Virtus Segafredo Bologna showed during the 2021-22 7DAYS EuroCup season that it is possible to become champions by sharing the ball.
Virtus set assist mark for EuroCup champions
Stats
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Indeed, Virtus recorded the highest assists per game average for a championship-winning team (22.0) in competition history. It bettered the previous record of the 2014-15 champions, Khimki Moscow Region, which had a higher total number of assists but a lower figure when it comes to assists per game (21.8).
Star playmaker Milos Teodosic, who averaged 7.9 assists in 15 games for Virtus in 2021-22, did a great job of keeping everyone involved, particularly in the latter stages of the season. In fact, in four of Virtus's last five regular-season games, Teodosic recorded a double-digit number of assists. He was also aided by fellow point guard Alessandro Pajola who averaged 3.9 assists in 21 games.
Historically, several teams playing such eye-pleasing basketball have been in the mix to lift the silverware at the end of the season. Take the 2018-19 ALBA Berlin team, for example, which averaged 21.8 assists per game. It ended up losing in the final to Valencia Basket, which had the second-highest total that season with 20.3.
Then there is the Virtus squad from the 2020-21 season, which averaged a competition record of 23.4 assists per game and reached the semifinals before falling to UNICS Kazan. However, AS Monaco, which won the EuroCup that year, had a far inferior assist average, 14.8.
The 2021-22 Virtus team stands at the mountaintop in assists per game, as it recorded the highest-ever figure for a championship team. After the aforementioned 2014-15 Khimki side is Valencia Basket from 2018-19, Khimki from 2011-12 and Valencia from 2013-14.
Another factor that makes Virtus's triumph in 2022 even more impressive is the fact that it became just the fifth team to lead the EuroCup in assists per game en route to winning the title.
The last three years have seen Virtus put up three of the EuroCup's seven-highest assist per game figures, with this period aligning with the time that Teodosic has been on the team. It will be interesting to see if Virtus and Teodosic can replicate the same results in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague next season.
