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Matteo Spagnolo has officially entered his name in the 2022 NBA Draft, as announced by his agency Sigma Sports. The 19-year-old is playing in Vanoli Cremona on loan from Real Madrid. The Italian guard is averaging 12.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 10.7 PIR over 25 Lega Basket Serie A games this season. On March 8, 2020, the 1.94-meter ath...

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After two years of suspension, the IBBL NY (Italian Brands Basketball League) the basketball tournament that combine sport and Italian excellence is back in New York. On April 8, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was chosen as the grand opening event, where the Brooklyn Nets stars usually take the court. This year the tournament will also see the par...

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"Drafted" is a word that a few days ago added a page of history to the book of Italian basketball. Lorela Cubaj, 23 years old, from Terni (Perugia), center of the Italian national team, already bronze at the Under 16 European Championships and silver at the Under 17 World Championships, was the fifth Italian player in history to be chosen at the WN...

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On January 1, 1938, in a Cleveland gymnasium, Stanford forward Hank Luisetti did what no college basketball player had ever done. The box score from that game, simple and succinct, tells the story. Luisetti’s 23 field goals and four free throws against an overmatched Duquesne team made him the first 50-point scorer in history. Sixty-five years late...

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Italy has a new superstar in the making. Duke's forward, Paolo Banchero, is projected to be one of the top picks in the 2022 NBA Draft. With March Madness around the corner, BasketNews takes a look at what makes the 19-year old such an attractive choice for GMs of the NBA. If the Italian-American forward is picked in the Top 10 of the upcoming Draf...

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If you like the fast paced action of basketball, give thanks to an immigrant to America from Abruzzo. Dante Biasone was born in the town of Miglianico (population 4,529 in the 2004 Census) in the province of Chieti in the region of Abruzzo, on February 22, 1909. When he was 10, he immigrated with his parents and his brother to Syracuse, New York. W...

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The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is set to honor NIAF Chairman Emeritus Jerry Colangelo at the Foundation’s Arizona Regional Gala in Phoenix on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at the iconic Arizona Biltmore Hotel, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Colangelo will be receiving the inaugural Jerry Colangelo Sports Excellence Award in recognition of hi...

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Italian/American prospect Paolo Banchero is listed at no.2 in the latest edition of the ESPN NBA Mock Draft. Duke's big man is right behind Gonzaga unicorn Chet Holmgren, who's currently the no.1 prospect in Jonathan Givony's mock draft.  Banchero is averaging 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game so far this season, shooting 51% from the...

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In 1984, when Kobe Bryant was 6, his father, Joe, uprooted him and his family to Italy to eke out a few more paychecks after an eight-year NBA career. A 6-foot-9 forward, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant had played for the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Diego Clippers and the Houston Rockets, and had now accepted an offer to play for Sebastani Rieti, based in t...

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In the chapel of a small hillside sanctuary in Porretta Terme — a handsome town in central Italy known for the healing powers of its thermal waters — a single basketball-shaped window, its panes curved like seams, poured light on walls filled with basketball jerseys. On a table, a notebook contained pages of devotionals, including gratitude for a h...

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