ROME, Italy — Before heading to Naples last week, I took a tram bound for the Federazione Italiana Pallacanesto (Italian Basketball Federation) on the outskirts of this spellbinding city to check on the status of the Italian national team revving up for the 2023 World Cup in Manila.
During that time, the Italian championship was still being played starring Virtus Bologna and Olimpia Milano, team that had national team mainstays on their respective rosters.
Two nights later, while I was in Napoli, Olimpia Milano beat Virtus Bologna, 67-55, in Game 7 to win the crown.
Francesco D’Aniello, the publicity chief of the Italian squad, said about 30 national team candidates will show up for training camp in the Alps beginning 24 July and will hold camp until 2 August.
By the time the Italians host a pocket tournament in Trento, those flying to to the Philippines for the 25 August to 10 September cagefest would already be named.
D’Aniello, who will join them, insists they are not taking the host for granted.
Italy and the Philippines are grouped with the Dominican Republic and Angola and the Azzurri are building up for the World Cup by raking on a bevy of teams action in Manila.
“We are not taking any team for granted,” he said when asked about the opposition in Manila.
He made special mention of Gilas Pilipinas’ tremendous homecourt edge, something D’Aniello feels could potentially be a gamechanger.
Italy and the Philippines are grouped with the Dominican Republic and Angola and the Azzurri are building up for the World Cup by raking on a bevy of teams action in Manila.
In contrast, host Philippines has opted to kind of keep its camp away from prying eyes by going to Northern Europe and play Estonia and Finland and possibly Lithuania.
Hopes are high that Italy, Olympic silver medalists in 1980 and 2004, would progress deep into the Manila tournament but its medal hopes suffered a big blow when Paolo Banchero declared that he would suit up for the United States instead of Italy.
Still, Italy has several players with NBA experience and this alone spells trouble for the Chot Reyes-mentored team.
But then again, D’Aniello remains deeply concerned about the kind of crowd and that will turn out on gameday.
Perhaps, D’Aniello was just being diplomatic in his assessment of the Philippines, adding that the presence of Jordan Clarkson and the stratospheric Kai Sotto could mess things up.
But with the Philippines struggling with injuries, the Italians might not even need Banchero and a handful of other guys to get the job done.
