That it is not a normal season, it was understood from before the duo of the debut in the Super Cup. The last oddity of this year’s A2 series lies in the times that compress and expand according to the progress of the pandemic and the dates that continue to change, as the contagion situation slows down or stops the various teams , accumulates the games to be recovered.
The start of the second phase, for example, has been postponed by one week and then by another week: the groups that will decide the first relegation, the playout candidates and the playoff grid will start on Sunday 25 April. And here is the paradox: Edilnol, forced from January to frenzied rhythms to keep up with the tight deadlines of a late season, will see practically a month pass from the last return (Sunday 28 March in Udine) to the first «Watch», in whatever grouping you happen to play.
In the four weeks off, however, she will be a spectator, waiting for the results of the various recoveries, many of which also involve her direct opponents. An example above all? Orlandina-Bergamo, probably more than decisive in deciding the sprint for the third last place, will be played on Wednesday 7 April. And the Lombards will still have one game to play, Sunday 11 at home against Turin.
This also happens, in basketball transfigured by the coronavirus: the good rule of sporting fairness that wanted the simultaneous matches on the last day, to avoid calculations that could direct the outcome on the field, was easily sacrificed.
It is not enough. At the end of the month off (for Biella: teams like Orzinuovi and Turin will recover the long days of quarantine at a frenzied pace) we will return to running very fast. The dates of the second phase include two midweek shifts, Wednesday 28 April and Wednesday 12 May. They could be avoided in the infamous three-team black group, where there are only four days to play and where Biella risks ending. From May 19th onwards, playoffs and playouts will be played, best of five games, with the aim of finishing by June 30th. All this, of course, unless the situation worsens that force other teams to stop, questioning the firm will of the Basketball League to complete all the stages of the season without upsetting the formula.
Instead, the youth championships were forced to adapt: those of Excellence will start between 10 and 12 April. «In the Under 18 the Piedmontese teams plus two from Liguria have been reunited in two regional mini-groups – explains Claudio Carofiglio, manager of BiellaNext -. We will play both ways with the aim of assigning at least the regional title by the end of June ». For the national stage, we’ll see. “But for the boys it is important to start again – he adds -, they feel the lack of competition, of the scoreboard lit up with the points”.