EA7 Milano’s progress in the Euroleague Top 16 has surprised many. The group stages saw them barely qualify with a 5-5 record and, as the script reads, were supposed to bow out at this stage.
Daniel Hackett didn’t read that script. And he isn’t surprised of the Italian side’s progression either.
“You know, I am not really surprised because I knew, coming to Milan, that there was already a good team coming up here,” Hackett said.
“I knew that I could help the team improve and we created a very good bond as far as us players and we have been working hard. So I am not surprised of the results.”
As the city of Milan prepares for the Euroleague Final Four in May – Hackett, along with EA7 Milano are busy writing their own script – and it includes having home support on their home floor as one of the privileged four teams that have earned their way to the Euroleague’s big dance.
“Man, it would be big,” Hackett said. “It is a mistake to look ahead, but we will try to put ourselves in the best position and hopefully we will have the chance to advance – and if we advance, hopefully we will have the home court advantage. That would give us a chance to go to the Final Four in Milan, which would be unbelievable for us. We will try our best to do it.”
And if there is one thing the Euroleague craves for right now, it’s a true underdog story. Partizan made it to the Final Four in Paris back in 2010 when a young Bo McCalebb truly made his mark. In that same year, Polish outsiders Asseco Prokom came within inches of beating Olympiacos in the quarter-final series, but it wasn’t to be and since then, the Euroleague’s usual contenders have played in the Final Four each and every year since 2010.
While the games themselves have been intense, and the 2012 Final Four being decided on a buzzer-beater from Olympiacos’ Georgios Printezis, a new twist has been missing and is sorely needed. To show that the Euroleague can be contested by anyone, and not the usual sides like Barcelona, Olympiacos and CSKA Moscow. EA7 Milano hope to break that monopoly and give Euroleague fans something to remember.
“Well, it would mean that we are moving in the right direction and are making the progress that we want to make,” Hackett explained. “We are bringing a winning attitude into the city and we will make a lot of people happy if we do so.
“But if not, we still have to keep our heads up and try to bring a trophy to this city, which is missing one for 18 years. Whatever we do, we have to fight and we have to win games.”
And win games, they certainly have been doing. In a tough group that houses Euroleague champions Olympiacos, who they have beaten twice, Barcelona, Fenerbahce, Unicaja Malaga, Anadolu Efes, Laboral Kutxa and Panathinaikos, Milano have taken sole possession of second spot with a 6-3 record and are firmly on course for a place in the quarter-finals. Something that Milano have not managed this century.
It’s hard – but it’s fun.
“It is fun,” he beams. “It is a great group of guys and it is fun to be challenged in every practice, going against Jerrells [Curtis] and [Keith] Langford, playing against [David] Moss and [Alessandro] Gentile. It is very difficult every day, but I think that, overall, it helps the team to get better.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm going on. We have our goals and want to try to achieve them. We will do our best to achieve our goals.”
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