2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A

The 2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A season, known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons, was the 87th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the top tier professional basketball league division of the Italian basketball league system.

Lega Basket Serie A
Season2008–09
DurationOctober 12, 2008 – June 16, 2009
Number of teams16
Regular season
Top seedMontepaschi Siena
Season MVPUnited States Terrell McIntyre
RelegatedGMAC Bologna
Snaidero Udine
Finals
ChampionsMontepaschi Siena
4th title
  Runners-upArmani Jeans Milano
SemifinalistsBenetton Treviso
Angelico Biella
Finals MVPUnited States Terrell McIntyre

The regular season ran from September 30, 2007, to April 27, 2008, 16 teams played each other team in home and away matches. At the end of the regular season, the top 8 teams advanced to the championship play-off whilst the lowest ranked teams, GMAC Bologna and Snaidero Udine, were relegated to the Legadue.

The original number of teams was 18, but on September 20, 2008, the Federal Council of the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) discovered administrative irregularities committed by Basket Napoli and UPEA Capo d'Orlando and decided to deny them professional licenses. The council also chose not to substitute them with any teams from LegADue, and at the same time decided to permanently reduce the number of teams in the top flight to 16.

Montepaschi Siena swept virtually all before them domestically, winning the SuperCoppa Italiana before the season and the Coppa Italia at midseason, losing in the league only once (at Fortitudo Bologna), and going unbeaten through the playoffs to claim their third straight title.

Teams
Team Seasons in
Serie A		 Coach Arena Capacity 2007–08 season
Air Avellino 9 Zare Markovski Palasport Del Mauro 5,200 3rd in Serie A
Angelico Biella 8 Luca Bechi PalaBiella 5,007 12th in Serie A
Armani Jeans Milano 60 Piero Bucchi Mediolanum Forum 11,200 5th in Serie A
Bancatercas Teramo 6 Andrea Capobianco PalaScapriano 3,500 11th in Serie A
Benetton Treviso 28 Oktay Mahmuti PalaVerde 5,154 10th in Serie A
Carife Ferrara 1 Giorgio Valli PalaSegest 3,178 1st in LegADue
Eldo Caserta 1 Fabrizio Frates PalaMaggiò 6,387 2nd in LegADue
GMAC Bologna 36 Cesare Pancotto PalaDozza 5,700 8th in Serie A
La Fortezza Bologna 59 Matteo Boniciolli Futurshow Station 8,600 15th in Serie A
Lottomatica Roma 29 Ferdinando Gentile PalaLottomatica 10,500 2nd in Serie A
Montepaschi Siena 23 Simone Pianigiani Palasport Mens Sana 6,000 1st in Serie A
NGC Cantù 52 Luca Dalmonte PalaPianella 3,910 7th in Serie A
Premiata Montegranaro 3 Alessandro Finelli PalaSavelli 3,800 4th in Serie A
Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 54 Stefano Sacripanti Adriatic Arena 10,323 9th in Serie A
Snaidero Udine 9 Romeo Sacchetti PalaCarnera 3,850 16th in Serie A
Solsonica Rieti 10 Lino Lardo PalaSojourner 3,550 13th in Serie A

Supercoppa Italiana

The Italian Supercup is played as a single match before the start of the season between the previous year's Serie A champion and Coppa Italia winner (if a club wins both, the match instead pits the top two teams from the previous season's league). This season, the game, played September 30 in Siena, pitted two-time defending league champion Montepaschi Siena against Coppa Italia winner Air Avellino.

September 30
9:00 pm
Montepaschi Siena 108, Air Avellino 72
Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 27–20, 24–15, 32–23
Pts: McIntyre 16
Rebs: Sato 6
Asts: Finley 7		 Pts: Warren 18
Rebs: Williams 7
Asts: Warren 4
Palasport Mens Sana, Siena
Referees: D'Este, Pozzana, Chiari

Terrell McIntyre was named MVP of the game.

Standings
Key to colors
     League champions
     Remaining playoff participants
     Bottom two teams relegated to LegADue

At end of regular season:

Pos Team Pts G W L PF PA
1.Montepaschi Siena 583029126512153
2.Lottomatica Roma 4030201025562398
3.Bancatercas Teramo 3830191124912435
4.Benetton Treviso 3630181223202261
5.La Fortezza Bologna 3430171323502336
6.Armani Jeans Milano 3430171323162236
7.Angelico Biella 3030151525142479
8.Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 2830141624562436
9.NGC Cantù 2830141623582445
10.Carife Ferrara 2830141623592390
11.Air Avellino 2630131723072293
12.Premiata Montegranaro 2430121822942431
13.Eldo Caserta 2230111922362389
14.Solsonica Rieti 20*30111921872321
15.GMAC Bologna 2030102022512385
16.Snaidero Udine 123062423292587
  • Rieti penalized by 2 points for administrative irregularities.

Following the season, the owner of Fortitudo (GMAC) Bologna failed to make required payments to remain in the Italian professional ranks, and the club were further relegated to the country's third level, the nominally amateur Serie A Dilettanti. An appeal was unsuccessful.[1]

Coppa Italia

The top eight teams at the halfway point of the regular season (15 rounds) competed in the Italian Cup, seeded according to their league placement at that time. The cup tournament was held at Futurshow Station in Casalecchio di Reno from February 19 to February 22, 2009, with top seed Montepaschi Siena winning the cup for the first time.

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 February 19, 2009
 
 
 Bancatercas Teramo 76
 
 February 21, 2009
 
 Air Avellino 70
 
 Bancatercas Teramo 90
 
 February 19, 2009
 
 La Fortezza Bologna 98
 
 Lottomatica Roma 76
 
 February 22, 2009
 
 La Fortezza Bologna 85
 
 La Fortezza Bologna 69
 
 February 20, 2009
 
 Montepaschi Siena 70
 
 Montepaschi Siena 77
 
 February 21, 2009
 
 NGC Cantù 65
 
 Montepaschi Siena 85
 
 February 20, 2009
 
 Benetton Treviso 80
 
 Benetton Treviso 93
 
 
 Premiata Montegranaro 90
 

Playoffs

The playoffs, which began on May 18, featured the top eight teams from regular-season play, seeded by league position. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were best-of-five, while the final expanded for the first time from its traditional best-of-five format to best-of-seven.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1 Montepaschi Siena 3
8 Scavolini-Spar Pesaro 0
1 Montepaschi Siena 3
4 Benetton Treviso 0
4 Benetton Treviso 3
5 La Fortezza Bologna 2
1 Montepaschi Siena 4
6 Armani Jeans Milano 0
2 Lottomatica Roma 2
7 Angelico Biella 3
7 Angelico Biella 1
6 Armani Jeans Milano 3
3 Bancatercas Teramo 1
6 Armani Jeans Milano 3

Notes and references
  1. Cappelleti, Francesco (2009-07-23). "Italian basketball still ill: The sad cases of Fortitudo and Rieti". BallInEurope.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
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