Belinelli, Gallinari and Della Valle in 24-man strong Italy squad ahead of World Cup
ROME (Italy) - Marco Belinelli, Danilo Gallinari and European Qualifiers star Amedeo Della Valle are among the names on Italy's expanded list of 24 players for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.
Coach Meo Sachetti also has European-based veterans Luigi Datome and Nicolo Melli and sharpshooter Davide Moretti, who played in the 2019 NCAA Final on April 9 for Texas Tech.
| Italy's 24-player preliminary squad for FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 | |||
| Awudu Abass | Pietro Aradori | Marco Belinelli | Paul Biligha |
| Jeff Brooks | Andrea Cinciarini | Luigi Datome | Amedeo Della Valle |
| Ariel Filloy | Diego Flaccadori | Danilo Gallinari | Alessandro Gentile |
| Daniel Hackett | Nicolò Melli | Riccardo Moraschini | Davide Moretti |
| Davide Pascolo | Achille Polonara | Giampaolo Ricci | Brian Sacchetti |
| Amedeo Tessitori | Stefano Tonut | Luca Vitali | Michele Vitali |
Plenty of players that logged big minutes in the European Qualifiers for Italy, and for their respective clubs in the Italian league and the Basketball Champions League, are on the list.
Eccoli! I 24 Azzurri scelti da Meo in vista della @FIBAWC! Tra loro, il CT dovrà scegliere nelle prossime settimane quelli che prenderanno parte al training camp di Pinzolo (23/29 luglio)! 📋🇮🇹
— Italbasket (@Italbasket) July 1, 2019
➡️ https://t.co/Z0usM5ppQD#Italbasket #NothingButAzzurri #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/0g07Nt4fo5
Della Valle was Italy's leading scorer in the Qualifiers while other big contributors were Awudu Abass, Luca Vitali, Paul Biligha, Ariel Filloy and Brian Sacchetti.
Stefano Tonut made five appearances for Italy and also excelled in the BCL with Umana Reyer Venezia.
Italy face a difficult campaign in China. They will compete in Group D with Serbia, Angola and Philippines and must finish in the top two to advance to Second Round Group J, where they would meet the first two teams that come out of a Group C that is made up of Spain, Tunisia, Iran and Puerto Rico.
A top-two finish in that Second Round pool would be required to progress to the Quarter-Finals.
Italy last played at a FIBA Basketball World Cup 13 years ago in Japan. They have not reached the podium at a major event since claiming the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
FIBA
