Former Treviso ace: "We want to win, they will have other chances". And on the flop in the derby: "No backlash"
Andrea Gracis, the sporting director of Apu Old Wild West Udine, a major player with the now defunct Benetton Treviso, from the columns of Messaggero Veneto praises Treviso coach Marcelo Nicola just hours before the delicate challenge at Palaverde. “With us he first made a salvation in 2022, then the whole championship after that. He is a coach who understands basketball and knows what his players can give him. His skill lies precisely in putting them in the ideal condition to perform at their best.”
“Treviso has made several changes this year on the run,” he adds: in addition to Nicola’s arrival, he also inserted four new players, the team has improved and is dangerous. Yes, I was hoping not to get to this situation. It is a delicate appointment, which I will certainly live with emotion, but also with the desire to see Udine win. For us it can mean salvation, all things considered Treviso will have its chances with three more games to play.”
The stakes, moreover, could not be higher. In the standings Treviso occupies the last position with 12 points, but the salvation quota remains within reach: Dinamo Sassari is at 14, Cantù at 16, while both Napoli and Udine itself are at 18. A victory at the Palaverde would mean for the Venetians to completely reopen the games, with still three games to go. Radosevic, Treviso’s long, also knows it well, telling the Gazzettino, “Destiny is still in our hands, it is necessary to face one game at a time with the conviction that we can beat anyone by becoming more solid.”
Nicola, for his part, has repeatedly reiterated his confidence in the group, stressing that the challenge of salvation is far from impossible. “Of course we believe in it, all the more so now that we have put two wins in a row. We need to gain more and more confidence in attack, to be aggressive and compact in defense,” the Argentine coach, a naturalized Spaniard, explained to Corriere dello Sport. A technician who, as Gracis himself recalls, knows the Friulian environment well and who at the time of his arrival in Treviso did not hesitate a moment: “I did not hesitate a moment, because my heart made the decision. I accepted the challenge to make this club and this city stay in Serie A: the place it deserves.”
Saturday’s challenge at the Palaverde also brings with it several entanglements of market and personal history. There are three exes in the match: Alessandro Cappelletti played in Udine in the 2021/22 season, turning out to be MVP of the A2 Series and also winning the LNP Italian Cup, while Pellegrino boasts an impressive 180 appearances in an APU jersey in the 2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons. On the other side, Mekowulu signed 13 points and 8 rebounds average with Treviso in the 2020/21 season. Precisely Cappelletti, who came running to Treviso after the sports justice case that led to Trapani’s exclusion from the championship, is one of the symbols of the Venetian rebirth: “My only goal is to try to save myself with this club,” said the 1995-class point guard, whose contract is expiring, during the ‘Speak&Roll’ broadcast on Radio CRC.
Finally, the specific weight of this confrontation for Gracis on a personal level should not be forgotten either. The Friulian manager, born in Treviso, has a deep bond with the city and with the Veneto club, where he served as sporting director for nine seasons, from 2014/15 until 2023, contributing among other things to the historic ride that brought Treviso back to the top league in 2019. An important past that makes his position in this salvation challenge even more special – and charged with emotion – but this time sitting on the opposite side of the barricade.
