https://basketballncaa.com/moretti-torno-in-texas-per-vincere-tutto/
It's in Italian, so here's the article run through Google translate:
"There's a lot of space, I'm in one of the biggest universities in America. Now I'm in a park, near the gym, with all the buildings in the various departments around. " Davide Moretti has just finished a lesson and is walking towards the gym on the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock.His freshman season has just ended with the Red Raiders, who arrived for the first time in their history at the Elite 8, and so we asked him to tell us about it. But starting from what he wants to do next year.
"I'm definitely staying at Texas Tech next year and then it depends on how the season goes, how I play, how I feel improved and if I see that there is still room for growth".
Could you also stay 4 years or is it something you exclude?
I take it into consideration, let's see how it will go next year: if it goes well and I see that there are other margins for growth, I will remain the third and then we will see for the fourth.
What advice does your father give you?
He is proud of the choice I made and, like me, he thinks it is the right choice I could make. He knows that what I decide is the right choice, well thought out, there is no kind of pressure on his part.
Have you already talked to coach Chris Beard about your role next season and how was your relationship with him?
We have a meeting in the next days and we'll talk about it. As I've always said, he was the main reason that made me come here. I have never had any particular problems with him and indeed, I have had a very close relationship, it has always been useful.
How was your life outside the field?
At the beginning it was not easy, getting used to new spaces, understanding where to go, how to get from A to B, as normal as it is. Then it went better and better, it's a nice place, it's different. My life is then made up of 85% from basketball and 15% from everything else. It takes place inside the campus, I rarely went to the city, and I did not have any difficulties on campus.
In the field you have found players of different sizes compared to Italy. The biggest problem is the physicality or there are others?
No, I agree, the biggest problem is that. We are talking about athletes who aim to go to NBA, we are at a physical level just below the NBA, with players going at a different speed, I would say double, as well as physicality and contacts are double.
Last year Federico Mussini had told us about the aggressive mentality of many youngsters and had invited you Italian freshmen not to be intimidated . What kind of comrades did you have?
No, nothing aggressive, I found people with the mentality that leads you to become a high level player. It is from morning to night to do workouts and weights, even after dinner you find someone who pulls before going to bed. This is the mentality that I found, but also silent, some are very shy and reserved.
You closed with 12.3 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.1 assists, 31.7% from 3 and 33.6% overall.What statistics are they?
They changed inside the season, at the beginning I played a little more and the percentages were over 40%, then there were difficulties as normal that there are in the first year. Then I'm very happy with how the year ended, growing and not falling, are numbers that are there as the first year. I'm more than happy and satisfied with the work I did, only January was a really difficult month for me.
You played less, why?
There were a lot of factors, our 4 holder ( Zach Smith ) injured , the team chemistry changed, we were used to playing small ball with a rather low quintet and, with his injury, all the roles and all the positions in the field they had to find a new set-up and I found myself playing a little less.
You were ahead of Big12 and then four losses came in line. How far have you been there?
We are aware of the fact that we had the Big12 win in hand. Unfortunately, in addition to Smith he was injured by the title playmaker (Keenan Evans) , who did not play three of those four games. They are two seniors, two fundamental players and we had some difficulties that turned out to be fatal.
You went to the tournament with seed # 3 and Chris Beard asked you three things: discipline, aggression and fun. Objective achieved, I would say .
We had a lot of fun, we remember every single moment, and we lived it as if it were the last one. And winning against Purdue and getting to the Elite8 was the most beautiful moment of the year.
An adjective for Trae Young.
Overrated.
Mo Bamba.
Lottery pick.
The defense of West Virginia.
Press Virginia, one of the most mangy defenses ... as they say ... I would not say a dirty word.
No problem, but if you want you can get away with a pain in the ass.
That's right, it's more attached to the balls than anything else.
The Villanova attack.
Perfect, at the limit of perfection.
The victory at the Allen Fieldhouse.
Legendary.
The birthday at TD Garden.
Bitter.
Well, you played F4 in front of 20 thousand people, however there are worse ways to celebrate a birthday.
Absolutely, but I have a slightly stubborn mentality. I was delighted and happy to have such an opportunity on my birthday, everything would have been perfect if I had received a ticket for San Antonio as a present. I said bitter because it did not happen, but it was great.
By the way, tell us about Villanova up close
They are excellent players, they are not one and done, they have been in the system, they have already won. They are a well built team that played well together, with a bench made by people who could start in the quintet. It's the team that deserved to win and I'm very happy that my team was the one that gave them the most trouble.
In that game Chris Beard perhaps did not have the courage to give you the space that you would have deserved. Did you have any regrets for playing only 12 minutes?
Absolutely yes, regret is the right word, not even to say that I was playing badly. But those were the choices of the coach and so do not discuss, I hope that with what I did and with the demonstrations I gave, next year may be different.
Half a team will leave, from Evans to Zach Smith, from Hamilton to Gray to Stevenson.Do you think you'll have the chance to play more?
I'm pretty positive from this point of view, everything is decided in the summer, I have to put on pounds, train and improve.
Texas Tech has had a great defense throughout the year and we see that you have worked hard in this fundamental too. What else have you improved?
Being a vocal leader. They are a play and the play must be heard, and I learned to do so by taking Evans who is a great leader. In addition to defense, where I am much better, leadership seems to me one of the things I grew the most.
Will you start again with what ambitions?
I would like to win all the matches. Living with my trainer and being with him almost every day made me enter the mentality of the winner. He wants to win any kind of competition, anything. We just met with the team and we started by saying that we want to win all next year. I want to play game after game and win one game after another.
It's in Italian, so here's the article run through Google translate:
"There's a lot of space, I'm in one of the biggest universities in America. Now I'm in a park, near the gym, with all the buildings in the various departments around. " Davide Moretti has just finished a lesson and is walking towards the gym on the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock.His freshman season has just ended with the Red Raiders, who arrived for the first time in their history at the Elite 8, and so we asked him to tell us about it. But starting from what he wants to do next year.
"I'm definitely staying at Texas Tech next year and then it depends on how the season goes, how I play, how I feel improved and if I see that there is still room for growth".
Could you also stay 4 years or is it something you exclude?
I take it into consideration, let's see how it will go next year: if it goes well and I see that there are other margins for growth, I will remain the third and then we will see for the fourth.
What advice does your father give you?
He is proud of the choice I made and, like me, he thinks it is the right choice I could make. He knows that what I decide is the right choice, well thought out, there is no kind of pressure on his part.
Have you already talked to coach Chris Beard about your role next season and how was your relationship with him?
We have a meeting in the next days and we'll talk about it. As I've always said, he was the main reason that made me come here. I have never had any particular problems with him and indeed, I have had a very close relationship, it has always been useful.
How was your life outside the field?
At the beginning it was not easy, getting used to new spaces, understanding where to go, how to get from A to B, as normal as it is. Then it went better and better, it's a nice place, it's different. My life is then made up of 85% from basketball and 15% from everything else. It takes place inside the campus, I rarely went to the city, and I did not have any difficulties on campus.
In the field you have found players of different sizes compared to Italy. The biggest problem is the physicality or there are others?
No, I agree, the biggest problem is that. We are talking about athletes who aim to go to NBA, we are at a physical level just below the NBA, with players going at a different speed, I would say double, as well as physicality and contacts are double.
Last year Federico Mussini had told us about the aggressive mentality of many youngsters and had invited you Italian freshmen not to be intimidated . What kind of comrades did you have?
No, nothing aggressive, I found people with the mentality that leads you to become a high level player. It is from morning to night to do workouts and weights, even after dinner you find someone who pulls before going to bed. This is the mentality that I found, but also silent, some are very shy and reserved.
You closed with 12.3 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.1 assists, 31.7% from 3 and 33.6% overall.What statistics are they?
They changed inside the season, at the beginning I played a little more and the percentages were over 40%, then there were difficulties as normal that there are in the first year. Then I'm very happy with how the year ended, growing and not falling, are numbers that are there as the first year. I'm more than happy and satisfied with the work I did, only January was a really difficult month for me.
You played less, why?
There were a lot of factors, our 4 holder ( Zach Smith ) injured , the team chemistry changed, we were used to playing small ball with a rather low quintet and, with his injury, all the roles and all the positions in the field they had to find a new set-up and I found myself playing a little less.
You were ahead of Big12 and then four losses came in line. How far have you been there?
We are aware of the fact that we had the Big12 win in hand. Unfortunately, in addition to Smith he was injured by the title playmaker (Keenan Evans) , who did not play three of those four games. They are two seniors, two fundamental players and we had some difficulties that turned out to be fatal.
You went to the tournament with seed # 3 and Chris Beard asked you three things: discipline, aggression and fun. Objective achieved, I would say .
We had a lot of fun, we remember every single moment, and we lived it as if it were the last one. And winning against Purdue and getting to the Elite8 was the most beautiful moment of the year.
An adjective for Trae Young.
Overrated.
Mo Bamba.
Lottery pick.
The defense of West Virginia.
Press Virginia, one of the most mangy defenses ... as they say ... I would not say a dirty word.
No problem, but if you want you can get away with a pain in the ass.
That's right, it's more attached to the balls than anything else.
The Villanova attack.
Perfect, at the limit of perfection.
The victory at the Allen Fieldhouse.
Legendary.
The birthday at TD Garden.
Bitter.
Well, you played F4 in front of 20 thousand people, however there are worse ways to celebrate a birthday.
Absolutely, but I have a slightly stubborn mentality. I was delighted and happy to have such an opportunity on my birthday, everything would have been perfect if I had received a ticket for San Antonio as a present. I said bitter because it did not happen, but it was great.
By the way, tell us about Villanova up close
They are excellent players, they are not one and done, they have been in the system, they have already won. They are a well built team that played well together, with a bench made by people who could start in the quintet. It's the team that deserved to win and I'm very happy that my team was the one that gave them the most trouble.
In that game Chris Beard perhaps did not have the courage to give you the space that you would have deserved. Did you have any regrets for playing only 12 minutes?
Absolutely yes, regret is the right word, not even to say that I was playing badly. But those were the choices of the coach and so do not discuss, I hope that with what I did and with the demonstrations I gave, next year may be different.
Half a team will leave, from Evans to Zach Smith, from Hamilton to Gray to Stevenson.Do you think you'll have the chance to play more?
I'm pretty positive from this point of view, everything is decided in the summer, I have to put on pounds, train and improve.
Texas Tech has had a great defense throughout the year and we see that you have worked hard in this fundamental too. What else have you improved?
Being a vocal leader. They are a play and the play must be heard, and I learned to do so by taking Evans who is a great leader. In addition to defense, where I am much better, leadership seems to me one of the things I grew the most.
Will you start again with what ambitions?
I would like to win all the matches. Living with my trainer and being with him almost every day made me enter the mentality of the winner. He wants to win any kind of competition, anything. We just met with the team and we started by saying that we want to win all next year. I want to play game after game and win one game after another.
