Homogeneous championship par excellence, the ProB did not fail in its reputation during the start of the 2022-2023 season where the somewhat cliché expression, “everyone can beat everyone”, was never also true.
With extra soul, Orléans Loiret Basket snatch their first away victory at Chalon
“Nobody has a margin on nobody“, hammered Antoine Eïto, the leader of Elan Chalon, Tuesday, November 29, after the victory of Orleans at the Coliseum (62-63). “You will see, the teams which will finish first or second will have at least nine defeats in the counter at the end of the championship”, urges Germain Castano. The Orleans coach bewareinevitably, of the visit of AS Alsace, this evening, at 8 p.m., at the sports hall, despite its status as a red lantern.
“December as a pivotal period”
“There are surprises every weekendwe have to be careful because it could be us who are going to suffer one if we are not vigilant”, insists the technician from Loiret. He who sees in this month December a “pivotal period” with four of their six matches scheduled at home.
Will the last month of the year and its Christmas meetings, in particular, be the first turning point of the season? “With the sequence of meetings, the teams that will make good runs will be able to take the reins”, predicts Lukas Nicot, who closely follows French basketball on France 3 or Sport in France. “Honestly, when I’ve seen the teams build over the summer, I wondered who would really be the favorite in ProB this season, continues our colleague. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen so many high-level and dense squads, with a good mix of experience, talent and young French people who are progressing. Results, all teams can perform and it’s hard to follow.”
“Winning, to accelerate the alchemy”
This start to the season, where no club has yet taken off, is not a bad deal for Orléans, which is struggling, for the moment, to find consistency and develop a game that lives up to its ambitions.
“The team was 90% rebuilt this summer, it takes time for the mayonnaise to set“, recalls the experienced Orleans strong-winger Jérémy Leloup. We have elements of talent, but it takes time to set up, to be coherent defensively and offensively. There are good things, but we could still be a level above. You have to win the matches that come at home to gain confidence. It will help us to go faster in alchemy. “First boost tonight?
“The team is not balanced”: the bitter observation of Germain Castano
The keys to the game
For this third match in a week, Orléans Loiret Basket, still with a group of eight pros due to the absences from Malela Mutual (injured finger) and Jean-Fabrice Dossou (tibia), has the opportunity to finally launch a series by capitalizing on its precious success at Chalon-sur-Saône on Tuesday November 29 (62-63). “We have to rely on the last three quarter-times that we have had defensively in Chalon”, insists Jérémy Leloup, the strong winger of the OLB.
“We must not make the mistake of saying that it is the perfect opponent to make two in a row”, nuance Germain Castano, the Orleans coach, before receiving the red lantern. Especially since the Alsatians have strengthened themselves with the arrival of experienced US point guard Jamar Diggs (1.90m, 34 years old) and promising French winger Tom Digbeu (1.96m, 21 years old). Julien Espinosa, the ASA coach, can also count on the Serbian Strahinja Gavrilovic, his best scorer (17.7 points per game) who was absent (sick) on Tuesday during the narrow defeat against Antibes (75-79). “It’s going to be a difficult match against a team lacking in victory,” the OLB coach is wary.
Jerome Couton-Coudray
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