The first article I was asked to write when I joined Viva the Matadors 18 months ago was about a young Italian basketball player who had decided to accept Chris Beard’s offer and commit to Texas Tech. I am from Italy, too, so I saw this as something that could bode well. If you are interested, the article is here.

Towards the end of that article I wrote: “Historically, the biggest weakness of European players (and Italians in particular) coming to American colleges is the lack of physicality. Despite the above mentioned improvements, Moretti still has some problems on the defensive side of the ball, where he struggles against bigger players and, in detail, can have trouble defending the pick and roll, where often he cannot overcome the screens.”