2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A

The 2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A season, known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons, was the 87th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the top tier professional basketball league division of the Italian basketball league system.

Lega Basket Serie A
Season	2008–09
Teams	16
Dates	October 12, 2008 – June 16, 2009
Final positions
Top seed	Montepaschi Siena
Champions	Montepaschi Siena 4th title
Runners-up	Armani Jeans Milano
Semifinalists	Benetton Treviso Angelico Biella
Relegated	GMAC Bologna Snaidero Udine
Awards
MVP	Terrell McIntyre
Finals MVP	Terrell McIntyre
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The regular season ran from September 30, 2007 to April 27, 2008, 16 teams played each other team in home and away matches. At the end of the regular season, the top 8 teams advanced to the championship play-off whilst the lowest ranked teams, GMAC Bologna and Snaidero Udine, were relegated to the 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

• Renato Pasquali was sacked by La Fortezza Bologna after 6 matches and replaced by Matteo Boniciolli
• Attilio Caja was sacked by Snaidero Udine after 7 matches and replaced by Romeo Sacchetti
• Dragan Šakota was sacked by GMAC Bologna after 9 matches and replaced by Cesare Pancotto
• Jasmin Repesa was sacked by Lottomatica Roma after 10 matches and replaced by Ferdinando Gentile

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

Recap

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

• Rieti penalized by 2 points for administrative irregularities.

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. Archived from the original on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2009-07-28.

External links

• Serie A official website (in Italian)