Tribute to the Champs: Sergio Scariolo

Sergio Scariolo has been among the best European coaches of his generation and now he has a European club title to add to his stacked c.v.

Scariolo is a Basketball World Cup winner and three-time EuroBasket champion with the Spanish national team, which he also led to two Olympic medals - silver at London 2012 and bronze at Rio 2016. He had previously guided Scavolini Pesaro and Unicaja Malaga to respective domestic titles and Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four appearances and helped Khimki Moscow Region make it to its first-ever 7DAYS EuroCup Championship Game in 2009. When he signed a multi-year deal with Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Coach Scariolo knew he had the responsibility of leading the team to the title and he managed to do just that by winning in front of his team's fans for the first time in his long, successful career.

Coach Scariolo lost two projected starters – Ekpe Udoh and Awudu Abass - before the EuroCup season even started, but managed to keep his team competitive, assigning larger roles to different players. Mam Jaiteh took a significant step forward under Scariolo’s guidance to become the competition's MVP. Once Daniel Hackett and Toko Shengelia joined the team, Scariolo made sure his team was solid on defense. Virtus held Valencia Basket to 73 points in their semifinal showdown at La Fonteta. Valencia had averaged 91.2 points in its previous 11 home games. Frutti Extra Bursaspor scored 85 points or better in the six contests before the championship game, but Scariolo's team limited it to just 67 points. Just like Virtus, Scariolo will return to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague next season after a lengthy absence - since coaching Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the 2013-14 campaign.