The race for the playoffs. For La T Gema and Fabo everything in four games. Decisive direct clashes

If among the objectives of the enlargement of the National Serie B to forty teams and the inclusion of the play in there was that of transforming the end of the regular season into pandemonium, it can be said that the experiment wanted by the managers of the National Basketball League at least from this point of view it was perfectly successful. See the ranking to believe it. Group B with four rounds to go in the regular season: the unbeatable has been eliminated Roseto, already mathematically first, from second to seventh position in the standings there are only 6 points and as many teams in the running to enter one of the two playoff tables through the main door. One of these will have to roll up its sleeves and go through the Caudine Forks of the play-in, but who will it be?

Still a million dollar question, with 160 minutes to go in the championship: it will almost certainly not be a Luiss Rome e Crifo Wines Ruvo di Puglia, who are currently the most in-form teams not only in the Southern group but in the entire cadet division. A record of 11 wins in the last 12 games has projected the university team into second place alone, even though Paccariè's men, who are taking a break this weekend after Chieti's exclusion, could be caught up with the Apulians, who have a great team but also a complicated schedule, opened by Sunday's direct clash against Virtus Rome, closed by the away match in Roseto on April 27th and with the challenges in Sant'Antimo and Latina in between. The Luiss one, composed of Ravenna, Sant'Antimo and Caserta seems to be an easier path: the most difficult commitment for the Capitoline team will be on the last day against Fabo Herons Montecatini but it could already be irrelevant for the ranking. If the fight for the second place seems to be limited to Ruvo and Luiss, the real brawl opens from fourth to seventh place, with Virtus Rome, Pielle Livorno e The T Gema Montecatini tied at 42 points and the Fabo Herons Montecatini lurking after a March with 4 wins in 4 games played.

The next matchday will be decisive in this sense, when Ruvo-Virtus Roma, Jesi-Fabo and above all Pielle-La T Gema will be played at the Modigliani Forum in Livorno. Whoever loses between Livorno and Montecatinesi will officially be forced to watch their backs, unless the other Montecatini in the Marche region loses, which would virtually put everyone out of harm's way from the play-in scare. What is certain is that for the thermal team of La T Gema, not even managing to snatch a placement among the top four after an entire round spent in second place would be a half tragedy. A nightmare that in the event of a defeat in the advance match on Saturday would be close to becoming reality, especially if the defeat were to take on proportions greater than 8 points (the first leg ended 67-59): if Savoldelli and his teammates were to at least save the basket difference they could try to play it all out in the three subsequent rounds with Fabriano, Rieti (away) and Jesi, trusting that Toscana Legno will make at least one misstep between Roseto, Chiusi and the home match against Latina.

However, this is a risky argument, because it does not take into account the variable Virtus Rome, which should conquer Ruvo would become difficult to reach in view of fourth place, also due to a rather soft calendar. In the victory of the Crifo Wines Sunday so everyone is hoping a little, including Herons: of those still reachable by the "aironi", Virtus is in fact the only franchise with which the rossoblù have direct clashes in their favor and therefore in the event of a tie, they would finish behind. To get back into the top six, Fabo must first win all their games from now until the end of the month: a false step at PalaTriccoli on Sunday would also call into question the seventh place.

Filippo Palazzoni