Viola Reggio Calabria

	Viola Reggio Calabria
Founded	1966 / 2009
Hall	PalaBotteghelle ; (3,000 seats)
Homepage	www.violareggiocalabria.it
president	Raffaele Monastero
General Director	Gaetano Condello
Trainer	Marco Calvani
league	Serie A2 ; 2016/17: 15th place
Colours	Orange / black
home	Away
	successes
	Championship series A2 1985, 1989, 1992

Viola Reggio Calabria is an Italian basketball club from Reggio Calabria . The professional men's team of the club played several seasons in the top national league Lega Basket Serie A and also took part in the European club competition Korać Cup several times . After economic difficulties, the professional team was dissolved twice and re-established under different, slightly modified names. So they initially took part in the playing operation under the name Cestistica Piero Viola until 1997, followed by the re-establishment under the name Nuovo Basket Viola Reggio '98 and finally in 2009 as (Team Basket) Viola Reggio Calabria .

history

The association was founded in 1966 on the initiative of Giuseppe Viola, who named the association Piero Viola after his late brother Piero Cestistica and took over the legacy of the previously existing local association AICS. After years of playing in Serie C, in 1974 they were promoted to the third-highest division Serie B. In 1983, after nine seasons, they became first in Serie B in Group B and rose to Serie A2. The rise made the construction of the Botteghelle sports hall necessary, as the old arena no longer met the requirements of the FIP for the second division. Already in the second season in the new division, the championship in the A2 series and promotion to the top national division, Serie A1 .

The first first division season 1984/85 in Serie A1 ended on the 13th and fourth from bottom place in the table, only removed from the last non-relegation place by the poorer direct comparison . After returning to the second-rate Serie A2 it took three years to win the championship in the A2 series again in the 1988/89 season under coach Tonino Zorzi , later a member of the Italian "Basketball Hall of Fame", and to return to the highest division reached. The second first division season 1989/90 ended with a positive season balance in seventh place in the table. In the first championship play-off participation of the club they were eliminated in the quarter-finals after an opening win in three games against the eventual runner-up Ranger Varese . In the following season Carlo Recalcati took over the coaching office for the next six years and they played for the first time internationally in the Korać Cup 1990/91 , but in the championship they only reached 12th place in the table and had to go into a relegation round with the best second division teams . Here you only came to a balanced record of five wins in ten games, which did not reach one of the two top places in the relegation round and thus meant relegation from Serie A. In the Serie A2 they then won the championship in the 1991/92 season and returned directly to the top division.

When they returned to Serie A in the 1992/93 season in the new PalaCalafiore hall under the sponsor name Panasonic, they achieved the best final position in the top division in sixth place after the regular season. The play-off quarter-final series lost the team, which included Olympic champion and ex-NBA professional Alexander Volkov , in the decisive third game with two points difference to defending champion Benetton Treviso after a successful basket attempt by Dean Garrett in the final second from the referees was revoked again. In the following season they reached the group stage of the 16 best teams in the Korać Cup 1993/94 , in which they were eliminated after just one win in six games. In the national championship it was enough in the final placement to a seventh place, which was again followed by elimination in the quarter-finals, this time against the eventual runner-up Scavolini Pesaro . After an eleventh place in the 1994/95 season, it was enough in the 1995/96 season to an eighth place in the final table. As in the following season as eleventh in the table, they were eliminated in the "pre-play-offs" or round of 16 of the championship.

In the 1997/98 season, the previous Cestistica Piero Viola went bankrupt in December 1997. The game was continued from January 1998 by the Basket Viola Reggio Calabria until the end of the season. After just seven wins, they ended up in the last place in the table in the season overshadowed by bankruptcy and relegated again. The Nuovo Basket Viola Reggio '98 continued to play in the A2 series. After a third place in the A2 series in 1998, they immediately returned to the top division in the play-offs for promotion. In an experienced team, in which apart from Brian Oliver, the Argentinian young man Manu Ginóbili stood out, they reached a seventh place in the table after being promoted again in 2000. In the play-off quarter-finals they dueled with children from Bologna to Predrag Danilović and Antoine Rigaudeau over the full distance of five games with the better end for the favored main round runner-up. After Ginóbili switched to league rivals children to replace Danilović and win the ULEB Euroleague 2000/01 with the team, he was replaced at Viola by his compatriot Carlos Delfino . But you ended the 2000/01 season only in 14th place in the championship. In the Korać Cup 2000/01 they were eliminated in the round of 16 against Ironi Ramat Gan . In the following season 2001/02 it was enough in the championship only to the 16th and fourth from bottom place in the table. Now Delfino also moved to Bologna, but not to Virtus to replace Ginóbili who had migrated to the NBA, but to Skipper Fortitudo.

The newly formed team reached a ninth place in the 2002/03 season and was able to qualify via the pre-play-offs for the play-off quarter-finals against defending champions Benetton Treviso. Here you went against the team, which was supposed to celebrate a “ triple ” of championship, cup and ULEB Euroleague 2002/03 at the end of the season , sensationally with two wins in the lead. But the remaining three games in the series were then given up, including the fourth game at home with just two points difference. In the following season it was enough again to ninth place in the table, but after the abolition of the pre-play-offs no longer enough to qualify for the championship finals. The following season ended 2005 with the crash on the penultimate place in the table. Scavolini Pesaro's license withdrawal saved the club from going to LegADue , which had replaced the A2 series. This had to be started one season later in 2006, after the season ended after only three wins in 34 games in the last place in the table. The club's economic difficulties, however, led the team to withdraw from the professional game.

In 2009 the new start as Team Basket Viola Reggio Calabria followed in the fourth class "Serie B Dilettanti". After losing the play-off final for promotion to Orlandina Basket in the second year after the re-establishment in 2011, promotion to the third division, now known as the "Divisione Nazionale A", was achieved in the 2011/12 season. After a tenth place in the table in the 2012/13 season one belonged in the following season 2013/14 of the newly established "Legadue Argento", which was connected as a substructure of the Legadue. After the reorganization of the second Italian basketball league, Reggio Calabria has been playing in the West Serie A2 since the 2015/16 season.