By Luca Virgilio
Turkish coach Omer Ugurata led his cadet national team to golden medal at European Championships U16 in July 2012 with 7-2 record and impressive 66:61 win in the big final. Our collaborator Luca Virgilio have had an opportunity to intreview coach Ugurata at Rome International Youth Level Coaches Clinic.
What's the schedule for the 96 generation for this summer?
- In Turkey we keep going up with the same kids together and this year we will have some U17 camps and some of our good players, maybe 6 or 7, are going to be in the U18 team preliminary roster for the European Championship and with the other players we’ll keep practising together for next year's European Championship.
Which are in your opinion the most interesting players in the 96-97 generation around Europe?
- I think that in Europe we have a lot of talented players, especially between the ‘96s like for example Domantas Sabonis from Lithuania, Marko Arapovic from Croatia, Egemen Guven from Turkey and Niklas Wimberg from Germany that can also play like a forward, I really like this four big guys. Among the perimeter positions there are a lot of very interesting players: in Turkey we have Okben Ulubay and also Federico Mussini from Italy, that was also in the starting five of the last U16 European Championship. I think what will happen is something similar to what has happened to the 87-88 generations, that had a huge number of young prospects, that will reach the senior level with good result all around Europe.
What are some 97-98 players to take into considerations regarding Turkey specifically?
In the 97 generation we have the big guy Ercan Bayrak (6’8’’) from Fenerbahce Ulker and Furkan Kormaz (6’3’’) from Efes Pilsen that is a point guard / shooting guard with a very reliable shot from 2 and from 3, he can go to the rim, he’s a great athletic player. Also the 98 generation has enough candidates to be sure that they can go to the senior level if they really want to, like for example the big guy Omer Yurtseven (6’8’’) from Fenerbahce Ulker that I think will be in the roster of the U16 team for the next European Championship.
Are there some developments in the Ulubay’s “age problem”? In your opinion will he have bureaucratic problems to play in the European Championship this summer
- The case is on going and the police department will decide what to do and we also do not know the situation yet. I think that Okben will be in the preliminary roster for the U18 European Championship but we’ll wait for the truth and then the Federation and the FIBA will decide, but it’s important to say that the kid did nothing, that it's not about the kid.
Do you know well Metecan Birsen from Fenerbahce Ulker and in your opinion why did his performance drop in the last years?
- I think he’s a little bit confused because this year he’s working with different teams all the time: he’s going to practice with Fenerbahce Ulker senior team, with the Under 18 team and he’s also playing in the second division with a middle range team and he plays like 20-25 minutes per games. So because of too many games and too much confusion he had this drop in performance. But he’s a excellent guy, he’s very talented and he’s got a very good temperament so I think that this summer, after the Turkish Championship, he’ll have two months of peaceful time with U18 team and he’ll be the Birsen that you used to know.
Photo: FIBA Europe
