National, University Urunday, Biguá and Olimpia they fulfilled their favorites and they got into the semifinals of the Uruguayan Basketball League that begin this Monday at the Pato field in Villa Biarritz.
Nacional defeated Defensor Sporting 2-0, Urunday Universitario 2-0 to Peñarol, Biguá 2-0 to Malvín and Capitol was the one that gave more work to Olimpia, number 1 of the regular phase, but the red wings won 2- 1 with a sober performance in the third and final game.
Leonardo Carreño
Skyler Hogan, quality foreigner from Olympia
This Monday, at 9:15 p.m., Nacional will face Urunday Universitario but will not be able to count on two key players: Esteban Batista and Charles Mitchell.
Leonardo Carreño
Esteban Batista played only two games
They both contracted covid-19 in the last hours and they will not be able to be from the game in the games scheduled for this week. The second point will be played on Friday at 19:15.
The first match between Biguá and Olimpia will take place on Tuesday at 9:15 p.m. and the second is set for Saturday at the same time. The series are now the best of five games.
This Monday, before the first game between Nacional and Urunday Universitario, leaders of the four clubs will meet with authorities from the Uruguayan Basketball Federation to analyze the issue of player absences due to covid-19 infections.
Nacional has been one of the most affected cadres by the coronavirus pandemic. In the last League (2019-2020) it suffered an outbreak in which almost the entire squad was infected in the middle of the semifinal series against Aguada. Due to violations of the sanitary protocol, the tricolor was given a game for lost and in the end ended up falling 3-2 in the pass to the final.
This season, at the last date, the contagion of the youthful Martín Quiroga made him lose the match against Urunday Universitario by the last date.
Now Batista and Mitchell infections have occurred, which are in good condition and are asymptomatic. Days before, the one who had contracted the virus was another youth, Lautaro Pérez.
These casualties significantly affect the power of Nacional’s internal game, where Mitchell serves as the starting center and Batista, who arrived as a replacement for Jonathan Sacco (he recently debuted in the quarterfinals against Defensor Sporting), gives depth and quality to the rotation.
Devon Collier will have to carry practically alone with the fight under the hoop and Dominique Morrison, forward, will have to give him a hand.
Urunday University has in Corbin Jackson an important worker to work the rebound. Tyrone Lee is one of the best power forward in the tournament and he also has Nicolás “Tico” Delgado to work in that area.
These tricolor losses for the first two parties, rather than balancing the previous favoritism of Nacional, reverse the roles and assign Urunday Universitario the weight of being the candidate.
Leonardo Carreño
Corbin Jackson will have advantages down
Héctor Da Prá’s team will play its third consecutive semi-final.
The other key
Uncertain, couple and exciting will be the series between Biguá and Olimpia. In the regular phase, without Victor Rudd and Santiago “Pepo” Vidal, injured, Biguá won 90-82 with an exultant Donald Sims, author of 45 goals.
Leonardo Carreño
Donald Sims, huge figure of Biguá
From that fall, Olimpia won 8 games and lost 3. He was the best in the regular season, he is perhaps one of the best defenders in the tournament and has the best coach: Gerardo Jauri, the man who led Olimpia to suffer with the descents to intertwine up and be three consecutive seasons in playoffs.
Biguá has two notable aliens, Sims and Rudd, and an explosive driver, Vidal. Olimpia a great point guard like Abel Agarbado, a tenacious defender and a great foreigner like Skyler Hogan. Beyond the individualities, the teams play very well collectively. Anything can happen. Above all, good basketball.
.
