Amedeo Della Valle

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Amedeo Della Valle

| image = Amedeo Della Valle, 2015 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Della Valle with Reggio Emilia

| position = Point guard / shooting guard

| height_m = 1.95

| weight_kg = 90

| league = Lega Basket Serie A

| team = Basket Brescia Leonessa

| number = 8

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1993|4|11|df=y}}

| birth_place = Alba, Italy

| high_school = Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nevada)

| college = Ohio State (2012–2014)

| draft_year = 2014

| career_start = 2009

| career_end =

| years1 = 2009–2011

| team1 = Junior Casale

| years2 = 2014–2018

| team2 = Reggiana

| years3 = 2018–2020

| team3 = Olimpia Milano

| years4 = 2020

| team4 = Gran Canaria

| years5 = 2020–2021

| team5 = Budućnost

| years6 = 2021–present

| team6 = Brescia

| highlights =

EuroChallenge champion (2014)
LBA MVP (2022)
Montenegrin League champion (2021)
Montenegrin Cup winner (2021)
Italian Cup winner (2023)
Italian Cup MVP (2023)
2× Italian Supercup champion (2015, 2018)
Serie A All-Star (2014)
Italian Supercup MVP (2015)
All-EuroCup First Team (2018)
EuroBasket U-20 MVP (2013)

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's basketball}}

{{MedalCountry|{{flagicon|ITA}} Italy}}

}}

Amedeo Della Valle (born 11 April 1993) is an Italian professional basketball player for Basket Brescia Leonessa of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. He attended Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada, before spending two seasons playing college basketball for the Ohio State University.

High school career

Wanting to develop his basketball in a different way, he moved to the United States in 2011, to Findlay Prep high school in Henderson, Nevada. There, he was a starter in their National High School Invitational victory in 2012, breaking the school record for three-pointers in a season, with 66.[http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/amedeo_della_valle_809675.html "Amadeo Della Valle – Buckeye Biography"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622232101/http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/amedeo_della_valle_809675.html |date=2013-06-22 }}, Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved on 01 March 2015.

College career

This caught the eye of several colleges and, after graduating, he signed a letter of intent to play for Ohio State in the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA Division I, choosing them over scholarship offers from Arizona and Texas A&M.Lesmerises, Doug. [http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2012/05/ohio_state_basketball_adds_ita.html "Ohio State basketball adds Italian guard Della Valle".] Cleveland.com, Columbus, 2 May 2012. Retrieved on 3 March 2015.

The only player recruited that year by Ohio State, Amedeo took some time to adapt to the rigours of college basketball, especially the physical side having never done weights in the past, he was exclusively used as a bench player in his freshman season.

Having put on weight for his sophomore season he started earning more game time although he stayed a bench option, he notably was decisive in overturning an 18-point, second-half deficit to beat Nebraska in the quarter-finals of the Big Ten tournament in what is regarded as his best game for the team.Rogers, Daniel. [http://thelantern.com/2014/03/amedeo-della-valle-provides-spark-bench-ohio-state-mens-basketball-nebraska/ "Amedeo Della Valle provides spark off the bench for Ohio State men’s basketball against Nebraska".] The Lantern, Indianapolis, 14 March 2014. Retrieved on 3 March 2015.

After Ohio State's elimination in the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament against Dayton he announced his intention to return to Italy to play professional basketball.

=College statistics=

| style="text-align:left;"| 2013

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2| Ohio State

| 15 || 0 || 7.2 || 37.5 || 38.5 || 50.0 || 1.47 || 0.26 || 0.26 || 0.4 || 2.5

| style="text-align:left;"| 2014

| 33 || 0 || 11.9 || 34.7 || 32.4 || 65.8 || 1.76 || 0.18 || 0.21 || 0.24 || 4.0

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:left;"| Career

| style="text-align:left;"|

| 48 || 0 || 9.55 || 36.1 || 35.45 || 57.9 || 1.61 || 0.22 || 0.23 || 0.32 || 3.25

Professional career

Della Valle returned to Italy, joining Serie A and EuroCup-playing side Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia declaredly because of the team's policy of trusting young Italian players, signing a contract until 2019.[http://www.pallacanestroreggiana.it/4319/Presentato-oggi-Amedeo-Della-Valle:-“Felice-di-far-parte-di-un-progetto-importante-ed-ambizioso-come-quello-della-Pallacanestro-Reggiana” "Presenting today Amedeo Della Valle: "Happy to be part of an ambitious project like the one of Pallacanestro Reggiana""] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924063527/http://www.pallacanestroreggiana.it/4319/Presentato-oggi-Amedeo-Della-Valle%3A-%E2%80%9CFelice-di-far-parte-di-un-progetto-importante-ed-ambizioso-come-quello-della-Pallacanestro-Reggiana%E2%80%9D |date=2015-09-24 }}, Ohio State Buckeyes, 27 March 2014. Retrieved on 03 March 2015.

During his career Della Valle was named LBA All-Star (2014), Italian Supercup MVP (2015) and All-EuroCup First Team (2018) and he won the EuroChallenge (2014) and the Italian Supercup (2015).

On 16 June 2018 the president of Olimpia Milano, Livio Proli, said the club reached an agreement with Della Valle for the 2018–19 season.{{cite web |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/277419/olimpia-milano-has-signed-amedeo-della-valle-president-livio-proli-says.html |title=Olimpia Milano has signed Amedeo Della Valle, president Livio Proli says |author= |date=16 June 2018 |website=sportando.basketball |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620124807/https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/277419/olimpia-milano-has-signed-amedeo-della-valle-president-livio-proli-says.html |archive-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/277663/pallacanestro-reggiana-amedeo-della-valle-officially-part-ways.html |title=Pallacanestro Reggiana, Amedeo Della Valle officially part ways |author= |date=18 June 2018 |website=sportando.basketball |access-date=20 June 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} On 22 June 2018 Olimpia Milano officially announced Della Valle as new player.{{cite web |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/278284/olimpia-milano-announces-amedeo-della-valle.html |title=Olimpia Milano announced Amedeo Della Valle |author= |date=22 June 2018 |website=sportando.basketball |access-date=23 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623141202/https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/278284/olimpia-milano-announces-amedeo-della-valle.html |archive-date=23 June 2018 |url-status=dead }}

On 11 July 2020 he signed with Herbalife Gran Canaria of the Spanish Liga ACB.{{Cite web|url=https://sportando.basketball/en/amedeo-della-valle-joins-gran-canaria/|title=Amedeo Della Valle joins Gran Canaria|date=July 11, 2020|publisher=Sportando|language=En|access-date=July 11, 2020}} After six games, he parted ways with the team on 23 October. Della Valle subsequently signed with Budućnost of the Adriatic League.{{cite web |title=Amedeo Della Valle signs with Buducnost |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/amedeo-della-valle-signs-with-buducnost/ |website=Sportando |access-date=October 23, 2020 |date=October 23, 2020}}

Della Valle returned to Italy for the season 2021–22 with Basket Brescia Leonessa. He was announced on 23 June 2021.{{cite news |title=Benvenuto Amedeo Della Valle! |url=https://www.pallacanestrobrescia.it/2021/06/23/amedeo-della-valle-acquisto-stagione-2021-2022/ |publisher=basketbrescialeonessa.it |date=23 June 2021 |language=Italian }} He won the LBA Most Valuable Player of the 2021–22 season after scoring 18.5 points per game (second-highest in the league) on 66% shooting. Della Valle also averaged 4.0 assists per game, a career-high.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-12 |title=Former Ohio State Guard Amedeo Della Valle Named MVP of Italy’s Top Basketball League |url=https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2022/05/130861/former-ohio-state-guard-amedeo-della-valle-named-mvp-of-italy-s-top-basketball-league |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=Eleven Warriors |language=en}}

In the following season, the 2022–23 season, Della Valle had another successful season. On 19 February 2023, won the Italian Basketball Cup with Brescia and was named the tournament's MVP.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-19 |title=AMEDEO DELLA VALLE MVP DELLA COPPA ITALIA |url=https://www.bresciacanestro.com/2023/02/19/amedeo-della-valle-mvp-della-coppa-italia/ |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=Bresciacanestro |language=it-IT}}

National team career

Della Valle started playing for the youth squads of the Italian national team, first with the Under-16's in 2009. He notably won the gold medal with the U20's at the 2013 European Championship where he was an important contributor winning the MVP award.

He was called up to the squad that would take part in EuroBasket 2015 to start on 5 September.{{cite web |url=http://www.fibaeurope.com/season_2015.coid_s,Z8kZaZIlsLwQFktgGes0.articleMode_on.html |title=Italy take their dream roster to Berlin |author= |date=2 September 2015 |website=FIBAEurope.com |access-date=2 September 2015}}

Personal life

His father is Carlo Della Valle {{in lang|it}}, who had a career in the first division, he also was a guard noted for compensating his lack of athleticism with excellent technique.

Amedeo originally had no plans of going abroad to play, but a holiday in Miami with his mother in 2006 motivated him to move to the U.S. for lifestyle and athletic reasons.Lesmerises, Doug. [http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2013/02/ohio_state_freshman_amedeo_del.html "Ohio State freshman Amedeo Della Valle: "I maybe don't look like a basketball player"."] Cleveland.com, Columbus, 27 February 2013. Retrieved on 3 March 2015.

Della Valle, a crowd favourite at Ohio State University due to his atypical look and personality, unsuccessfully ran for student-body president in a less than serious campaign in 2014, promises such as official Amedeo snow days took him to fifth place.O'Neil, Dana. [https://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/95901/della-valle-for-president-after-buckeye-win-why-not "Della Valle for president? Why not?".] ESPN, Indianapolis, 14 March 2014. Retrieved on 3 March 2015.

"La Faccia Cattiva di Amedeo Della Valle", a Facebook page with almost 13.000 followers and a clothing brand, is based on his trademark three-pointer celebration. [http://gazzettadireggio.gelocal.it/sport/2015/10/09/news/a-reggio-emilia-sono-in-vendita-le-magliette-benefiche-della-facciacattiva-1.12234842]