Virtus Segafrdo Bologna bounced back from last season's disappointment, becoming the first-ever Italian team to make it to the 7DAYS EuroCup Finals.

One year later, Virtus veterans showed the way

A year ago, Virtus won its first 19 games in the 7DAYS EuroCup, going undefeated through the regular season and the Top 16, sweeping Joventut Badalona in the quarterfinals and taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three semifinals against UNICS Kazan. 

Alas, none of that was enough, as UNICS won the next two games, qualifying for the finals and leaving Virtus to wonder what went wrong. 

Flash forward to the team's single-game, do-or-die semifinal on the road against Valencia Basket on Wednesday, and some of the Virtus players who went through that experience last season stepped up big in a 73-83 victory that sends them home next week to play Frutti Extra Bursaspor of Turkey in the EuroCup Final.

Marco Belinelli had 14 points and 3 steals, Milos Teodosic finished the game with 12 points and 4 assists, and Kyle Weems got 8 points and 5 rebounds. Toko Shengelia was the team's biggest contributor with 15 points, 3 assists and a PIR of 16. Shengelia, a EuroCup champion with Valencia in 2010, earned a second chance to lift the trophy.

Milos Teodosic, Marco Belinelli Highlights vs. VALENCIA BASKET, 05/04/2022

Belinelli Teodosic bounce back _5605700.mp4

The season was not a bed of roses for Virtus, which lost two key players, Ekpe Udoh and Awudu Abass, even before the EuroCup season started. Nicolo Mannion, Kevin Hervey, Teodosic and Belinelli were also out for a significant periods of time. Under those circumstances, Virtus make the right moves in the player market, bringing in Jakarr Sampson, Isiaia Cordinier and above all, Shengelia and Daniel Hackett, who joined the team right before the signings deadline. 

It took Virtus some time to show its best version, but head coach Sergio Scariolo's team finished the regular season strong, with three consecutive victories. Once in the playoffs, Virtus had to battle hard to beat Lietkabelis Panevezys in the eighthfinals, 75-67, and ratiopharm Ulm in the quarterfinals, 83-77. Center Mam Jaiteh played a stellar role in both games, getting 20 points against Lietkabelis and earning the MVP honor for the quarterfinals with 27 points, 11 rebounds and a PIR of 38 against Ulm.

As such, Virtus is back to a European competition final, the 11th in club history. It won two Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles, downing AEK Athens 58-44 in 1998 and surviving an unforgettable five-game playoffs series against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2001. Its first continental crown was the 1989-90 Saporta Cup, edging Real Madrid 79-74. Most recently, Virtus won the EuroChallenge in 2009 and the BCL in 2019. 

The club wants to go one step further now, winning Europe's second-tier competition and earning the right to play in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. To do so, it must beat Bursaspor, whose forward John Holland knows what it takes to eliminate Virtus in Bologna, because he did it with UNICS a year ago. Virtus hopes it learned from that experience to go all the way this time.

Marco Belinelli - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21-SF

Valencia Basket v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2022-05-04T18:30:00.000Z)

The leader of a Cinderella story like few others in the competition history, Dusan Alimpijevic of Frutti Extra Bursaspor, has been voted the 7DAYS Eurocup Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

7DAYS EuroCup Coach of the Year: Dusan Alimpijevic, Frutti Extra Bursaspor

Alimpijevic, at 35 the youngest coach to win the award, guided Bursaspor all the way to the EuroCup Finals in his first full season in the competition. He engineered a rarely seen in-season turnaround that saw his team win just four of its first 13 games before going on a run of 8-1 that included three postseason road wins in a span of just 14 days.

The Coach of the Year honor is among several awards that recognize the finest EuroCup participants for their efforts throughout the season. Alimpijevic's fellow head coaches were the voters for the award. The Rising Star Trophy, also voted by the head coaches, will be announced next. The All-7DAYS EuroCup teams and the season's MVP, for which fans, team captains and media also voted, will be announced before the 7DAYS EuroCup Final on May 11 in Bologna, Italy.

7DAYS EuroCup of the Year: Dusan Alimpijevic, Frutti Extra Bursaspor

Alimpijevic started his coaching career at age 22, working as an assistant in Novi Sad and Vojvodina in his native Serbia. While in Vojvodina, he survived the fatal crash of a team bus in 2010 that left his head coach and one player dead while Alimpijevic was hospitalized for more than a month. He would make his head-coaching debut with Vojvodina and head the bench of Spartak Subotica, too, before joining FMP Zeleznik in 2016. His breakthrough came in the 2017-18 season when as a 31-year old he led Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade to an 11-19 record in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and guided the club to the Adriatic League finals. Since then, Alimpijevic coached Avtodor Saratov in Russia before taking over at Bursaspor in November 2020 and winning three of the team's last four games in the 2020-21 EuroCup season.

This season, Bursaspor opened with a 2-1 record but dropped eight of its next 10 games and found itself outside of the playoff picture in Group B. A mid-March three-game homestand turned things around for Alimpijevic and Bursaspor. Within eight days, victories over rival playoff contenders Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse and Umana Reyer Venice preceded one against Valencia Basket, catapulting Bursaspor into the playoffs from seventh place. After winning four of its last five regular-season games, Bursaspor continued its magical run by surviving a pair of thrillers in the elimination rounds. First came a stunning 95-103 overtime win on the sold-out home court of Partizan NIS Belgrade in the eighthfinals. Then, Bursaspor held off another host at its packed home arena, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, by 83-85 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Alimpijevic and Bursaspor continued making history with their third road win in less than two weeks, a 68-85 romp over MoraBanc Andorra that sent the team into the do-or-die EuroCup Final next Wednesday against Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

Alimpijevic is the second EuroCup Coach of the Year from Serbia, joining Sasa Obradovic, who won the honor in 2018 with Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. Aito Garcia Reneses is the only coach to win the award twice – with Gran Canaria in 2015 and ALBA Berlin in 2019. The other previous winners were Oktay Mahmuti of Benetton Basket in 2009, Ilias Zouros of Panellinios in 2010, Aleksandar Petrovic of Cedevita Zagreb in 2011, Jure Zdovc of Spartak St. Petersburg in 2012, Fotis Katsikaris of Uxue Bilbao Basket in 2013, Andrea Trinchieri of Unics Kazan in 2014, Maurizio Buscaglia of Dolomiti Energia Trento in 2016, Pedro Martinez of Valencia Basket in 2017 and Zvezdan Mitrovic of AS Monaco in 2021.

A dominant night on the boards helped push his team to the championship game and Frutti Extra Bursaspor center Kevarrius Hayes to the MVP honor for the 7DAYS EuroCup Semifinals.

7DAYS EuroCup Semifinals MVP: Kevarrius Hayes, Bursaspor

Hayes posted a double-double of 11 points and 16 boards for as Bursaspor blew out host MoraBanc Andorra 68-85 to advance to the 7DAYS EuroCup Final on May 11. His 12 defensive rebounds were a new EuroCup record in for the semifinals or finals. His 16 total boards were the second-most in semifinals history. Hayes shot a perfect 5-for-5 on two-pointers and 1-for-1 at the foul line, adding a steal and a block for a performance index rating of 27, the highest on either winning team in the semis.

Kevarrius Hayes | Semifinals MVP | 7DAYS EuroCup

The best semifinals performance, albeit in a losing effort, came from the same game, as Andorra's Oriol Pauli posted a career-high 28 PIR in his 100th EuroCup game. Pauli scored 16 points, pulled 9 rebounds and dished 5 assists. Staying in the same game, the next-best PIR was 23 by Bursaspor guard Andrew Andrews, who led the winners with 20 points. Yet another Bursaspor player, Onuralp Bitim, followed with a PIR of 18, and the fifth-best PIR of the semis belonged to Xabi Lopez-Arostegui of Valencia Basket, which lost 73-83 to Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

MoraBanc Andorra v Frutti Extra Bursaspor (2022-05-03T18:00:00.000Z)


Virtus reached halftime with outstanding numbers, having hit 21 two-point shots in just 29 attempts (72.4%) while limiting Valencia to just 7-for-16 shooting (43.8%) from the same distance. 

Virtus circulated the ball really well in the first half, getting 13 assists and committing just 2 turnovers. The visitors forced Valencia into 7 turnovers and limited the hosts to 9 first-half assists. Virtus played with more aggressiveness, outnumbering Valencia in fouls committed (13-8), blocks (2-1) and steals (4-1). 

"Those 21 two-point shots that we allowed in the first half without reaching the foul bonus, in a game like this, is too much of an advantage against a great opponent," Valencia head coach Joan Peñarroya said after the game. 

Valencia ended up improving its numbers (45.5% 2FG) in the paint and only allowed Virtus to score 8 two-point shots in the second half. Valencia had 19 offensive rebounds, the most in a EuroCup semifinals since 2017, but Virtus took the game's momentum in the first half and stopped Valencia's comeback at the right time. 

Telling numbers: Virtus's first half was worth a trip to the final 

Tornike Shengelia - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21-SF

This is what the protagonists had to say after the semifinals showdown between Valencia Basket and Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

Post-game quotes: Valencia vs. Virtus

### Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo:

"I think it is time to be satisfied about the game. Not euphoric, because this is a semifinal, not a final. But we have to give credit to the team. They did a good job. I think we had kind of a control of the game during the whole 40 minutes. Probably we lost it a little bit in the third quarter. But then I like the reaction we had. We had a couple of very proud and brave plays in those moments. We opened a gap again and we managed to control it until the end. The main idea was to mirror \[Bojan\] Dubljevic with \[Toko\] Shengelia. By mirroring I mean to keep Shengelia on the floor when 'Dubi' was on the floor, because we knew in which great shape he was and what a great player he is, so that was the idea of why we started with Kevin \[Hervey\] and then we played basically Toko on Dubljevic every time he was on the floor. And that's it. I give credit to the players. We didn't rebound as well as we could, or shoot threes as well as we could. But we played good defense and shared the ball, having a good contribution from, I would say, every player who stepped on the court. Good win but again, it is not over. We have the most important and the most difficult one in front of us next week."

### Valencia Basket head coach Joan Peñarroya:

"First of all, congratulations to Virtus. I think they were better than us. Second and most important, congratulations to La Fonteta. We finally saw a fantastic atmosphere here, and it is a pity that the team didn't play the game it needed for our fans go back home happy. I don't complain at all about our willingness or the desire that the players showed to win the game. But it is clear that we didn't play well and they were better than us. Those 21 two-point shots that we allowed in the first half without reaching the foul bonus, in a game like this, is too much of an advantage against a great opponent. In the second half, they only scored 8. We didn't hit shots on offense, and if we had the same defensive disposition in the first two quarters, the game would have been different. It is a hard loss because we wanted to get further and win the competition, but we faced a team that was better tonight."

### Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Segafredo Bologna forward:

"We fought. We maintained the lead, even though in the fourth quarter they came back strong and tried to turn the game around. But, you know, we kept our cool, and we are a very experienced team. It's about one more. All this that brought us here is about one more. This is what we dream of, this is why we practice hard, this is why we play. And I think we're ready."

### Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Isaia Cordinier: 

"Defense was the key. That is what we worked on for the last two months. We are getting better, and that has to be our identity. Tonight, we played very well defensively and offensively, even when we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, which is something that we should work on. That was a great team win. As a group, we were really solid. We have to keep going. We have one more to go. I want to thank the Virtus fans for travelling over here. We heard their support, and that was very important for us." 

### Valencia Basket guard Sam Van Rossom: 

"In the end, they were the better team. We tried and fought until the end. I think we didn't hit as many shots as we did in other games but like I said, we fought hard and they were better than us."

Sergio Scariolo - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21-SF

Toko Shengelis led the winners with 15 points. Marco Belinelli added 14, Milos Teodosic 12 and Jakarr Sampson 10 for Virtus. Jasiel Rivero led Valencia with 17 points, Xabi Lopez-Arostegui added 16 and Louis Labeyrie 11. Lopez-Arostegui and Rivero shined early to give Valencia a 16-11 lead. Belinelli and Shengelia fueled an 1-14 run that allowed Virtus to regain the lead, 19-27, after 10 minutes. Shengelia kept pacing Virtus, getting help from Kyle Weems and Teodosic to boost the guests' lead to 38-50 at halftime. Lopez-Arostegui and Rivero stepped up after the break, bringing Valencia within 58-62 at the end of the third quarter. Daniel hackett and Isaia Cordinier stepped up in crunch time, as Virtus got a 63-76 margin and never looked back. 

Weems got Virtus going with an alley-oop layup which Daniel Hackett followed with a backdoor basket. Kyle Weems and Martin Hermannsson traded jumpers, Lopez-Arostegui scored in penetration and Rivero added a three-pointer that brought Valencia within 7-8. Lopez-Arostegui kept pacing the hosts and Rivero's put-back layup tied it at 11-11. Lopez-Arostegui struck from downtown and Mike Tobey dunked to ignite most of the crowd at 16-11. Mam Jaiteh rescued Virtus with consecutive layups and Belinelli sank a three-pointer in transition to restore a 17-18 lead. Shengelia added back-to-back layups and Belinelli capped an 1-14 run with a wild three-point play for a 17-25 Virtus lead. Isaia Cordinier matched Nenad Dimitrijevic's layup with a wild tip-in, good for a 19-27 Virtus lead after 10 minutes. 

Sam Van Rossom struck from beyond the arc early in the second quarter. Shengelia beat the shot clock with a jump hook and Jaiteh scored again. Dimtrijevic hit a couple of jumpers to keep Valencia within 26-31. Belinelli stepped up with a reverse layup and Shengelia scored around the basket, forcing the hosts to call timeout at 26-35. Labeyrie rescued Valencia with a corner triple but Weems followed a turnaround jumper with a floater in transition that made it a double-digit game, 29-39. Shengelia capped a 0-6 run with a put-back basket and Teodosic followed a triple with a layup to boost Virtus's margin to 33-46. Sampson nailed a floater and Shengelia's buzzer-beating driving layup kept Virtus fully in charge, 38-50, at halftime. 

Rivero scored twice down low right after the break to get the crowd involved at 42-50. Teodosic buried a three-pointer off the dribble that Lopez-Arostegui erased at the other end. Lopez-Arostegui kept finding answers on offense, taking the guests to the foul penalty. Hackett buried a corner triple that Van Rossom matched with an outstanding layup-and-one for a 51-56 Valencia deficit. Belinelli stepped up with a driving layup and Kevin Hervey dunked off a steal to give Virtus much-needed fresh air at 53-62. Lopez-Arostegui scored in transition, getting help from Bojan Dubljevic - who had been scoreless for 29 minutes - to bring Valencia within 57-62 after 30 minutes. 

Cordinier nailed a jump hook early in the fourth quarter that Labeyrie bettered with another corner three-pointer for a 61-64 Valencia deficit. Tobey took over with a backdoor slam that Belinelli erased with a driving slam. Sampson soon added a three-point play that restored a 63-71 Virtus deficit with over 6 minutes left. Hackett fired in a critical three-pointer which Cordinier followed with a fast break layup that sealed the outcome, 63-76. Rivero found a couple of close baskets but he didn't find much help around. Meanwhile, Virtus started to use longer possessions to run the game clock down and Sampson's dunk helped Virtus certify the win in style. 

Virtus Segafredo Bologna became the first-ever Italian finalist in the 7DAYS EuroCup by downing host Valencia Basket 73-83 in front of a sellout crowd at La Fonteta on Wednesday. Virtus will host the final against Frutti Extra Bursaspor at home on Wednesday, May 11, with the winner to become a first-time 7DAYS EuroCup champion and earn the right to play in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. 


Virtus rolls in Valencia to reach the EuroCup Final! 

Marco Belinelli 2- Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21-SF

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Oh wow 🤯🤯<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7DAYSMagicMoment?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7DAYSMagicMoment</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Virtusbo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Virtusbo</a> <a href="https://t.co/re91byUpVi">pic.twitter.com/re91byUpVi</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1521927933711073281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

[Valencia Basket 73-83 Virtus Segafredo Bologna](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2021-22/valencia-basket-virtus-segafredo-bologna/U2021/193/)

Virtus became the first Italian team to reach the finals by downing host Valencia 73-83 in front of a sellout crowd at La Fonteta. Marco Belinelli and Tornike Shengelia fueled an 1-14 first-quarter take-over run that led to a 38-50 halftime lead.  Valencia rallied to within 63-66 early in the final quarter, but Virtus reeled off the next 8 points to put the game out of reach. Shengelia finished with 15 points to lead Virtus, while Belinelli had 14 and Milos Teodosic 12. Jasiel Rivero led Valencia with 17.

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/miketobey10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@miketobey10</a> finishes the dunk in transition 🏃 💨 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7DAYSMagicMoment?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7DAYSMagicMoment</a> <a href="https://t.co/qw5b9Ul9Rk">pic.twitter.com/qw5b9Ul9Rk</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1521925305086189568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

After outdueling host Valencia Basket in their semifinal on Wednesday, Virtus Segafredo Bologna is going to the 7DAYS EuroCup Finals for the first time! Virtus will host Frutti Extra Bursaspor in the winner-take-all final next Wednesday, May 11, with the winner earning the right to play in next season's Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. 

Game Night: Virtus downs Valencia 73-83 to reach the EuroCup Final!

Milos Teodosic - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21-SF

As we enter the most critical phase of the 7DAYS EuroCup season, it is time to consider which stars are most deserving of end-of-season honors.

Fan voting for the All-EuroCup Teams opens on Tuesday

As always, the fans will have their say in choosing the award-winners.

The fan portion of the All-EuroCup voting will run from Tuesday, April 19 through Thursday, May 5, the day after the semifinals conclude.

Ballots cast by fans, coaches, team captains and members of the media will each count for 25% of the totals used to determine the All-EuroCup selections.

Upon the completion of all voting, the player with the most votes will become this season's MVP. He and the next four top vote-getters will comprise the All-EuroCup First Team and the next five will make up the All-EuroCup Second Team.

To make your impact on the final results, go to <https://alleurocupteam.euroleague.net/> to register your vote for the players who impressed you the most this season!

Players representing Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar are not available to be chosen as their participation has been withdrawn for the 2021-22 season.

Please base your selections on each player's performances for the entire 2021-22 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season and Elimination Rounds.

Remember to [cast your ballot](https://alleurocupteam.euroleague.net/) no later than May 5, 2022.

Last chance in the Fan voting for the All-EuroCup Teams!

It is definitely a great time to be a Frutti Extra Bursaspor fan. Three road wins in barely 15 days have reshaped the club's history, turning it into a 7DAYS EuroCup finalist against all odds.

Bursaspor's fairy tale continues

Bursaspor was one of the last teams to qualify for the playoffs. It ranked seventh in Group B with an 8-10 record but arrived to the playoffs with good momentum, winning four of its last five regular-season games. By making it to the elimination rounds, Bursaspor had already made club history in just its second EuroCup season. But the very best was – and is – yet to come. 

First, in the eighthfinals, head coach Dusan Alimpijevic's team took heavy favorite Partizan NIS Belgrade to overtime on John Holland's game-tying triple and then ran away to a 95-103 victory before 19,000 disappointed fans at Stark Arena. Bursaspor continued with its Cinderella story in the quarterfinals at Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, ending that team's nine-game winning streak with a thrilling 83-85 win when the hosts' own game-winning shot attempt left Jacob Pullen's hand a fraction after the final buzzer. During that one, Holland gave his team a new nickname, "The Pitbulls". 

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Jholland_23?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jholland_23</a> makes it clear!🐶<a href="https://twitter.com/BsBasketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BsBasketbol</a> <a href="https://t.co/mw95Vo4zQR">pic.twitter.com/mw95Vo4zQR</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1519392961351540739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In Tuesday's semifinal, Bursaspor played close to perfection, out-performing host MoraBanc Andorra in every major statistical categorey as Andrew Andrews led the way with 20 points, Onuralp Bitim added 18 and Keavrrius Hayes pulled down 12 defensive rebounds, a semifinals record.  

Onuralp Bitim, Andrew Andrews Highlights vs. MoraBanc Andorra, 05/03/2022

Andrews, Bitim play leading role

"Amazing! This is amazing! This is a fairy tale for the city of Bursa, for Frutti Extra Bursaspor, and for us, personally. It's amazing!" Alimpijevic said after the game. 

"When you play in full gyms in Belgrade, Ljubljana and Andorra, to win those kinds of games, you need to be concentrated and well-prepared. The main thing for me, which I said before the game, is that the players put their egos in their pockets and go to the finals. It was a game in which we had to share the ball, which we did. Thank you, guys, thanks to my players. And I will finish with this: Frutti Extra Bursaspor is in the final. Our fairy tale is going on, still going on." 

Dusan Alimpijevic - Frutti Extra Bursaspor (photo Dragana Stjepanovic - Partizan) - EC21-EF

Onuralp Bitim - Frutti Extra Bursaspor (photo Bursaspor) - EC21-RS18