TURIN (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - The talent is in the Greece squad to have a leading national team program for many years to come. No one, not even head coach Fotis Katsikaris, would dispute that.

The big questions facing Greece at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin are related to change in personnel, the style of play and time. Has Katsikaris had enough time to get his team ready for a Semi-Final against a very good Croatia and, potentially, a Final against a very good Italy on their home floor? Everyone is about to find out.

Mexico led Greece at half-time of their Group A game but Katsikaris's team turned things around in the third quarter. They were just too good.

Katsikaris, whose team needs two more wins at the Turin OQT to reach the Rio Olympics, has talked to FIBA.com.

FIBA.com: Looking ahead to Croatia, what are your thoughts?
Katsikaris: We know that it's going to be difficult, it's going to be tough, for two reasons. First of all, mostly talking about us, it's a new team. We don't have everybody. In our case, it's even more difficult to prepare the team, enough time to practice together, the new system, the new philosophy. We have six rookies in the team. So for me, it's going to be difficult to have a normal, from the beginning to the end, a performance that this team can do. The second part, Croatia is a very tough team. They are missing important players like Ante Tomic, like Justin Hamilton, but on the other hand, I see a very physical team, a very strong team that sees very clearly the ideas of the coach. Everything starts and finishes with the defense and I guess against us, they will try to control the rhythm, to play at a low score, so it will be a challenge for us mentally, first, because physically, I think we will be (okay), to control those gaps we're going to have in tomorrow's game.

Fotis Katsikaris (GRE) coached at EuroBasket 2015

FIBA.com: There is a regeneration for both teams so they are similar in that sense. You say you've got six rookies, whereas they don't have that many.
Katsikaris: Croatia, the main structure of the recent tournaments remains the same. Bojan Bogdanovic is the leader of the team, Dario Saric, it's his fourth tournament, Mario Hezonja, Roko Ukic is a veteran, Krunoslav Simon the same. They have important players from the last three or four tournaments, which is very important. Even if they change coaches, they know each other.

FIBA.com: How do you make up for the loss of Vasilis Spanoulis, Nikos Zisis?
Katsikaris:It's a historical change for the national team. For a decade, we had those great guards, starting with Theo Papaloukas, Dimitris Diamantidis, Spanoulis, Zisis. Right now, we are lacking guards with the injury to Kostas Sloukas, the retirements of Spanoulis and Zisis, and we immediately have this obligation to have this responsibility to qualify for the Olympic Games. It's not easy. It's going to be very difficult. We have also changed the style of game. We were one of the best pick-and-roll teams in the world. Right now, we're not that strong.

FIBA.com: You have good players, though.
Katsikaris: I'm not crying. This is the future of Greek basketball. I'm very proud. I'm proud to coach this team. We're talking about the change for the national team. We are more athletic, the spirit is great, the motivation is unbelievable and we have so many people that want to be here and do 1,000 percent. We play different basketball than before. We play much faster. We want to use the talent of our players. We have Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is a unique player, not only for us in Europe, but there is a huge change, a radical change, in the style and philosophy, everything. I hope against Croatia, we'll need some luck, also, that we have a good day and win and have the opportunity to play on Saturday.

FIBA