1971–72 Serie A (basketball)

The 1971–72 Serie A basketball championship was the 49th season of the Serie A, the highest professional basketball league in Italy.

Serie A
Competition details
Season 1971–72
Teams 12
Games played 22
Dates 24 October 1971 – 4 April 1972
Final positions
Champions Simmenthal Milano
19th title
Runners-up Ignis Varese
Relegated Stella Azzurra Roma
Statistical leaders
Points John Fultz
29.8
Records
Highest scoring S. Milano 113–78 Udine
(16 January 1972)
Winning streak 12 games
Ignis Varese
Losing streak 9 games
Stella Azzurra Roma

The regular season ran from 24 October 1971 to 4 April 1972, twelve teams played 22 games each. As Simmenthal Milano and Ignis Varese ended joint first with an equal head-to-head record, a single playoff game decided the title for the second year running. Milano won the game, played in Rome, to break Varese's three-year title streak, taking home their nineteenth overall title (and a spot in the European Champions Cup).

To accommodate a league expansion to 14 teams due the following year, only one side was relegated that season, newly promoted Stella Azzurra Roma went straight back to the Serie B.[1]

Preseason

Holders Ignis Varese were seen as the favourites to retain their title, with habitual rivals Simmenthal Milano – whom they had beat in a title playoff game the previous season – as challengers. Ambitious teams Forst Cantù and Splügen Venezia could take a few points off the leading duo but were not considered as strong enough to join the title fight.[1]

A Nikolić coached Ignis had kept all their major players, with star Mexican Manuel Raga complemented by Italian internationals Dino Meneghin, Ottorino Flaborea, and Ivan Bisson among others. The addition of Tony Gennari and Marino Zanatta (both from Mobilquattro Milano, the re-sponsored All'Onestà) had created an abundance of star players in their squad, something ironically seen as their only potential weakness.[1]

Simmenthal, coached by Cesare Rubini, had virtually kept the same squad yet were seen as more potent, with combative American Art Kenney settled in and youngsters Giulio Iellini and Mauro Cerioni more mature.[1]

Regular season

Simmenthal's title hopes took a dent when they lost 69-67 away to Forst Cantù during the fourth round, leaving Ignis as the only undefeated team at that stage.[2] When the two met in Varese on 9 January 1972, Simmenthal was already in a do-or-die situation, trailing the leaders by four points (having lost again in between, to mid-table Norda Bologna led by league top scorer John Fultz). Ignis' 62-57 win in a nervous game characterized by poor shooting from both sides (Bisson and Renzo Bariviera top-scoring for their respective teams with 16 points each) led some observers to already declare them champions, with their now 6-point lead seen as insurmountable.[3]

However, the same month, Pierluigi Marzorati and Carlo Recalcati helped Cantù end Ignis' four-year invulnerability at home with an 84-83 overtime win that made that claim less certain.[4] Soon after, the leaders lost by a single point again, this time to Venezia after two overtimes, to see their lead on Simmenthal reduced to only two points.[5]

That gap remained the same until the penultimate round game between the two freshly crowned European champions (Ignis winning the Champions Cup and Simmenthal the Cup Winners' Cup) played on 26 March 1972 in Milan.[6] Contrarily to the previous encounter, the game was reportedly an entertaining affair, Cerioni neutralised a diminished Raga defensively whilst adding 18 points to a vindictive Kenney's 21. Meneghin's 28 points were not enough for a Varese missing the injured Bisson, as they were undone 77-72 to concede their hold on first place.[7] Both teams comfortably won their last round games, which meant they finished as joint leaders, making a one-off playoff game at a neutral venue necessary to decide the title.

Standings
Milano
Napoli
Pesaro
Bologna
Venezia
Roma
Serie A 1971–72 – Club Locations
PosTeamsPWLPFPAChampion or relegation
1 ●Ignis Varese2221118051380 Title playoff (see below)
2 ●Simmenthal Milano2221118451565
3Forst Cantù2218418521675
4Splügen Venezia2213916271579
5 ●Norda Bologna22111117011696
6 ●Snaidero Udine22111116661752
7Mobilquattro Milano22101216861740
8Maxmobili Pesaro2291315411610
9Eldorado Bologna2281415491679
10Gorena Padova2261615211656
11Partenope Napoli2251715421668
12Stella Azzurra Roma2231914711712 Relegation to Serie B

Source: Lega Basket

● Ranking by head-to-head record then points differential in case of tie (see record).

Individual scoring table
Rank Name Team Points PPG
1. John FultzNorda Bologna65529.8
2. Manuel RagaIgnis Varese51123.2
3. Gary SchullEldorado Bologna49822.6
4. Enrico BovoneSnaidero Udine49223.4
5. Carlo RecalcatiForst Cantù47921.8
6. Larry SaundersGorena Padova42419.3
7. UbiratanSplügen Venezia41418.8
8. Jim WilliamsPartenope Napoli40418.3
9. Bob LienhardForst Cantù40018.2
10. Art KenneySimmenthal Milano37116.9

Source: unofficial statistics compiled by the Giganti del Basket magazine (official statistics started from the 1975–76 season).[8]

Postseason

Title playoff

The title-deciding playoff game was played in Rome's Palazzo dello Sport on 4 April 1972 in front of more than 15,000 people. Raga, having returned to fitness, scored a game-high 25 points, with Meneghin adding 22 points for the defending champions as Varese led by 9 points in the first half. Despite this, a team-effort by Simmenthal's mayor players such as Kenney, Giuseppe Brumatti and captain Massimo Masini allowed them to get back in the game, with the teams tied on 60 with only 29 seconds left to play. Barivera scored twice in succession to allow Milano to win the closely contested game and the league title for the first time in five years.[9]

4 April
21:00
Simmenthal Milano 64, Ignis Varese 60
Pts: Giuseppe Brumatti 14
Rebs: Arthur Kenney 16		 Pts: Manuel Raga 25
Rebs: Dino Meneghin 13
Palazzo dello Sport, Rome
Attendance: 15,000

Italian Cup

Simmenthal completed the domestic double over Ignis, beating their rivals 81-77 in Turin to lift the cup. As both teams were already qualified for the 1972–73 European Champions Cup (Milano through the league and Varese by winning the 1972 edition), the spot in the European Cup Winners' Cup was given to Mobilquattro Milano after they beat Forst Cantù 84-83 in the third-place game.[10]

Championship-winning squad

Source: Lega Basket

References
  1. "Ricomonciano i duelli dei giganti" [The giants' battles start anew]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). 23 October 1971. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. "Basket: il Simmenthal cade a Cantù" [Basketball: Simmenthal slips in Cantù]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). 15 November 1971. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  3. Tavarozzi, Antonio (10 January 1972). "Lo scudetto è ancora dell'Ignis" [The championship is Ignis' again]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  4. "L'Ignis perde con la Forst. Botte a Bologna e a Torino" [Ignis loses against Forst. Fights in Bologna and Turin]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). 31 January 1972. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  5. "Perdono le grandi del basket. Ignis a Venezia, Saclà a Forlì" [The big basketball teams lose. Ignis at Venice, Saclà at Forlì]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). 21 February 1972. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  6. Tavarozzi, Antonio (26 March 1972). "Le due grandi del basket, dalle Coppe allo scudetto" [The two big teams of basketball, from Cups to the championship]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  7. Tavarozzi, Antonio (27 March 1972). "Il Simmenthal alla carica (ed è subito spareggio)" [Simmenthal in charge (and it's already a playoff)]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  8. "Serie A 1971-72 - classifica marcatori e spareggi" [1971–72 Serie A – scorers table and playoffs] (PDF). LegaBasket.it (in Italian). Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  9. Tavarozzi, Antonio (5 April 1972). "Grande il "Simm" campione ma ci vorrebbero due scudetti" ["Simm" a great champion but two championships would be needed]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  10. Tavarozzi, Antonio (2 June 1972). "Simmenthal batte Ignis anche in Coppa" [Simmenthal also beats Ignis in the Cup]. ArchivoLaStampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2016.
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