Italbasket, Gianmarco Pozzecco has chosen the 12 for Spain
12 chosen to face Scariolo’s Spain
The Red Room of Pesaro City Hall hosted today the press conference for the presentation of Italy-Spain, a match valid for qualification for the World Cup to be played in the summer of 2023 between Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
On Friday, November 11, at 9 p.m., the Azzurri will face Spain at the Vitrifrigo Arena in Pesaro, followed by an away match in Tbilisi against Georgia.
The coach of the Azzurri national team, Gianmarco Pozzecco, spoke: “I thank President Petrucci, because by entrusting me with the bench of the national team he allowed me to experience the most exciting moments of my career. At the EuroBasket I had in my hands a team capable of emotion, and from experience I know that to convey emotion you have to be the first to be excited. The president protects me, I protect my players: I do not tolerate that many of them live in uncertainty, that they are forced to make choices that are not theirs to make. I remind everyone that Achille Polonara during the European Championship chose to stay in the gathering, giving up attending the birth of his son, solely and exclusively because of a sense of brotherhood that had been created within the team. I demand respect for the players, not only those on the national team, who for me remain the best component of the movement. Playing a window in this period is very complicated, if we then do not feel the solidarity of Italian basketball it is inevitable that we feel alone.”
Coach Pozzecco chose the 12 Azzurri who will take the court tomorrow: out by technical choice Mouhamet Rassoul Diouf, Davide Moretti, Nicola Akele and Tomas Woldetensae.
After three consecutive victories last summer (against the Netherlands and Ukraine away and Georgia at home), Italy is leading Group L in the company of Spain and sees the World Cup getting closer and closer. To qualify mathematically already in this round, the Azzurri will have to beat the World and European Champions and Georgia. Otherwise, it will have to wait for the last two matches of the last window (Feb. 23 at home against Ukraine and Feb. 26 away in Spain). The top three ranked teams qualify for the 2023 World Cup (Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines).
Italy
#0 Marco Spissu (1995, 184, P, Umana Reyer Venezia) 31/213
#1 Niccolo Mannion (2001, 190, P, Segafredo Virtus Bologna) 25/281
#6 Paul Biligha (1990, 200, C, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano) 63/257
#16 Amedeo Tessitori (1994, 208, C, Umana Reyer Venezia) 47/216
#17 Giampaolo Ricci (1991, 202, A, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano) 39/222
#24 Riccardo Moraschini (1991, 194, G/A, Umana Reyer Venezia) 28/50
#25 Tommaso Baldasso (1998, 192, P, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano) 18/34
#30 Guglielmo Caruso (1999, 208, A/C, Openjobmetis Varese) 3/4
#31 Michele Vitali (1991, 196, G/A, Unahotels Reggio Emilia) 38/239
#40 Luca Severini (1996, 204, A, Bertram Yachts Derthona Tortona) 1/7
#54 Alessandro Pajola (1999, 194, P, Segafredo Virtus Bologna) 26/72
#77 John Petrucelli (1992, 193, G/A, Germani Brescia) 3/9
Technical Commissioner: Gianmarco Pozzecco
