Instituto Takes the Field: A New Season of Argentine Basketball

The “new” Institute takes the field. On Wednesday they will play as a visitor against Unión de Santa Fe in their first appearance in the National Basketball League. With fewer names than in previous seasons, but with young players plus some experienced ones, added to the knowledge of coach Lucas Victoriano, Gloria is committed to forming a solid team to remain, as in recent years, among the protagonists of the Argentine basketball elite. .

“It is a young group, it has other characteristics that are totally different from last season and I hope we can get something out of it, because it has a lot of talent,” Victoriano highlighted of his renewed squad.

The coach, who will lead Glory for the third consecutive season, deepened his analysis of the “new” Institute before Mundo D: “It is a team that plays dynamic, that plays possessions, perhaps too short or very modern, but he feels it that way, and by nature it got me hooked. Their characteristics are those, and in this first half I was fascinated, I loved it, it taught us that we can play at that speed.”

“It is a team that plays dynamic, that plays possessions that are too short or very modern,” Lucas Victoriano described to his Institute. (Javier Ferreyra / La Voz)

The Alta Córdoba team will also play this season in the South American League (starts on October 13), with the dream of the first international conquest.

In the previous campaign, Instituto finished in third place, after being first in the regular phase and losing in the fifth and decisive match of the semifinals against Boca. From that squad, only three players remain today: point guard Leandro Vildoza, guard Federico Elías and power forward Bautista Lugarini (U23 record).

The rest are new wearing the albirroja shirt: forward Mauro Cosolito; the pivots Javier Saiz and Roberto Acuña; the Uruguayan versatile Nicola Pomoli, and the two Americans, the shooter Nathan Hoover and the power forward Bryan Jefferson.

The starting five and the role of each player

Victoriano put together the squad piece by piece, with the two players born in the United States who will compete in the difficult National League for the first time. In the middle of the preseason, the coach defined his starting five for the games, which he put on stage in the last preparation match, in the Super 8 final that he won against Independiente de Oliva and, before, against Barrio Parque.

Instituto’s starting five is with Vildoza (new captain), Hoover, Cosolito, Jefferson and Saiz.

The Instituto starting quintet that coach Lucas Victoriano projects for the two competitions, the National League and the South American League. (Institute Press)

The point guard from Tucumán ensures leadership, leadership and defense, a lot of defense. With Hoover, Glory has the outside scorer. The American is a three-point shooting specialist. Cosolito carries experience, he comes from being champion of the National League with Quimsa and his hand does not shake in the shots at the end of the game. The other American, Jefferson, is a worker, likes to play as a team, scores, passes the ball, rebounds and showed a good outside shot. And Saiz from Cordoba is a guarantee in the inside game.

Behind, for the point guard position, is the youth player Juan Cruz Frontera (he is recovering from an ankle injury) and, as an alternative, the youth player Bruno Abratte, the outside players Elías and Pomoli, and the inside players Lugarini and Acuña.

Pomoli gives Victoriano the possibility of playing as a point guard, shooting guard or small forward, depending on the team’s needs, and also depending on the opponent he faces. The Uruguayan comes from an outstanding season last season in Platense.

Nicola Pomoli can act as a point guard, shooting guard or small forward and excels at reaching the opposing rim quickly. (Facundo Luque / The Voice)

For his part, “Fede” Elías, in his third season at the club, first as a senior player, is a “specialist” in shooting, an alternative to Hoover.

Lugarini, for the second year in a row, signs U23 from Instituto, has the height, mobility and game for modern basketball, a fast insider who can act as a small forward. It is the season to exploit for the man from Rosario, who was summoned to the Argentine team that will compete in the Santiago de Chile 2023 Pan American Games along with Saiz.

And Acuña is the classic pivot with a lot of weight under the rings. In recent seasons, Glory did not have a replacement for the “5” with as much presence as it will have now to face the 2023/2024 campaign.

An intense season is coming for Instituto, in which collective functioning will be key, vital, fundamental to reach the playoffs of the National League and to fight for the title in the South American League.

The first high school games

10/4 vs. Unión de Santa Fe (V), at 9:00 p.m., National League. 10/4 vs. Comunicaciones de Mercedes (V), at 8:00 p.m., National League. 10/13 vs. San José de Paraguay, at 7:10 p.m., South American League*.14/10 vs. Malvín of Uruguay, at 7:10 p.m., South American League*.15/10 vs. Oberá de Misiones, at 10:10 p.m., South American League*.19/10 vs. Olympic La Banda (L), at 8:10 p.m. , National League. 10/21 vs Quimsa (L), at 9:10 p.m., National League.

* The South American League home run is played in Oberá, Misiones.

2023-10-02 21:38:44
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