ULEB Cup draw profile: Besiktas Cola Turka
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Despite becoming the first club to ever finish the ULEB Cup regular season undefeated, the boys at Besiktas ColaTurka know the real work starts now. Team management and veteran head coach Ergin Ataman built a true team, with a host of multi-talented players that can feed off each other, and the results came faster and better than anyone could have expected. Despite having only one player ranked among the top 10 in any major statistical category – Christian Dalmau was tied for seventh in assists – nor appearing as a team in the top 10 in any category, Besiktas trenched its way through the regular season 10-0. The strength of the team is in its usual starting five, guards Dalmau and Rick Apodaca, small forward Preston Shumpert and big men Kaya Peker and Sandro Nicevic, all of whom averaged at least 28 minutes per game and four of whom averaged at least 12 points per game. Five different players led Besiktas in scoring this season. The big five set the tone from Week 1, scoring all but 5 of Besiktas’s points in a 79-87 road win at Ventspils.  After topping Koln by 19 at home in Week 2, the team survived a stern test by edging FMP 77-78 on Erkan Veyseloglu's 2 free throws with 13 seconds left. Week 4 served up a 100-74 win over Ovarense as Dalmau partied for 24 points and 14 assists. Despite that result, most of Besiktas’s victories were by smaller margins – its average margin of victory between Week 5 and 8 was just 7 points. Shumpert played a starring role in a Week 8 victory over FMP, after leaving the game in the first period with an injury and not returning before halftime, however erupting for 22 second-half points, including some big buckets down the stretch, to lead his team to a 77-76 victory. After that, Besiktas had little trouble finishing off the season with a perfect mark. Now Ataman, with a continental title already on his résumé, will try to add another with a team that has every intention of continuing its undefeated run to Torino and the Final Eight… and beyond.
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POST-DRAW REACTIONS | Besiktas JK Cola Turka head coach Engin Ataman:"I think that all our potential opponents were more or less at the same level, so the ULEB Cup Draw was OK for us. We are stronger than in the beginning of the season, as we did a good job so far. We set a new ULEB Cup regular season record by winning all our games. Now, of course, we hope to survive the elimination rounds, make it to the Final Eight and hopefully lift the trophy. Every round more exciting than the previous one. The Final Eight is a very good idea and I think that the best eight teams will challenge for the title in Torino. It is the first time that the ULEB Cup had 54 teams and I think it is a great competition." |
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
ULEBCup.com
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