Two victories in a row and a Sicilian derby played evenly until the end for Orlandina, three consecutive successes that have given Edilnol points, awareness and morale: today’s challenge is from the slums just looking at the standings. The “paladins” of the Messina coast and the rossoblùs of the western Alps will look each other in the eyes with the awareness that they are experiencing the best moment of their season so far: the duo ball is at 5 pm, an advance to favor the free-to-air television broadcast on Ms Sport ( channel 601 of the digital terrestrial and 814 of the Sky platform), but also to facilitate the long return journey of Infante and his companions, who flew to Sicily yesterday.
Compared to the first leg, when the opponents returned to Capo d’Orlando with the first two points of their A2, a lot has changed. For Biella it was a question of growth and trust, which made it possible to put the greats of the championship in difficulty such as Cantù and Udine. For the biancoblù, now historical rivals of Edilnol in recent seasons, a lot has also happened in the squad of players. There is no longer Flavio Gay, first put out of the squad and then cut for disciplinary reasons. Today there will be no point guard hired to replace him, the unfortunate and talented Andrea Traini, stopped for the umpteenth time by a knee problem. And in directing the role in the starting quintet of Matteo Laganà, younger brother of the former rossoblù captain and positive protagonist of the first leg match, remains unguarded. The only play at the disposal of coach Marco Cardani is Quinn Ellis, the Carl Wheatle of Capo: English but registered as an Italian by training, he is 18 years old and has a clearly growing playing time and impact. The bench remains short, behind the American superstars, Tevin Mack and above all a Nick King with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game. This did not prevent the Sicilians from overwhelming Urania Milano just seven days ago, presenting themselves with the same absences as today.
A lot of defense is needed and Edilnol (a delegation of which was at the Forum on Friday evening to closely study Milan’s Euroleague textbook rearguard) knows it well, because coach Andrea Zanchi doesn’t stop repeating it every day. The 83 points scored on Sunday in Udine are clearly above the seasonal average of 70. It is a sign that the Rossoblu home must be built while protecting their own basket. And not under the illusion of having suddenly become very good: «Let’s keep enthusiasm at bay – warns the coach -, we cannot afford to skid. We must continue to work harder than the others, because this is the only way we can get what we want, starting from this match on a difficult field ». Captain Luca Infante also thinks this: «The path is still long and full of pitfalls».