Athletes of Bahçeşehir College team, Hadi Özdemir and Kartal Özmizrak, and general manager Alpaslan Aydın, who achieved great success by becoming champions in the FIBA Europe Cup, were guests of the Championship Special at D-Smart.
Stating that they are very happy, Alpaslan Aydın said; The aim is to popularize, grow and develop Turkish Basketball. Such successes increase the interest even more. We attach great importance to infrastructure. Hopefully 3 cups will come to Turkey this season.
The night we won the trophy, no one slept, but we could not celebrate and we immediately prepared for the Yalova match. We won that match and then we want to win the Denizli match. We’ll celebrate later.
It was impossible for us not to win this trophy. Celebration will of course be, we are planning good things with our president. All of our coaches and players, who have worked for us for 5 years, have a great share in this success and they are all invited to our celebration.
When we went to Italy to watch the Vakıfbank game, the President said that I will establish a basketball team. When we formed the team, we played in TBL in the first year. Hadi was even an opponent at that time in the match against Afyon to reach the top league. Then we went to the Super League, but at first we couldn’t settle the structure, we had to make changes. We have established infrastructure in many cities in Turkey. We wanted to develop not only players but also coaches. While Erhan Ernak was helping us, we decided to continue with him. Our President also stood behind our choice. Of course, we had our shortcomings, but in the end, we brought the trophy to Turkey. Erhan Hoca became the 3rd Turkish teacher to bring a trophy to Turkey. Our goal after the cup is to reach a certain level in the playoffs and go to the Champions League. Our Chairman, Hüseyin Bey, was impressed by Vakıfbank’s success and decided to establish the basketball team.
Having the joy of winning the 3rd European Cup, Kartal Özmizrak also said that he is proud of being the Turkish player who has won the most European Cups. It is very important to be a part of organizations that can be successful. First of all, I chose this club because the plans and ideas matched. We believed that we would get this trophy. A good family atmosphere was created and everyone motivated each other. Success does not come without the family atmosphere. Bringing the European Cup for a 5-year-old club is a huge success.
Stating that he has been playing basketball for 21 seasons, Hadi Özdemir said that there is a very good family atmosphere at Bahçeşehir College, but that he is happy to win the European Cup for the first time.
At first, there were many people who said that this project would not work, but thanks to our president, he wants to develop this project further.
Alpaslan Aydın emphasized that they believe they will win the trophy at the beginning of the season and that their next goal is to bring the Champions League Cup. We know our mistakes, we are aware of how to get better from now on.
The President gives us freedom and stands behind us. This brings us self-confidence. Our budget is said to be very high, but in reality it is not like that. It is important to approach the players from the right place and convince them. Money is of course important to players, but the goal is more important. We have a 4*4 structure with a good team, where there is no injustice, the right basketball is played. They said that names like Tarık Black, Sam Dekker, Jamar Smith would not join the team, but now they do not want to leave the team. This is proof that the structure is correct.
Stating that he likes to do extra training after team training is over, Hadi Özdemir emphasized that he has never worked alone after training this year and that they have a very hardworking group of players. I don’t remember how we got into the locker room after we got the trophy. It was like a dream.
Stating that their success was not a coincidence, Kartal Özmizrak said that on the 20th day of the first camp, when he saw that everyone had the same mindset and focused on the same goal, he understood that they would be successful.
Saying that they have proven themselves this year, Alpaslan Aydın stated that having a young fan group is a great advantage. Being a basketball player is not an easy job, it is a very difficult sport. Out of thousands of basketball players, only 10 people who can play at a high level can come out.
