“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride,” says Patrick Edomwaddoba, barely audible over the racket of the Tam Tam basketball team warming up for their fourth match of the season. The Pentecostal pastor watches proudly as the players take part in an exercise drill, neatly passing the ball between themselves in a tight lattice before raining a qui...

LA Clippers present Italian Heritage Night: Monday, January 22, 2018 vs Minnesota Timberwolves at 7:30PM. Order your tickets online, use promo code “ITALIAN”, and receive a commemorative T-shirt. We look forward to seeing you at the game! 300 LEVEL: $24. 200 LEVEL: $42. 100 LEVEL: $83. Get Tickets! Tickets Include: A commemorative Italian Heritage...

Before UConn hired a little-known Italian-born coach with a wry sense of humor and an insatiable work ethic, the school’s women’s basketball program had only produced one winning season in 11 years. Geno Auriemma has since guided the Huskies to 29 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, 18 Final Fours, 11 national championships and six undefeated...

Salvo Coppa says he’s fortunate. He shows it, too. Coppa smiles as he helps run practice, grins when he huddles with the other coaches and practically beams when he talks about how his players are developing. Coppa is a rare breed in coaching. From the beginning, he’s always followed his heart. The approach is how Coppa ended up at the UA, servi...

Jim Valvano leaned against an airport wall wearing a tan overcoat over a black shiny sweatsuit, looking like a senior point guard and talking about, of all things, getting old. This is something college basketball does not want to hear. Jim Valvano is supposed to stay young. How can he entertain us, how can he perform all those sideline histrion...

Ogni anno sempre più ragazzi italiani decidono di volare negli States, con l'idea di vivere un'esperienza di basket diversa, in cui possono confrontarsi con un mondo per alcuni versi lontano anni luce dal basket italiano ed europeo e, perchè no, sognare da vicino di approdare in NBA. Negli ultimi anni l'NCAA ha riscosso un interesse sempre maggiore...

The lightbulb went on for Mike D'Antoni in his third year coaching Olimpia Milano in the Italian basketball league LBA, though maybe it was always there and he had been ignoring it. It was 1993 and D'Antoni was coaching "traditionally," as he calls it, but he wasn't getting much out of his team. D'Antoni decided to mix things up. I just one day jus...

It’s November 9th, so that means just one thing: VIRGINIA BASKETBALL SEASON STARTS TOMORROW. Our month-long countdown continues with a player profile for Francesco Badocchi, the first year forward from Italy. Badocchi, who likes to go by Frankie even though he has an incredibly awesome name like Francesco, comes to the Cavaliers from Bishop Miege H...

Active until the end, Lewis D’Antoni just kept going. He once said that sports were what allowed him to live a life that spanned over a century. And the one sport with which he became synonymous was basketball. In a county rich in hoops tradition, he was the king. Lewis D’Antoni was the patriarch and everyone knew it. He may have shown signs of slo...

Italian sprinter Semuedè (“Sem”) Andreis has verbally committed to The Ohio State University’s class of 2022. “I decide to commit to Ohio state University because I think it will be a good opportunity for my future and to stay closer to my american family and friends.”  [sic] Andreis came to the United States in 2016 as an exchange student in New P...