Turk Telekom vs. Pinar Karsiyaka headlining the second day at the Turkish Cup
After a first day that brought two surprising results (the elimination of the favourites Anadolu Efes against Darussafaka and the big margin of Galatasaray’s victory against Tofas ), the Turkish Cup schedules the two other quarterfinals on Wednesday.
In the first game of the day, Turk Telekom will play against a red-hot Pinar Karsiyaka. The team coached by Ufuk Sarica comes after 8 straight wins in all competitions and has a very impressive season so far both in the Turkish League and Fiba Europe Cup. The balance in the team is great: the foreign players are completed well by the Turkish players, so they don’t have to rely only on the same two or three players to win. Their results and great form allows their fans to dream of winning the Turkish Cup as well and they are the favourites to win against Turk Telekom today. On the other hand, Turk Telekom has a very decent form as well, winning their group in the Basketball Champions League and has a quality roster including former EuroLeague and EuroCup players. I expect a hard-fought game in this quarterfinal match, but I believe that Pinar’s dream season will continue and they will advance to the semifinal.
The last quarterfinal will be played between last year’s Turkish Cup winners Fenerbahce Beko and Teksut Bandirma. After a nightmare start of the season caused by the injuries of some of their star players, Zeljko Obradovic’s team is starting to play like everyone expects them to do. Even if Bandirma is doing well this season and generally, the national Cup competitions can be full of surprises, however, I believe Fener will be very motivated to win the Cup again and they will still be in the competition on Friday for the semifinal game.
Photo: Basketball Champions League
Imre Halasz
