TUR - Kurtoglu: "One thousand reasons Greek game special for us"

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - One of the biggest surprises of the FIBA World Championship is a team that wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.

Turkey, who will host the event in 2010, were given one of four wild cards for the expanded 24-team tournament after failing to qualify at EuroBasket 2005.

Expectations from Ankara to Istanbul were low with Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur unable to play due to injuries, but after the fourth day in Group C, Turkey stand tall with a perfect 4-0 record.

They will battle long-time rivals Greece for supremacy on Thursday evening.

All of the players have been important, but none more so than Efes Pilsen power forward Ermal Kurtoglu.

With his big body and even bigger heart, coach Bogdan Tanjevic is playing Kurtoglu almost 20 minutes per contest.

Kurtoglu, who was born in Albania in 1980 and moved to Turkey in the mid 90s, he hails from a basketball family.

Now, here in Japan, he's only three wins short of winning a medal in a major international competition.

He spoke to Yarone Arbel on behalf of FIBA.

FIBA: This Turkey side has many young players, but still functions well when the game is in the balance. Why do you think this is?"

Kurtoglu: "That's the beauty of it. We kind of combine the experience of five to six players with the talent and energy of the young players. So far it's a nice picture. We play tough but also quality basketball. We also keep in mind that we are in a very tough group. It's a great experience for these guys to play at such a level."

FIBA: Turkey have scored in all four games between 73 and 76 points. Is this the number of points you set as a goal or just pure coincidence?

Kurtoglu: "We try to defend our opponents within 15 to 16 points per quarter, and try to score a little more than that. The more you play defense and pressure the ball, the more it gives us opportunities to play offense, but we don't have a certain amount of points that we want to reach. It's just damn luck we get at these numbers all the time so far."

FIBA: How important is Ibrahim Kutluay for the team? From the outside, he looks like the big leader of this squad.

Kurtoglu: "He's the most experienced player not only in this team, but the most experienced player Turkey has ever had. He played at the top level, in the NBA, he's the first Turkish player to win the Euroleague title and all the other things. He's like our great big brother. Everybody knows who Ibo is in Turkey, no matter if they come from basketball, football or anything else. There's really no need to tell a specific story to explain why he's such an important player on our team. Ibo is an icon, and he has been playing with injuries and setting an example for everybody."

FIBA: What has happened since last year’s EuroBasket and now which has made this team so good?

Kurtoglu: "I think the biggest change is that we managed to beat our selfishness. It's very common for a star team, that every star wants to shine, take the shots and score the points. In this team, everybody is okay with his role in the team. I can pick seven players that can score 20 points in a game but it doesn't matter for us who's going to score them. Everybody is working hard on defense, and giving whatever he’s got."

FIBA: From what we’ve been hearing, people in Turkey didn't think much about Turkey’s chances. Has that made you more ambitious?

Kurtoglu: "We took a lot of heat back home. The guys who didn't come here are national treasures in my opinion. Guys like Okur, Turkoglu and (Mirsad) Turkcan put Turkey on the map, and everybody needs to respect them. It's too bad they couldn't be here. They are players that we'll need in the years to come. When we got together with the guys, at one point people back home didn't expect big things from us, but that only gave us more motivation. Just because those players didn't come it doesn't mean we are bad. We have some very good players on this team."

FIBA: And now with four wins in a row, you feel more support from home?

Kurtoglu: "Oh, of course. We get calls all the time, and hear now everybody is so happy because they enjoy watching the team fight, play hard and win. Ninety-five per cent of the people that put us down now support us, and everybody likes to be part of the success. But this is part of the game."

FIBA: On Thursday, you play Greece. That's always an interesting game, but this time it's for first place in the group. Is this game more special than the others for you?

Kurtoglu: "There are 1,000 reasons why this game is so special for us, and too many reasons for the people to watch this game. Obviously it's a big rivalry, both teams are so far without a loss, the winner will win the first place in the group, they are the European champs which is always a big motivation, that team is coach by (Panagiotis) Yannakis who's a player I watched a lot when I grew up and is a great coach nowadays. We want to win this game so much."

FIBA: Do you see yourself going into the game as favorites?

Kurtoglu: "I don't think there's a favorite in this game. The way I see it, there are about four teams worse than most of the teams here and about three teams – USA,
Argentina and Spain – that are better than most of the teams, and the rest is pretty balanced. We'll have to wait and see if Greece deserves to join the group of the three favorites or not."

FIBA: When you close your eyes at night, do you see a medal?

Kurtoglu: "This is more than a dream for us. Now it’s something that I think we can actually reach. It's a reality that we can win a medal. I think we are very close to touching it. I don't really like to dream big. I just think that as long as we play like we have so far, there's no reason for us not to win a medal."

By Yarone Arbel
FIBA