Pinar Karsiaka will be a tough opponent today at Bandirma
This season, Pinar Karsiaka has big expectations. They improved a lot compared with the last year. The roster is impressive, full with high-level foreigners like BasketballCL champions Amath M’Baye and Tony Taylor or experienced Brandon Triche, Jordan Morgan and D.J. Kennedy (who is coming back to Pinar, replacing for the next months the injured Tony Crocker).
The Turkish players are also very strong, some of them from the National team (Metecan Birsen, Semih Erden), other only good role players (Nusret Yildirim, Yunus Sonsirna, Onuralp Bitim, Berke Aygunduz) which makes the quality rotation of Pinar very large. Last, but not least, Ufuk Sarica who is not interested in mediocre results because he was coming to a team only when he could prove something, to reach some trophies or finals in Turkish league and European Cups. Almost everywhere he coached in the past (Pinar back in time, Besiktas), he had very good results.
That’s why today in the first game of the season at Bandirma, I am sure Pinar Karsiaka will fight 101% to seal the victory. They have the power to win and they won’t miss the opportunity to do it. Bandirma was a very tough team at home this decade, but this season they have lost their main sponsor Banvit and the quality of the roster is not so big like in the past seasons. They have some good foreigners (Jaime Smith, Tyler Kalinoski, Omar Prewitt and Emanuel Terry), but the bench is not so deep as Pinar’s one. The roster of Bandirma is also too young, having an average age of 22.4 years old.
It will be an interesting and motivating encounter especially for Tony Taylor who played here in the past, reaching with Banvit the BasketballCL finals back in 2017 and as well for Jordan Morgan, one of the Bandirma’s center last season.
Photo: kskbasketbol.net
Gratian Cormos
