Italy roster set for OQT in Turin

ROME (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - Italy head coach Ettore Messina has made just three changes to the squad that played at last year's EuroBasket for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin.

Giuseppe Poeta, Stefano Tonut and Riccardo Cervi have made the 12-man roster for the OQT. Achille Polonara, Andrea Cinciarini and Amedeo Della Valle were in last year's team but are not in the side that will square off against Tunisia and Croatia in Group B. Italy could also end up facing Group A sides Greece, Iran and Mexico.

Of the three from last year's team not in the OQT squad, Cinciarini started and played the most, averaging more than 20 minutes per game.

The majority of the minutes are almost certain to be taken by Andrea Bargnani, Marco Belinelli, Danilo Gallinari, Luigi Datome, Alessandro Gentile and Daniel Hackett.

Tonut may be the biggest surprise. A former player with Italy's U20 side in 2013, the 1.94m guard had a strong play-off campaign with Umana Reyer Venezia and at 22 years of age has a chance to be a part of the national team set-up for a long time.

Italy suffered Quarter-Final heartbreak at EuroBasket 2015, falling to Lithuania after overtime. But they bounced back to beat the Czech Republic in their next game to clinch a spot in the OQT field.

Italy have not played at an Olympics since 2004, when Carlos Recalcati led the team to a surprise silver medal.

FIBA