S
s-e-e2
Guest
I agree, some act like Turkey came out of no where or something..defeated Spain & Serbia in Poland last year (should have defeated Greece, this year they finish the job). For a host country with a good roster, I thought Turkey got relatively little or not enough hype, at least here in the U.S (Spain & Greece over hyped). As most would say the match with Serbia had suspect events, but not much more. They were a viable threat to medal, and that's what they did. And imo Puerto Rico was closer to Greece than Greece was to Turkey in their respective matches.
I certainly agree. Last years eurobasket in Poland should have given a message to some. We played some great games, beat Spain and Serbia which took the gold and the silver. That unfortunate defeat against Greece in the 1/4f which came with additional 5min was the end of the tournament for us. The players were so eager to take a place on the podium, they just didn't concentrate in the 5-8 position games and lost both. That was pretty much psychological. But for those who watched the tournament the message should have been received.
And in this WC we qualified from the group easily, which actually isn't a hard task for any good team. Then we dominated France in the second round. And in the 1/4f we dominated Slovenia. In both games the final quarters were nothing but an opportunity for training and refreshing. IMO a team reaching to the semi final stage so easily in a WC should take more respect.
Now the next eurobasket which will be organised in Lithuania is an opportunity for the Turkish NT to prove it's success in the WC wasn't a coinsidence. A medal of any kind should be the main target. Even if a medal is not reached, some good basketball must be played. And in the long term, new players with good skills should join to show this is not a single generation work.