2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A

The Serie A FIP 2008-09 was the 87th edition of the top-level Italian basketball championship.

The 16 participating teams played each other team in home and away matches. At the end of the regular season, the first eight classified teams advanced to a championship play-off, while the last two were relegated in LegADue. The original number of teams was 18, but on September 20, 2008 the Federal Council of the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) discovered administrative irregularities committed by Basket Napoli and UPEA Capo d'Orlando and decided to deny them professional licenses. The council also chose not to substitute them with any teams from LegADue, and at the same time decided to permanently reduce the number of teams in the top flight to 16.

Montepaschi Siena swept virtually all before them domestically, winning the SuperCoppa Italiana before the season and the Coppa Italia at midseason, losing in the league only once (at Fortitudo Bologna), and going unbeaten through the playoffs to claim their third straight title.

Teams

Team Seasons in
Serie A		 Coach Arena Capacity 2007-08 season
Air Avellino 9 Zare Markovski Palasport Del Mauro 5,200 3rd in Serie A
Angelico Biella 8 Luca Bechi PalaBiella 5,007 12th in Serie A
Armani Jeans Milano 60 Piero Bucchi Mediolanum Forum 11,200 5th in Serie A
Bancatercas Teramo 6 Andrea Capobianco PalaScapriano 3,500 11th in Serie A
Benetton Treviso 28 Oktay Mahmuti PalaVerde 5,154 10th in Serie A
Carife Ferrara 1 Giorgio Valli PalaSegest 3,178 1st in LegADue
Eldo Caserta 1 Fabrizio Frates PalaMaggiò 6,387 2nd in LegADue
GMAC Bologna 36 Cesare Pancotto PalaDozza 5,700 8th in Serie A
La Fortezza Bologna 59 Matteo Boniciolli Futurshow Station 8,600 15th in Serie A
Lottomatica Roma 29 Ferdinando Gentile PalaLottomatica 10,500 2nd in Serie A
Montepaschi Siena 23 Simone Pianigiani Palasport Mens Sana 6,000 1st in Serie A
NGC Cantù 52 Luca Dalmonte PalaPianella 3,910 7th in Serie A
Premiata Montegranaro 3 Alessandro Finelli PalaSavelli 3,800 4th in Serie A
Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 54 Stefano Sacripanti Adriatic Arena 10,323 9th in Serie A
Snaidero Udine 9 Romeo Sacchetti PalaCarnera 3,850 16th in Serie A
Solsonica Rieti 10 Lino Lardo PalaSojourner 3,550 13th in Serie A

Supercoppa Italiana

The Italian Supercup is played as a single match before the start of the season between the previous year's Serie A champion and Coppa Italia winner (if a club wins both, the match instead pits the top two teams from the previous season's league). This season, the game, played September 30 in Siena, pitted two-time defending league champion Montepaschi Siena against Coppa Italia winner Air Avellino.

September 30
9:00 pm
Montepaschi Siena 108, Air Avellino 72
Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 27–20, 24–15, 32–23
Pts: McIntyre 16
Rebs: Sato 6
Asts: Finley 7		 Pts: Warren 18
Rebs: Williams 7
Asts: Warren 4
Palasport Mens Sana, Siena
Referees: D'Este, Pozzana, Chiari

Terrell McIntyre was named MVP of the game.

Standings

Key to colors
     League champions
     Remaining playoff participants
     Bottom two teams relegated to LegADue

At end of regular season:

Pos Team Pts G W L PF PA
1. Montepaschi Siena 58 30 29 1 2651 2153
2. Lottomatica Roma 40 30 20 10 2556 2398
3. Bancatercas Teramo 38 30 19 11 2491 2435
4. Benetton Treviso 36 30 18 12 2320 2261
5. La Fortezza Bologna 34 30 17 13 2350 2336
6. Armani Jeans Milano 34 30 17 13 2316 2236
7. Angelico Biella 30 30 15 15 2514 2479
8. Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 28 30 14 16 2456 2436
9. NGC Cantù 28 30 14 16 2358 2445
10. Carife Ferrara 28 30 14 16 2359 2390
11. Air Avellino 26 30 13 17 2307 2293
12. Premiata Montegranaro 24 30 12 18 2294 2431
13. Eldo Caserta 22 30 11 19 2236 2389
14. Solsonica Rieti 20* 30 11 19 2187 2321
15. GMAC Bologna 20 30 10 20 2251 2385
16. Snaidero Udine 12 30 6 24 2329 2587

Following the season, the owner of Fortitudo (GMAC) Bologna failed to make required payments to remain in the Italian professional ranks, and the club were further relegated to the country's third level, the nominally amateur Serie A Dilettanti. An appeal was unsuccessful.[1]

Coppa Italia

The top eight teams at the halfway point of the regular season (15 rounds) competed in the Italian Cup, seeded according to their league placement at that time. The cup tournament was held at Futurshow Station in Casalecchio di Reno from February 19 to February 22, 2009, with top seed Montepaschi Siena winning the cup for the first time.

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
February 19, 2009        
  Bancatercas Teramo   76
February 21, 2009
  Air Avellino   70  
  Bancatercas Teramo   90
February 19, 2009
      La Fortezza Bologna   98  
  Lottomatica Roma   76
February 22, 2009
  La Fortezza Bologna   85  
  La Fortezza Bologna   69
February 20, 2009    
    Montepaschi Siena   70
  Montepaschi Siena   77
February 21, 2009
  NGC Cantù   65  
  Montepaschi Siena   85
February 20, 2009
      Benetton Treviso   80  
  Benetton Treviso   93
  Premiata Montegranaro   90  
 

Playoffs

The playoffs, which began on May 18, featured the top eight teams from regular-season play, seeded by league position. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were best-of-five, while the final expanded for the first time from its traditional best-of-five format to best-of-seven.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1 Montepaschi Siena 3
8 Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 0
1 Montepaschi Siena 3
4 Benetton Treviso 0
4 Benetton Treviso 3
5 La Fortezza Bologna 2
1 Montepaschi Siena 4
6 Armani Jeans Milano 0
2 Lottomatica Roma 2
7 Angelico Biella 3
7 Angelico Biella 1
6 Armani Jeans Milano 3
3 Bancatercas Teramo 1
6 Armani Jeans Milano 3

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Cappelleti, Francesco (2009-07-23). "Italian basketball still ill: The sad cases of Fortitudo and Rieti". BallInEurope.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.

External links

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