game.

[Buducnost PG]

Any stream for Virtus-Siena?

[special-thanks-2]

Any stream for Virtus-Siena?

No streams as usual, but I'm confident this game will be uploaded on a torrent.

I'm really excited to see this Earl Boykins vs Terrell McIntyre. The way Boykins is playing lately is amazing, the team has plenty of fast and athletic players, that's why he's doing great with guys like Sharrod Ford, Reyshawn Terry and Keith Langford. Siena will have to play a totally different game, if they finally want to win this trophy, in this very moment Virtus is the worst rival for them here in Italy. But still, Virtus needs Langford to be at his best: he's too important for them both offensively and defensively, he's a bit hurt, they desperately need him because Koponen is not ready for these games.

[rikhardur]

Siena beats Virtus Bologna by one (70-69) and claims their first Cup. Congrats.

[PippoAma]

Siena beats Virtus Bologna by one (70-69) and claims their first Cup. Congrats.

Thanks!!!

[special-thanks-2]

Great game as expected. Virtus played smart and with big heart like in the previous games, while Siena once again showed not to be in brilliant shape.
Huge balance for the whole game, even if Siena always stayed ahead with a very tight margin, but they really struggled in the 2nd half vs 1-3-1 zone and started missing too many easy shots. Virtus came back and even went ahead by 1 with a layup by Langford with less than 1 minute to play. But after that, Henry Domercant scored the game-winning shot from outside and Virtus couldn't even try to reply as time ran out.

First Italian Cup ever for Siena, that remains unbeaten in Italy. I was very excited to see the PG duel, Earl Boykins played pretty well, sure a lot better than Terrell McIntyre, who was nervous, he made several mistakes, stayed in foul-trouble till the end and struggled guarding Boykins. Morris Finley was better off the bench, he made a huge defensive job on Boykins, scored some points and grabbed several rebounds, very useful definitely. Tragic performance by Rimantas Kaukenas, I really can't remember him playing so bad, he just couldn't do anything right. If Siena won, they should thank Shaun Stonerook, who recorded a double-double (10 pts + 14 rebs) and once again was perfect defensively, just like Big Ben Eze, who did an excellent job vs the hottest big man in the league, Sharrod Ford and also helped offensivley (11 pts). Some crucial buckets went from K. Lavrinovic and Henry Domercant, the former Dynamo Moscow guard did score the decisive shot and was the only one able to score in the final minutes, when all his teammates appeared tired and scared.

Keith Langford proved to be the best shooting guard in the league yesterday. He was simply special, even if hurt. Not only a sensational athlete and a great defender, now he's also a consistent offensive threat thanks to a much improved outside shot. Virtus should sign him with a multi-season deal as soon as possible, because he'll surely be one of the hottest names on the market this summer. Mark my words.

Before this competition took place we all knew Siena is the dominant force in the league, but there was huge balance from the 2nd place on. I think Virtus Bologna can be considered the 2nd strongest team now that Boykins finally understood European hoops and Reyshawn Terry (yesterday couldn't play in the 2nd half due to a back pain) proved to be a lot more useful than Jamie Arnold. They'll have to fight with Roma, that is in a bad period now (Gentile did a decent job, but he can't be the answer as head coach...), but just added Ruben Douglas. If Becirovic keeps struggling, Douglas might help a lot offensively, Roma needed one more scorer after sending Allan Ray to Ferrara.

But let me say that Teramo confirmed to be a very good team, they beat Avellino and played a good game vs Virtus in the semifinal. They are very well coached and play nice ball. David Moss will be playing for a Euroleague team next year: a SF capable of guarding vs 4 different positions (he made a great defensive performance vs Boykins), with very high I.Q. nice offensive skills and remarkable athleticism. They still have the chance to add one more Bosman player to their roster, I don't know if they'll do it, but in my opinion it would be a necessary move in order to get a deeper rotation, that is their most evident limit. They'll have to fight with Treviso and Milano, both teams are well built as they are proving in Eurocup and Euroleague respectively.