The Montenegrin coach's gamble: "But the Black V will win the championship"

It's a knockout that hurts. The Virtus stops already in the quarter-finals of Coppa Italia at the end of a lacklustre performance. Milan dominates in front of a Virtus that holds up for the first quarter and little more, but then gives in in front of Armani, with a defense that is unable to limit the opponent's attack and with an offensive phrase where the long-distance baskets are missing and the rebounding problems reappear. A bitter defeat, but with coach Dusko Ivanovic who doesn't give up.

"What did I tell my players in the locker room after the game? That we will win the title".

Despite the obvious step backwards, Ivanovic continues to show confidence, even though in his heart he knows full well that in order to win the tricolor, a decisive step forward is needed from the entire group.

After the shock and enthusiasm of the first weeks of the Montenegrin coach's management, the Black V now seems to have fallen back into the same problems as at the beginning of the season, certainly not a good start in view of the next appointments.

Returning to the challenge with Armani, the Juventus coach analyses the match and gives due praise to the opponents.

"Congratulations to Milan. They definitely played better than us, putting in more energy. On the eve of the match I had underlined how to be competitive we had to make fewer mistakes and have greater awareness of our means. Well, Milan did it, finding great confidence, especially in the second half, where they scored consistently from long distance, making decidedly fewer mistakes than us".

A Virtus that in the last quarter almost seemed resigned, with only two fouls committed which are a confirmation of the little pressure put by the team, when the challenge seemed lost.

"It wasn't a physical problem, if we had been more aggressive we would have committed more fouls, the reality is that Milan had a better approach to the challenge".

A very clear concept for Ivanovic who then cuts short the performances of the individuals.

"A judgment on Diouf? He played well, but at the end of a match like the one with Armani I find it very difficult to talk about individuals."

In fact, Diouf, with 20 points in 20 minutes, was one of the few to save himself in a Virtus team that needs to find itself as soon as possible in view of the next challenges. Euroleague and above all of a championship, where it becomes imperative to reach the best possible position in view of the playoffs.