The Gevi Napoli coach will challenge the red and white on Sunday evening at the Unipol Arena
REGGIO EMILIA. His name was shot with insistence especially in the summer of 2019, when after a complicated year, Reggiana Basketball was looking for the coach of the new cycle. At the time the choice fell on Maurizio Buscaglia and we all know how it went, but Stefano “Pino” Sacripanti is one of those technicians who do not leave indifferent. Coach of great experience between Cantù, Caserta and Virtus Bologna, it is in that fiery series of semi-final championship against Avellino (which ended 4-3 for the then Grissin Bon) that the sweetest memories for the red and white go. Sunday evening the roads will cross again for the second day of the championship between Unahotels and the newly promoted Gevi Napoli Basket: Sacripanti keeps a low profile praising the work of Attilio Caja, while anticipating the tripping for what would be the first two points in Ranking.
Coach, how does your team arrive at Sunday’s appointment?
«Marini and Zerini came out battered from the match against Olimpia Milano and are not training. In these days we will evaluate their possible use, while the others are progressing in the program with great intensity. At the debut in the league we had various ups and downs, a characteristic of many teams at the moment: we must try to better manage the pace and possessions ».
The ex of the match will be the center Frank Elegar. Are you satisfied with your contribution?
“Is working. It is clear that he is a player who must be triggered, he must be good at being found and his teammates at serving him ».
What challenge do you expect at the Unipol Arena?
«We know that Reggio Emilia is a very organized team. They will be ready on both sides of the field; we lack a bit of shrewdness in some key moments and we paid dearly for it with Milan, but we are only at the beginning of the season and we will try to consolidate ourselves ».
Is there an athlete who would take away from the red and white team?
«Unahotels has many good players: Caja has created a square system where everyone gives their contribution; he is a coach with clear ideas and who brings solidity to his game ».
We will finally play with the public on the steps.
«We are trying to return to life and normality, it is not easy to face a season with so many problems off the pitch. We hope for an increase in capacity, even if there will still be a moment to wait ».
Could not playing in the Palabigi basin be a limitation for Candi and his teammates?
«I know PalaBigi well and from this point of view Reggio is losing something, but Unipol is still their home. The people of Reggio have a lot of affection for their team ».
A first opinion on the Italian championship?
«We always say that every year is worse than the previous one, but it seems to me that we are facing an overall improvement. I don’t see mattress teams, rather well organized teams and this is a problem for us ».
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