The miracle of Banvit
The miracle of Banvit
At the beginning of the season, after 7 rounds it seems that all the objectives were in danger for Banvit. They started with 1-6 in the National League and they looked like an easy team in Champions League. The financial crisis hit hard the Turkish team and they needed to release Serbian center Stefan Bircevic and American guard Marcus Thornton. They changed a bit the roster bringing in Mckenzie Moore and DJ Shelton.
Relying on Turkish players as much as they can and also on their American players, Banvit managed to get back on track in National League and also to qualify to the Champions League playoffs, finishing second in Group A with a 9-5 record, where they played against Murcia, Nizhny Novgorod, Le Mans, Avellino, Ventspils, Anwil and Ludwigsburg. In the last 16 round the German powerhouse, Brose Bamberg found themselves in a lot of difficulties due to Banvit, but finally, they got the win in both games with 81-79 and 88-85.
After the elimination from Champions League, all the attention turned to the domestic league. They managed to get back on the play-off competition after winning 5 out of 7 last games, including two big wins against Besiktas and Darussafaka.
Banvit is a well-known figure in Turkish Basketball for the last ten years. They won the regular season in 2014, the cup in 2017 and on the European level they managed to reach Eurocup semifinal in 2014-2015, losing to Khimky Moscow and in 2016-2017 Champions League season, they reached the final, but they lost against Iberostar Tenerife.
Looking at the recent results, Banvit will manage to reach the play-offs of TBL, with only 3 foreign players in their squad, beating other teams that have many more foreigners. It seems that using national players (Gecim Tolga, Ridvan Oncel, Atar Ragip etc.) is the right formula for them, not only in this season but also in the future. Keep in mind that the average age of Turkish players in the Banvit`s squad is 22. I`m sure we will hear about them again in the next seasons.
Bogdan Vasile Tirc, info@brainbasketball.net
