One of the winningest clubs in European basketball history, Cantu celebrates 80 years of existence this season. The club was founded between 1936 and 1937 as Associazione Pallacanestro Cantu by the initiative of two young men, Mario Broggi and Angiolino Polli. Coach Luigi Cicoria soon led the team to its first relevant title, the Mussolini Cup in 1942. After World War II, Cantu reappeared in the Italian third division in 1949 and rose to the top Italian league in 1954. Tom Burgess and Carlo Recalcati gave the team its first-ever Italian League title in 1968, and Pierluigi Marzorati and Recalcati led Cantu to three consecutive Korac Cup titles from 1973 to 1975. Cantu also beat Real Madrid for the Intercontinental Cup in 1975 and then lifted three straight Saporta Cup trophies from 1977 to 1979. Despite losing the 1980 Saporta Cup final to Varese, Marzorati and Antonello Riva led Cantu to another Saporta Cup title in 1981 and the club added its third and last Italian League title that same year. In 1982, Cantu lifted its first European Cup trophy by downing Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final behind 25 points from CJ Kupec. Cantu defended the Euroleague title in 1983 by edging Milano on a last-second blocked shot by Bruce Flowers. Cantu added another Korac Cup title in 1991 at the expense of Real Madrid, however the team fell into obscurity without Marzorati and Riva and even dropped to the Italian second division in 1994. The club bounced back to reach the Italian League semifinals in 2002 and has been competitive ever since. Cantu won the Italian Supercup in 2003 and took part in the 2004-05 ULEB Cup and the 2010-11 Eurocup. Cantu was the Italian League and Italian Cup runner-up in 2011, but Montepaschi Siena denied it both titles. The next season Cantu returned to the Euroleague and with the help of Gianluca Basile reached the Top 16 where a tie-break disadvantage against Maccabi stopped its run. The club also reached the Italian Cup final that season and finished the Italian League regular season in third place, but did not capture the silverware. In 2012-13, Cantu reached the Euroleague regular season via the qualifying rounds and beat powerhouses like Fenerbahce Istanbul and Real Madrid at home, but did not reach the Top 16. Two seasons ago a young Cantu team made it to the Eurocup eighthfinals before being ousted by Unics Kazan. Last season, it ended its run of six consecutive Italian League playoff appearances, but hopes to bounce back quickly.
Trophy Case
Euroleague: 1982, 1983 |
Saporta Cup: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981 |
Korac Cup: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1991 |
Intercontinental Cup: 1975, 1982 |
Italian National League: 1967-68, 1974-75, 1980-81 |
Italian SuperCup: 2003, 2012 |