RIGA (Latvia) - There was no experience outside of Italian borders for Luca Banchi before 2018 and if we talk about senior national team duties, nothing was detected in his resume.
But then 2021 happened.
While being immersed in his first ever overseas coaching experience as part of the Long Island Nets' staff in the G-League, during the bubble in Orlando, the phone rang.
The call was coming from Kaspars Cipruss, who played under him in Trieste during the 2000-01 season and who's now Secretary General of the Latvian Basketball Association. "Would you mind coming over to coach us?", was the question from the other side of the Atlantic.
Conducting a senior national team had been a missing element throughout the career of Banchi. Although he did spend some time leading the Italian national team's youth system and working as Simone Pianigiani's Assistant during 2009-10.
Still, he had already taken over challenges abroad in Bamberg, AEK, and Lokomotiv Kuban, before moving to the US.
Three years later, it looks like answering that call couldn't have been a better idea.
All the way from the Pre-Qualifiers
Heading to the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at home, a flowing Latvian wave is expected to now pack the stands of Arena Riga. But back when the Italian head coach was first appointed as the national team's lead, it wasn't all fun and games.
After shocking everybody (yes, it happened previously) by getting the 5th place at FIBA EuroBasket 2017, losing to Slovenia in an unforgettable Quarter-Finals clash, they couldn't make it to FIBA EuroBasket 2022.
A change was needed, and it all started with facing Romania in a completely different environment than what we've been used to witnessing in most recent times.
Entering the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifiers with pandemic crowd restrictions still in place, Arena Riga welcomed the dawn of a new era for the Latvian national team. They just didn't realise back then it would eventually be amazingly successful.
"I remember that game." stated Banchi in respect of his debut against Romania.
"We arrived with so many unknowns and question marks in a somewhat surreal atmosphere at the Arena Riga. We immediately channeled on the right tracks, because we had a startling 21-0 run to begin the game.
"That immediately gave me the perception of what type of group I had around. [I saw] the strong will and determination that existed in each of them to try to, even from that point below, to complete the task of qualifying for the FIBA World Cup", he added.
Out of that first game, seven players (Davis and Dairis Bertans, Arturs Strautins, Klavs Cavars, Andrejs Grazulis, Arturs Kurucs, Kristers Zoriks) ultimately closed the circle by making it to Latvia's 12-man roster at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 last year.
"It would have been historical because it had never happened before", Banchi said about a potential qualification to the tournament.
"My memory of that game is of mixed emotions and an atmosphere in the stands a little unreal. Above all, I compare it with what we are experiencing now: the immediately overwhelming approach that the team had on the field."
He then brought his memory back once again to that debut on the carmine red and white national team's bench.
Entering the European Qualifiers stage on a 4-0 run after beating Romania and Belarus twice in a six-day span, it was still understandably not enough to boost Latvia's chances. Getting to the FIBA Basketball World Cup wasn't thought about - even in the sweetest of dreams.
Instead, it was the start of an indomitable run.
"That group with Great Britain, Belgium, and Serbia, returning from FIBA EuroBasket 2022, seemed to condemn us to the supporting role. Instead, we won that group as well", he said.
Despite starting with a loss, that ultimately came by only one point (101-100), deep down the playcaller knew something was happening.
The 58-year-old vividly remembers that first clash. It was the beginning of a recognizable Latvian playing style that was shaped throughout the months of this three-year project.
He stated: "We arrived at that appointment with the label of the outsider, where everyone saw us as a pre-destined victim. We arrived there and played with an unexpected personality, having the courage to face Serbia on their own soil.
"We imposed our pace and played a particularly offensive game of the highest thickness. I feel like we perhaps deserved to win it. But instead of depressing us, [that defeat] gave us even more stimulus and awareness.
"A small nation like Latvia got to Belgrade and played with that personality against a team led by [Milos] Teodosic and coached by [Svetislav] Pesic. It was the first cornerstone of our path", he insisted.
Latvia then bounced back against Slovakia. Some months in the making they beat the Belgian national team in back-to-back fashion both away in Mons and at home in Riga.
"That double challenge in the February window against Belgium was decisive in trying to lull our ambitions. It told everyone we were on the right track," recalled Banchi.
When the opportunity of revenge came in June, hosting the Serbian national team in a packed Arena Riga, a lower-scoring game ended 66-59 for the hosts really changed the perception around this group.
Banchi claimed: "It was an escalation in terms of enthusiasm and participation. An ideal situation where the players were good at triggering the spark and the Latvian audience - the Latvian people, I should say - responded accordingly, immediately retaining a team that had been showing great character since the beginning,"
Sensationally surprising everybody by going on an 11-0 unbeaten run after that first game in Belgrade, their confidence extended to Jakarta and finally Manila, where Latvia solidified its legacy as an established European powerhouse.
He said: "There were some very prestigious victories, against great teams, great champions, and coaches. The apotheosis I think can be represented by the [FIBA Basketball] World Cup, where we lined up successes like the ones against France, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, and Brazil", he said.
Latvia were a Davis Bertans' three-pointer away from historically qualifying for the Semi-Finals - and therefore for the Olympic Games, as the best-classified European national team alongside Serbia. Latvia was also incredibly close to taking out of contention the eventual World Champions.
"That too is a game that, beyond the bitterness of the epilogue, left me the feeling that we were a special group, a special team," mused Banchi when asked asked about his most satisfying games to prepare out of his 26 official encounters - having won 23 of them.
"The way we got to that appointment, the way we prepared it, and the way we interpreted it over the 40 minutes."
He continued: "But also in the way we have been able to metabolize it: less than 24 hours later we returned to the court playing against Italy. Although we were bent by fatigue, and plagued by the ending of that game, we found the resources to make it to the 5th-6th place final.
"These are also significant proof of the value and thickness that this group has. We will win games, and we will lose games. But in these three years, we have given testimonies of having a group built on solid foundations, going beyond a game, a moment."
Unknown, trusted, hero
If there was a way to travel back in time before the 25th of March 2021, when he took over the Baltic national team's bench, only a few people within Latvia would have answered "Yes" to the question "Do you know Luca Banchi?"
And, it makes perfect sense.
(Almost) three years in the making, it would be difficult to now find someone who doesn't know him. Most importantly, this is something the Italian head coach himself perceives on a daily basis - now that he is almost considered a hero by his adopted countrymen.
Welcoming scenes for the expedition returning from Manila are a pretty self-explanatory example to highlight the unbreakable bond created between Banchi and the whole country. Thousands of Latvians shouted his name like Oasis in Knebworth 1996. "Paldies, despite the distance your love has crossed the Ocean", he said on that special occasion.
Even when the setting doesn't involve the whole city of Riga gathering in the shade of the Brīvības piemineklis - the Monument of Liberty erected in the center of the Latvian capital in 1935 -, he's feeling this sense of closeness with people who are thankful for his impact.
"I perceive this support and recognition from anyone in my everyday life", he underlined, also taking nothing for granted.
"I arrived here, among so many unknowns, suspicions, or perplexities about a foreign coach that could have had the ability, not knowing the Latvian reality, to reverse an inertia that was becoming dangerously negative. There were so many doubts about it. I felt them."
Getting to know the Latvian approach to life, he's even more surprised to have gained such confidence now.
He explained: "I felt this rapid change that allowed me to start in general indifference and today, truly in my everyday life, to gather the appreciation of everyone. From those who stop on the street and congratulate that this is a team that perhaps was never able to capture the attention in the past. And to catalyze the love of their people, their fans."
"This is the moment, the recognition that is given to me daily in the little things. When I happen to walk around the city, then stop and collect their congratulations and compliments. For Latvian people, this is far from obvious. They are very reserved, and a little shy. They seem to have finally broken this ice curtain that enveloped them."
Everybody is winning from having Banchi at the Latvian national team's helm. He's winning, Latvia is winning, and everyday fans - most importantly - are winning.
"From an emotional, passionate, and sentimental point of view, I feel them even closer. Perhaps by infecting them with that little bit of Mediterranean that distinguishes me. It gives me great satisfaction."
This couldn't have happened if the national team spirit wasn't embodied by the whole group of players, who have been counting on more than 30 players among all the competitions played in this three-year span.
"I appraise positively this group's trajectory in terms of awareness", he first revealed, before going into details.
"I have seen players start this project with many unknowns and many perplexities, many suspicions around. Some of them related to age, others to their previous performances, with the fact of being veterans from seasons not exciting with their clubs. Others still recruited and discovered a little in the submerged", Luca Banchi then followed.
Players like Arturs Zagars, for example, are clear litmus tests. Making his ACB debut at 18 years old, he was then tortured by long-time injuries and fell into the mid-table competition in Lithuania, where he found himself back again with Nevezis. Breaking the all-time assists record in a single FIBA Basketball World Cup game was the icing on the cake.
This squad's tip of the iceberg also relies on every single asset's confidence.
"On the other hand, to discover that each of them had the ability once worn this shirt, once joined this group, to reach perhaps a level of performance that no one recognized. The thing that mostly gives me satisfaction is the awareness that each of them has had to really have the tools to become a top team", the Italian master tactician emphasized.
At the end of the day, as Banchi stressed, "numbers don't lie", as Latvia went from the 29th to the 6th position in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by Nike.
"I think that there has never been such a surge in history in such a short period. This is here to testify that mine are not only words of circumstance but are supported by deeds," stated Banchi.
"There's the commitment and participation by every single element of this program. They have been veteran players in some ways, but also these new players, some by age and others because they had never had the opportunity to express themselves in the national team before, with the quality they have proven to have."
Living the Olympic dream
With tickets going sold out in a matter of (a few) hours for Latvian games, the hosts will receive the loudest support when taking part in the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, starting from their first clash on July 2 at 18:00 CET against Georgia.
However, it won't be disappointing to take on the action involving the other five national teams who will be protagonists between Group A and Group B in Riga.
"I think it’s one of the most balanced groups seen among the rest of the world. Every team really has top players who can change the game," Banchi insisted.
So who's the favorite to be heading to the Olympic Games? It's tough to pick one particular country, according to the Italian head coach. "It is difficult to rank what could be the team nominated for success because I see a tournament characterized and marked by balance, where within each team stand out players as authentic stars."
The list of highly talented names collected this week in Latvia is endless: Davis Bertans, Marcelinho Huertas, Nikola Vucevic, Tornike Shengelia, Bruno Caboclo, Arturs Zagars, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Kendrick Perry, Goga Bitadze. And a lot more. "Absolute protagonists coming from the NBA, or from the top of the EuroLeague," enthused the coach.
Stars won't be the only reason to catch up with what's happening at the beginning of July in Arena Riga, however.
He said: "All the teams have such a structure of play - it testifies to the arrival of a certain profile as in the case of Georgia, which has been able to convince a coach of [Aleksandar] Dzikic's caliber. I expect a balanced tournament, where each team has the potential to win against anyone.
"From a technical-tactical point of view, tough encounters: I see mainly European coaches able to impose their style, and their choices. They will be tough and challenging games both technically and tactically, as these coaches are able to give their imprinting to their respective teams."
We're talking about a national-team competition, but according to the 58-year-old head coach, this tournament will "express a quality of play that brings national teams very close to clubs".
That's exactly what Banchi has been trying to do with his Latvian national team group. He showed up, made them dream, and then made them believe.
FIBA