APU Udine, officially Amici Pallacanestro Udinese, also known for sponsorship reasons as APU Old Wild West Udine, is an Italian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team of the city of

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

. The team currently plays in Serie A2, Italy's national second league. Despite being a distinct club, APU Udine ''de facto'' inherited the fanbase of Snaidero Udine, the historic club of the town dissolved in 2011.

History

2011–2016: Beginnings within the minor leagues

Amici Pallacanestro Udinese was founded on 29 June 2011; the club's aim was to inherit the fanbase of Associazione Pallacanestro Udinese, better known for sponsorship reasons as Snaidero Udine, a historic club of the Italian Serie A. The acronym APU is in fact the same used in the past for the previous city's club. After five seasons within the minor leagues of Italian basketball, on 11 June 2016, the team, led by coach Lino Lardo, won the Final Four in

Montecatini Terme Montecatini Terme is an Italian municipality (''comune'') of c. 20,000 inhabitants in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is the most important center in Valdinievole. The town is located at the eastern end of Piana di Lucca ...

, defeating

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

and achieving the promotion to Serie A2, Italy's national second league.

2016–present: Years in Serie A2

In the 2016–17 season, coach Lino Lardo and his staff were fully confirmed. Moreover, the backbone of the roster was confirmed too: Manuel Vanuzzo, Joel Zacchetti, Riccardo Truccolo, Mauro Pinton, Michele Ferrari and Vittorio Nobile were joined by Gino Cuccarolo, Andrea Traini and the two American players,

Stan Okoye Stanley Onyekachukwu Okoye (born April 10, 1991) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Scafati Basket of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). A 6'6" swingman, he was named the 2012–13 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of ...

and

Allan Ray Allan Nathaniel Ray (born June 17, 1984) is an American sports agent and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for four years at Villanova University. He played one season ( 2006–07) with the Boston Celtics of th ...

. The results, albeit fluctuating, allowed Udine to always stay outside the play-out area. In the following season, the roster was largely confirmed and Udine succeeded in reaching the playoffs for the first time in its history. However, after having ousted 3–1

Derthona Basket Derthona Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as Bertram Derthona Tortona, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Tortona, in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont. The team has achieved the promotion to the Lega Basket Ser ...

in the eightfinals, APU Udine was eliminated 1–3 by

Junior Casale Associazione Sportiva Junior Pallacanestro Casale Monferrato, commonly known as Junior Casale and currently for sponsorship reasons as Novipiù Casale Monferrato is an Italian professional basketball team based in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont. It ...

in the quarterfinals. In 2018–19 season, Demis Cavina became the new head coach of the team, while the roster was notably completed with the shooting guard Trevis Simpson, the power forward

Marshawn Powell Marshawn Powell (born January 5, 1990) is an American basketball player for Leche Río Breogán of the LEB Oro LEB or Leb may refer to: * Lausanne–Echallens–Bercher railway, Switzerland * Lebanon, UNDP country code * Lebanon Municipal Air ...

, as well as the Italian point guard Lorenzo Penna and the Serbian-Italian small forward Stefan Nikolić. In January 2019, Cavina was sacked and Alberto Martellossi was signed as new coach. In the following playoffs, Udine was eliminated 3–1 by

Pallacanestro Biella Pallacanestro Biella, known as Angelico Biella for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Biella, Piedmont. It plays in the second division Serie A2 as of the 2015-16 season. For past club sponsorship names, see ...

in the first round. In May 2019,

Alessandro Ramagli Alessandro Ramagli (born 1 April 1964) is an Italian professional basketball coach. Ramagli has coached multiple teams in Italy since 1996. He is current head coach of for Scaligera Verona of the LBA. Coaching career Alessandro Ramagli began to ...

was appointed as new head coach of the team. Moreover, the club signed Michele Antonutti, a veteran Italian power forward, the American center

Gerald Beverly Gerald Leon Beverly (born November 18, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Iwate Big Bulls of the Japanese B3 League. He played college basketball for the Daemen Wildcats. College career Beverly played four seasons at Daemen ...

and the shooting guard T. J. Cromer. However, the season was later cancelled in March 2020, due to the broke out of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when t ...

. In June 2020,

Matteo Boniciolli Matteo Boniciolli (born 18 April 1962) is an Italian basketball coach of APU Udine in the Italian Serie A2. He has been a head coach since 1999, guiding several clubs in Italy and abroad to titles, also having taken charge of the Italian nati ...

became the new coach. Beyond Antonutti and Andrea Amato, the roster was notably completed with two Italian point guards,

Marco Giuri Marco Giuri (born 8 July 1988) is an Italian professional basketball player who last played for APU Udine of the Italian Serie A2 Basket second tier national league. He is a combo guard. Professional career Marco Giuri began his professional ba ...

and

Federico Mussini Federico Mussini (born March 12, 1996) is an Italian basketball player for Pallalcesto Amatori Udine of the Italian Serie A2 Basket, second tier national championship. Career Federico Mussini made his debut for Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia in May ...

, the American shooting guard

Dominique Johnson Dominique Johnson (born June 9, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Al Ittihad Alexandria. College career Johnson played his college basketball at a small and very modest Christian university, called Azusa Pa ...

and the center

Nana Foulland Nana F. Foulland (born October 21, 1995) is a video analyst for the Oklahoma City Thunder and former American professional basketball player who last played for Boulazac Basket Dordogne of LNB Pro B. He played college basketball for Bucknell Univ ...

. For the playoffs the club signed also the Italian guard

Fabio Mian Fabio Mian (born February 7, 1992) is an Italian professional basketball player for Scafati Basket of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. Professional career He played for two seasons, from 2018 to 2020 for Aquila Trento. Mian signed with Cremona ...

. The team lost the

Italian LNP Cup The Italian LNP Cup ( it, Coppa Italia LNP), known as Turkish Airlines Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual cup competition for Italian basketball teams organized by Italy's second league in the Italian basketball league system, the Serie A2 ...

final against

Basket Napoli Napoli Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as GeVi Napoli, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Naples. It's the ''de facto'' successor of the Basket Napoli which was dissolved in 2009. The team has achieved the promotion t ...

for 80–69. Moreover, in the playoffs, Udine ousted 3–1 Trapani in the quarterfinals and 3–2

Scafati Basket Scafati Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as Givova Scafati, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Scafati, Campania. The club competes in the top level Italian professional basketball league, the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Hi ...

in the semifinals. However, it was eliminated 3–1 by

in the finals.Il Napoli Basket promosso in Serie A1: la massima serie mancava dal 2008
''Fanpage''

Honours

Serie A2 * Runners-up (2): 2020–21, 2021–22

*Winners (1): 2022 * Runners-up (1): 2021

References

External links

Official Site
{{in lang, it 2011 establishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 2011 Basketball teams in Piedmont