TUR - Akdag believes his former players will reach London

ISTANBUL (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) - Former Turkey coach Cem Akdag believes the country’s leading players will bounce back from their EuroLeague Women Final Eight disappointment and earn a trip to the London Games this summer.

The country is hosting the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women from 25 June to 1 July and neither of the clubs with the majority of the national team players, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, made it to the title game of the Final Eight that was just played in Istanbul.

While both teams will now play in the Turkish post-season, at the front of everyone’s thoughts is also the OQT in Ankara.

Turkey will play in Group A against Japan and Puerto Rico and should they finish among the top two, the Turks would face Argentina, the Czech Republic or New Zealand in a Quarter-Final.

The winners of the Quarter-Finals advance to London while the losers will fight for the fifth and final qualifying spot.

"If you look at the groups, we have to do it,” said Cem Akdag, who coached the team when they played at the EuroBasket Women for the first time in 2005 on home soil, and then again in 2007 in Italy.

“But it depends on the player that changes nationality. I don't know who is going to play (in the naturalize spot).

"It's a main point that is very important.”

Neven Nevlin, the star of Turkey’s Semi-Final triumph over France at last year’s EuroBasket, didn’t get off the bench for Fenerbahce at the Final Eight and there has been speculation that Turkey will attempt to naturalize another player to take her spot.

When asked if she would be with Turkey this summer by FIBA.com, Nevlin said yes she did.

"Especially in the French game, she played very well but that (naturalized spot) is the coach's decision,” Akdag said.

The coach of the Turkey women is Galatasaray boss Ceyhun Yildizoglu.

“But I expect it (Turkey to qualify),” Akdag said.

Synergy

Akdag has been able to watch Turkey’s women blossom into good, solid players.

He says that when they are together and representing the country, their performances are better than when they oppose each other in Fenerbahce and Galatasaray shirts.

“These players, I started working with 2003,” Akdag said, “so they are all together and know each other very well.

“There is a synergy coming out so I think they can make it (to London).”

Turkey have played with a relentless defensive pressure and at a high pace in recent years.

It was obviously their strength.

"Aggressiveness,” Akdag said, “because when we started this organization, we thought we had a terrible physical position (lack of height) so we said that we have to fight.

“We have to run, and we have to fight.

"Step by step, we learned the basketball. All of them are now experienced players and they know other teams, other coaches.

"With aggressiveness, and experience when they come together, they can make it very well.”

Turkey may not be as aggressive this summer as they would have been in the past, though.

Instead of going heavy with substitutions, Yildizoglu is likely to have Birsel Vardarli and Isil Alben on the court for longer.

"Normally when we built this organization, we knew we didn't have tall players to play the three (small forward) or four (power forward) positions, so we said that all of these positions would be short players, guard players and let's make aggressiveness,” Akdag explained.

"When you go to high level, when your players are gaining experience, they are also getting older at the same time.

“When they play, there are a lot of substitutions with the guard players.

“Some of them (Vardarli and Alben) have gained more experience, so the coach might have a problem with that because we used to play with the four guards but now, two of them are very experienced.

“So we can’t use our aggressiveness the whole tournament because playing with the two guards limited that. So that strength is no longer.”

FIBA