Turkish U20 preliminary squad replete of silverware

ISTANBUL (FIBA U20 European Championship 2016) - Turkey have already earned the label of medal contenders in July's FIBA U20 European Championship after announcing a preliminary squad which includes almost the entire team that earned bronze at the FIBA U19 World Championship 2015.

A total of 10 players from last summer's U19 Turkish side, which defeated hosts Greece 80-71 to step on the podium in Heraklion, have been included in the 22-strong preliminary roster for the upcoming U20 tournament, in Helsinki.

The only two 2015 bronze medallists who did not receive the call from Turkey's U20 head coach Omer Ugurata are star winger Furkan Korkmaz and power forward Mehmet Alemdaroglu.

This does not mean that there will be a shortage of silverware at Turkey's U20 training camp, as coach Ugurata has also included several of the 1998-born players who claimed silver at last year's FIBA U18 European Championship, such as Omer Yurtseven and Enes Taskiran.

Yurtseven made the headlines at the weekend with a mind-blowing display in the Turkish youth league, collecting 91 points and 28 rebounds in Fenerbahce's 115-82 win over Eyulul Ihtisas. 

Following his stratospheric double-double showing, the 18-year-old center confirmed his decision to make the jump to the NCAA next season and committed to NC State.

Even stars in the making such as Taskiran and Yurtseven however, will have to fight hard for a spot on the final 12-man roster of the U20 Turkish national team, considering the quality and significant international experience of the 1996-born world bronze medallists.

Big men Egemen Guven, of Pinar Karsiyaka and Ege Arar, of Galatasaray, were Turkey's second and third-leading scorers, respectively, at the U19 World Championship.

Guven averaged 12.3 points to go with his 5.3 rebounds per game while Arar scored 11.7 points on average, along with his team-best 7.9 boards per contest.

Other centrepieces of last year's U19 team who are included on the U20 preliminary squad are forward Tolga Gecim and point guard Berk Ugurlu.

Gecim, who plays for Banvit, led Turkey in assists last summer with 6.3 per game, while Fenerbahce's Ugurlu dished out 3.7 assists on average and led the team in steals, with 1.8 per contest.

The first stage of Turkey's training camp gets under way on 30 May and coach Ugurata will decide which of the 22 candidates make the final cut shortly before the team boards the plane for Finland.

The Turkish side were drawn in Group A of the FIBA U20 European Championship, together with Lithuania, Germany and Hungary.

The FIBA U20 European Championship will take place from 16-24 July.

Turkey 22-player preliminary roster for FIBA U20 European Championship 2016: Metehan Akyel, Ege Arar, Egehan Arna, Yigit Arslan, Ogulcan Baykan, Ercan Bayrak, Kadir Bayram, Mert Cevik, Berkan Durmaz, Tolga Gecim, Egemen Guven, Cavit Havsa, Ayberk Olmaz, Ridvan Öncel, Doguş Ozdemiroglu, Enes Taskiran, Berk Ugurlu, Baris Ülker, Okben Ulubay, Ismail Ulusoy, Erkan Yilmaz, Omer Yurtseven.

FIBA