Italian clubs in Europe, we have a problem / News - Basketnews.com

So far, almost all the Italian clubs involved in continental competitions are struggling to respect the expectations surrounding them before the start of the season. Olimpia Milan and Virtus Bologna are the two most clear examples, but even in the other competitions, the situation isn't any better.

Credit: EA 7 Milan - Virtus Bologna Credit EA 7 Milan - Virtus Bologna

With the return of Virtus Bologna to the EuroLeague and the simultaneous presence of two Italian teams in Europe's top competition for the first time in many years, this continental season had been filled with expectations for Italian teams.

Olimpia Milan had reinforced the team with important market targets, and many believed it to be one of the main candidates to reach the Final Four.

After winning the EuroCup last season, Virtus started perhaps with less ambition than Milan but certainly could not be considered a second-tier team. Especially considering their budget and the economic resources invested during the summer market.

However, with 2022 coming to an end and a few months into the EuroLeague regular season, the reality for Italian teams has been much more depressing than expected.

Milan is at the bottom of the standings with a 3-9 record and a streak of 8 losses in a row.

Virtus, for its part, are not doing so much better with a 4-8 record. The Bolognese team comes from a resounding debacle against Olympiacos and will have to play without two extremely important members in Semi Ojeleye and Alessandro Pajola for the foreseeable future.

Trying to straighten out the situation is still possible but certainly not easy, considering the results and difficulties highlighted in the first part of the season.

Milan lost Kevin Pangos and Shavon Shields for a long time, and it is hard to imagine that coach Messina's team can turn around the current situation without two of its best and most impactful offensive players.

Virtus just suffered a heavy defeat against Olympiacos, in which they seemed incapable of resisting even the slightest to the Greeks. With the absences that will be there in the coming weeks, the thought of turning the European season around seems complicated, to say the least.

Some journalists in Italy have speculated that one of the main difficulties for the Italian teams in the EuroLeague has been a lack of physicality compared to their opponents.

But to attribute the poor performances of Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna to a simple lack of physicality would be short-sighted. The numbers, after all, speak for themselves.

Milan has the worst offense in the Euroleague and by far one of the worst in the recent history of the competition. Meanwhile, Virtus has the third-worst offensive rating in the entire Euroleague and the 13th-worst defensive rating.

Both teams are also shooting with very bad 3-point percentages. Milan is last with 32%, and Virtus is just above with an average of 35% from distance.

Poor physicality is only a small part of these two teams' problems. The truth is that, so far, both Milan and Bologna are playing offensive basketball that is poor in ideas and almost completely lacks fluidity and rhythm.

Despite European difficulties, both Milan and Virtus Bologna are performing effectively in the domestic league. After 10 games, both teams have a record of 9 wins and only one loss, which helps make the poor European performance a little more bearable.

In recent years in Italy, it has often been said that the level of the league is rising, and the rate of competitiveness has increased. An opinion that even Ettore Messina, coach and president of basketball operations of Olimpia Milan, agrees with.

The growth of some realities, such as Tortona, is certainly an encouraging sign for the Italian league. However, this supposed increased competitiveness is not reflected at the European level.

Indeed, the feeling is that the Legabasket is still not a particularly probing league for those teams that must then compete at the European level. Olimpia Milan and Virtus Bologna are not the only two Italian teams struggling in Europe.

In fact, the picture of Italian teams in European competitions so far has been rather disappointing.

Of the three Italian representatives in the EuroCup, only Reyer Venezia has a positive record (4-2). Meanwhile, Germani Brescia (2-4) and Aquila Basket Trento (1-5) are disappointing if we look at their expectations at the beginning of the season.

It is no better in the Basketball Champions League. Neither Pallacanestro Reggiana nor Dinamo Sassari have been able to convince.

The only Italian representative in FIBA Europe Cup, Happy Casa Brindisi, has already been eliminated from the competition, becoming the first Italian club to leave the tournament after the first group stage.

The website 'EuroDevotion' has made a comparison of the major European leagues and their teams' winning percentages in continental competitions.

Spain, the national league with the most representatives in European cups (11), topped the list with a record 67 percent.

Italy ranks last among the major European leagues with a record of 35.4 percent (17 wins and 31 losses overall).

At the moment, the only representative of Italian basketball with a positive record at the European level is Reyer Venezia. All others have either a negative or a 50% record (Reggio Emilia, which in the BCL currently boasts 2 wins and 2 losses).

Of course, every situation is different, but the general picture has been less than exciting so far. There were some good expectations surrounding Reggio Emilia before the beginning of the season.

The team reached the final of the FIBA Europe Cup last season (then lost against Bahcesehir), and on paper, they built a good roster for the 2022-23 season.

But so far, Reggio has underperformed, and even at the domestic level, they find themselves at the bottom of the league with only two wins in the first 10 games. Just a few days ago, they changed the head coach, hiring veteran Dragan Sakota.

After being the major surprise of the last Legabasket regular season, Germani Brescia are living through several ups and downs this year. They were recently forced to make a couple of roster additions after losing Troy Caupain and John Petrucelli for multiple months.

After the great performances of the Italian national team at EuroBasket, there was some level of expectation surrounding this season for the Italian clubs in Europe. However, the results have been disappointing.

Recently, the German league announced a 10-year plan to keep improving the level of the competition and helping the teams reach an even better overall situation.

In Italy, though, this type of review seems to be almost a utopia.

The league keeps relying on the good heart of rich investors ready to put their money into the clubs without seeing a real return. At the same time, the overall quality of the arenas in the country remains quite low, and any major plan to build new ones could take even decades.

The hope, of course, is that at least some of the Italian teams playing in Europe will bounce back in the next few weeks, trying to salvage a season that looks already compromised at the European level.

But the signs out there aren't exactly encouraging up to this point.

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