MIES (Switzerland) - Italian basketball has had much to celebrate over the years but not in recent times, at least when it comes to podium finishes.
It's been two decades since the Azzurri finished in the top three of a major event, although the current generation did enjoy success when it won the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade in 2021. There have been some great Italy teams over the years.
Here are the ones that we believe stand above the rest.
5 - 1997 - EuroBasket
With Ettore Messina at the helm and Italy talented on offense and stifling on defense, the Azzurri beat every team in their path on the way to the championship game in Barcelona. That included wins over Latvia on opening day, and then title contenders Yugoslavia in their second game. This team had many of the greats in Italian basketball, like 1999 EuroBasket MVP Gregor Fucka and star shooting guard Carlton Myers. Denis Marconato, a powerful 2.11M (6' 11") center, and 2.10M (6'11") power forward Giacomo Galanda, ensured size and shooting.
Messina, who went into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2021, had a bevy of guards to rely on like Davide Bonora, Alessandro Abbio and Claudio Coldebella. Riccardo Pittis was a terrific wing and there were also Paolo Moretti, Alessandro Frosini, Flavio Carera and Dan Gay III. Italy reeled off win after win, defeating Poland, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Turkey and Russia.
An awesome Yugoslavia coached by Zeljko Obradovic that had Predrag Danilovic, Sasha Djordjevic, Zeljko Rebraca, Dejan Bodiroga, Zoran Savic, Milenko Topic and Dejan Tomasevic got the better of Italy when the teams met again, in the Final, winning 61-49.
4 - 1980 - Olympics
Italy won just four of their eight games at the Moscow Olympics, yet still managed to reach the Final! This team had great players in scoring machine Renato Villalta and FIBA Hall of Fame center Dino Meneghin, and the complementary pieces included the likes of Michael Sylvester, Pierluigi Marzorati and Romeo Sacchetti. Roberto Brunamonti, a young member of the national team who would later blossom into a key component for Italy, was in the team, as well as Enrico Gilardi, Fabrizio Della Fiori, Marco Solferini, Marco Bonamico, Renzo Vecchiato and Pietro Generali.
Italy finished top of Group C ahead of Cuba (2-1) and both advanced to the Final Round. Once there, Italy endured a 102-81 beatdown by Yugoslavia, yet rebounded with an 87-85 win over the Soviet Union, a game in which Villalta had 21 points.
After falling hard to Brazil, Italy still reached the Gold Medal Game thanks to a 95-89 win over Spain, when Meneghin erupted for his Olympic high 29 points. He also 11 rebounds for his only double-double of those Games. Yugoslavia again beat Italy in the Gold Medal Game, but this time by an 86-77 scoreline. Italy had nevertheless, for the first time, reached the podium at the Olympics.
3 - 1983 - EuroBasket
Led by Antonello Riva, aka the Nembo Kid (Italy's equivalent to Superman), the Italians won all seven of their games to claim the EuroBasket crown for the first time in their history. In this 12-team tournament, Italy's all-time leading scorer Riva averaged a team-high 16 points per game. Riva would go on to pour in 3,785 points in his national team career, a record that still stands.
In addition to Riva, this team included eight of the players from Italy's 1980 Olympic silver medal winning team. They were Romeo Sacchetti, Dino Meneghin, Roberto Brunamonti, Renato Villalta, Pierluigi Marzorati, Enrico Gilardi, Marco Bonamico and Renzo Vecchiato.
After narrowly avoiding defeat on the opening day against Spain, a game Italy won, 74-73, the Azzurri's average margin of victory was 18 points in the next six games.
2 - 2004 -Olympics
It was a huge achievement for Italy to reach the Olympics, never mind the Final in Athens. After losing their first two games at EuroBasket 2003, Italy strung together several narrow wins to finish third and make it to Greece. The most unexpected of those EuroBasket wins came in the Third-Place Game against France, the same France that had beaten the Azzurri in their second game of the tournament, 85-52.
Italy edged the rematch, 69-67, with Denis Marconato's 16 points and 10 rebounds leading the way. Italy won to qualify for the Olympics while France, silver medalists at the Sydney Games, missed out on Athens.
Nine of the 12 players from that EuroBasket team traveled to Athens. They were Nikola Radulovic, Gianluca Basile, Giacomo Galanda, Matteo Soragna, Denis Marconato, Alex Righetti, Massimo Bulleri, Michel Mian and Roberto Chiacig.
The Olympic team was stronger, with Gianmarco Pozzecco adding some sizzle to the backcourt. The other newcomers were Luca Garri and Rodolfo Rombaldoni. The team had continuity with the players, and the coaching staff with the venerable Carlo Recalcati at the helm.
Similar to the team the year before, Italy had a tough start, losing two of their first three games yet rebounded by defeating Yao Ming and China and then Argentina, 76-75. Pozzecco and Bulleri combined for 33 of the Italy's 76 points in the win over Argentina. The Italians finished the Preliminary Round second in Group A behind Spain and ahead of Argentina and China.
The Italians ended up facing Group B's third-place team, Puerto Rico, in the Quarter-Finals while Spain's reward for going undefeated in the Preliminary Round was a last-eight clash against an out-of-sorts but very talented USA. After thumping Puerto Rico, 83-70, Italy still avoided the USA, who advanced with a 102-94 win over Spain.
Instead, Italy earned the right to face Lithuania, the defending EuroBasket champions who probably peaked too soon in Athens, beating the USA in the Preliminary Round. With Basile having the game of his life, making 7 of 11 3-pointers and 8 of 8 at the free-throw line, Italy won, 100-91.
They fell in their Athens Olympic rematch to Argentina in the Final, yet the silver felt like gold for an Azzurri side that had risen from the dead the year before just to make it to Greece.
1 - 1999 - EuroBasket
Two years removed from an appearance in the EuroBasket Final under Ettore Messina, expectations were high. In France, Italy had Bogdan Tanjevic at the helm. Italy could have gone off the rails after their 70-68 defeat to Croatia to begin the event. The Italians had led 48-29 at half-time, only for Toni Kukoc to inspire Croatia's comeback (Kukoc is in the FIBA Hall of Fame). But the Azzurri showed grit, maturity and an ability to get better as the tournament wore on.
After losing again, to Lithuania, 74-62, tournament MVP Gregor Fucka, and All-Star Five members Carlton Myers and Andrea Meneghin, led the Azzurri to three straight wins, over Russia in the Quarter-Finals, Yugoslavia in the Semi-Finals and Spain in the Final. This Italy team was full of winners like Gianluca Basile, Giacomo Galanda, Denis Marconato, Roberto Chiacig, players that experienced even more highs with the Azzurri in tournaments to follow.
The two Alessandros, Abbio and de Pol, Davide Bonora, Michele Mian and Dilglay Marcelo Damio all played under Tanjevic, who is now in the FIBA Hall of Fame, to bring Italy their greatest moment.
Honorable Mentions
2003 - EuroBasket
Imagine what must have been going through the minds of the players and coach Carlo Recalcati after starting the EuroBasket in Sweden with a 77-67 defeat to Slovenia, followed by a 85-52 beatdown by France! Italy responded with wins over Bosnia and Herzegovina (80-72) and Germany (86-84) to reach the Quarter-Finals, and then stunned Greece, 62-59.
Following an 81-79 defeat to Spain, Italy edged the same French team that had hammered them by 33 points to reach the Olympics, setting off wild Azzuri celebrations on the court in Stockholm.
The Italian team that is among the most respected in Italy was made up of Gianluca Basile, Roberto Chiacig, Alex Righetti, Giacomo Galanda, Massimo Bulleri, Michele Mian, Denis Marconato, Nikola Radulovic, Matteo Soragna, Alessandro del Pol, Davide Lamma and Alessandroi Cittadini.
1991 - EuroBasket
Italy whipped hoops fans in Rome up into a frenzy as they won four straight games to reach the EuroBasket Final. Antonella Riva averaged 14.0ppg with point guard Fernando Gentile second at 12.6ppg. This Azzurri, who also had Walter Magnifico, Riccardo Pittis, Davide Pessina, Roberto Premier, Ricardo Brunamonti, Ario Costa, Stefano Rusconi, Andrea Gracis, Sandro Dell'Agnello and Alessandro Fantozzi, launched their run with an 82-72 win over Greece.
After that, they edged France 75-72, and in the Semi-Final, after a blowout of the Czechs, scraped a 93-90 win over Spain. A powerhouse Yugoslavia coached by FIBA Hall of Famer Dusan Ivkovic was much to overcome in the Final. That Yugoslavia team had international basketball legends Dino Radja, along with FIBA Hall of Fame duo Vlade Divac and Toni Kukoc, amongst others. Yugoslavia got 23 points and 8 rebounds from Radja, 20 points and 4 boards from Kukoc and 10 points and 7 rebounds from Divac and won, 88-73.
FIBA
*This Top Five and the honorable mentions are entirely subjective and in no way represent an official or accurate award, nor do they reflect FIBA's official stance. All comments are solely those of the author and expert panel, intended to entertain the fans.