Pınar Karşıyaka Head Coach Ufuk Sarıca talked about the new season, the decision to continue with Pınar Karşıyaka and the national team.
Shortly before the start of the 2022-23 season in the Turkish Insurance Basketball Super League and Basketball Champions League, Ufuk Sarıca gave a comprehensive report to Milliyet. report gave. Speaking about Pınar Karşıyaka’s squad revision and contract renewal decision, Sarıca also commented on the national team’s EuroBasket 2022 adventure.
Ufuk Sarıca made the following assessments about the rebuilt squad, with a crowded transfer list, including two elite players such as Erick McCollum and Mindaugas Kuzminskas:
“We did what we wanted as fiction. Of course, there were names that we looked at and did not get along with. But we got the players we wanted. We formed the team a little late. Delgado has just joined, Kuzminskas arrived in Izmir two days ago. Apart from them, we have 12 more players and 10 of them are new. Therefore, we need time to put these names into a team. But we are faced with the fact that the league will start in one week and the Champions League in 10 days. It is not possible for us to settle everything at once. But we hope to do the main parts well and not take too much damage in the beginning. We need this so that the players get to know each other, get to know me, and I can see what the players can do better. We will try to shorten this time. Because we have players who can do important things individually.”
“I am hopeful. McCollum is a name we already know well. His scoring power is at a high level, he played in our league before and he did well. He has a style that fans will love. Delgado is also an actor we know, but he still has a little time ahead of him due to his age. The same goes for our other names as well. I think many of the players in our region in our team will grow on the road. Brown also started well, but I expect him to put his basketball on top. There have been many names we have experienced this with before, their development also makes us happy, but we must achieve this for Pınar Karşıyaka to be successful. I’m hopeful for many players, but I think we will get significant input from McCollum and Delgado, who you specifically asked.”
Emphasizing the belief that this team will grow on the way, Sarıca expressed that he is hopeful that they can do great things:
“There is always hope. Without it, it is not easy to plan and work with ambition. Honestly, I have such hope for this team. That’s why I said the growing team on the road. This has happened in the past when we weren’t favourites. The players increased their performance during the season, the performance of the team increased and the result came. First of all, we have to be patient. For example, we play against Fenerbahçe in the friendly match. He took the field with a Euroleague team and 8 foreigners. There is maybe 8-9 times difference between us in terms of budget. But we have managed to compete with them in the past. These are in the memories. Let those memories remain, not to be erased, but there are 10-11 new players in this team and it takes time for them to act together. We are the ones who will shorten it. That’s why I call it time-patience and work. This includes everyone. If we can achieve this, I believe that we can be in places where no one expects. But it should not be ignored that the league will be more difficult this season and that some teams have made sharp moves.”
The name of Ufuk Sarıca came together with Gran Canaria in part of the summer period. While the news that the two sides were close to each other was on the agenda, the 50-year-old coach decided to continue his partnership with Pınar Karşıyaka for three more years. Sarıca also spoke about this issue:
“There is peace when there is an environment in which one loves and is loved at the same time. I feel this in Karşıyaka. Support is coming, successes are experienced… In order to leave these things, there must be very different conditions. If you are in a place where you are uneasy, you can make that radical decision much more easily and leave, but I am experiencing the opposite. I love Karşıyaka very much and I feel loved again every day.”
The experienced coach also shared his views on the EuroBasket 2022 adventure of the national team, which ended traumatically. Ufuk Sarıca, who was at the head of the team in the USA match in which we were similarly defeated in 2019, stated that he thought of that match afterwards and that he watched the match again.
“Won’t he come? He came, and one day later, I tortured myself and watched the whole USA game. But I am very sad that our national team ended the tournament like this. Also, the similarity of that dramatic ending and the fouls of the same player to miss. But these are things that happen in sports. Falling is not important in sports, everyone falls… But the important thing is to get up again from where you fell and continue with life. Other than that, there is something to be done. We must find formulas that will keep our Turkish players on the field. Spain has a non-continental rule. Why are they doing this; because it is not easy for the European player to match the American in terms of muscle structure. We also need to support this for some rules.”
