O LDPG/Ponta Grossa Basketball will have another important challenge starting in June. The team is one of the participants in the 2024 Basketball Development League, the biggest men’s youth competition in the country, which will start on June 24th and run until August 31st. And the representative of Campos Gerais will not have an easy time in the under-22 competition: in their group are the current champion Paulistano and the winner of the four previous editions, EC Pinheiros.
A challenging scenario, but one that coach Milos Alexander welcomes the cast’s maturity. “We will still have two or three more pieces to complete this squad, we hope to have a stronger pivot considering the intensity of the competition. We have two quarries in our group, but we knew about this high level. The fight is tougher, but this is how we grow and our boys can gain skin and maturity,” she says.
One of the young athletes is winger/guard Diogo Tognozzi, who will be making his third appearance at LDB. Diogo highlights the rapport that the team has achieved in training since February so that the squad is prepared for the intensity of the competition. “It’s a very intense championship, with many games in a row, but I believe our team is prepared for this challenge”, he ponders.
FUTURE – The vice president of Ponta Grossa Sports League, Rodrigo Bulyk, highlights the importance of continuity for long-term strategy. The team built is younger, will be the basis of the squad in the Paranaense Championship and intends to make up a large part of the team’s structure next year. This focus on the future aims for a major objective: reaching the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB).
“The League project has been growing, we are focusing on the base to reach the country’s major competitions in the future. We had been preparing for some time and this year we got the job. This is a very important step towards the future of the project, which is to reach the NBB”, celebrates Bulyk.
“It’s an accomplishment to be able to play in this competition. It’s our first step closer to the NBB”, concludes coach Milos.
FORMAT – There will be two groups with 13 teams, subdivided into two other groups, and the first four on each side will qualify to fight for the under-22 championship title. LDPG is in group A, subdivision A.1, which will host its games in São Paulo (SP) in the initial two phases. In the first stage, A.1 plays each other. In the second stage, subdivisions within the same group face each other. The two qualifying phases will be in the months of June and July.
The 12 best teams will be divided into three categories: the best four in each group in the Gold Key, fifth to eighth in Silver, ninth to twelfth in Bronze. The final phases will be held in August. The state of Paraná will still have four more representatives in the event: Pato Branco, Sociedade Thalia/Coritiba Monsters, Campo Mourão and Maringá.
Group A.1 – São Paulo
Mogi Basquete (SP)
Club Athletico Paulistano (SP) – home team of the second stage
Cruzeiro Basquete (MG)
EC Pinheiros (SP) – home team of the first stage
Viva Vida Institute/CETAF (ES)
LDPG/Ponta Grossa Basketball
Group A.2 – Brasilia
UNIFACISA (PB)
Bauru Basket (SP)
Cerrado Basketball (DF)
AEGB Goiânia (GO)
Cearense Basketball (CE)
BRB/Brasília Basquete/AACB (DF)
Minas Tênis Clube (MG)
SUPPORT – The Ponta Grossa Basquete base team is a project of the Ponta Grossa Sports League and is sponsored by UniSecal, Oscar Pereira Laboratory, Ponta Grossa Fracture Clinic and Ponta Grossa City Hall – through the Municipal Sports Secretariat.
With advisory information.
