2008-09 Club Profile: Besiktas Cola Turka
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 A venerable club in Turkish sports, Besiktas JK ColaTurka, comes off one of its finest seasons ever to take a chance at even more prestige in the 2008-09 Eurocup.
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Besiktas Cola Turka Roster 2008-09
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| Name |
Pos.
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Height
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| Muratcan Guler |
G
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1.92
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| Yagiz Kaba |
G
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1.98
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| Haluk Yildrim |
F
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2.00
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| Adem Oren |
F
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2.07
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| Mehmet Yagmur |
G
|
1.88
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| Cevher Ozer |
F
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2.06
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| Mire Chatman |
G
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1.87
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| Azmi Turgut |
G
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1.92
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| Rick Apodaca |
G
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1.92
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| Omer Unver |
F
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2.04
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| Marcus Faison |
G
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1.96
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| Mario Austin |
C
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2.06
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| Arin Sogancioglu |
G
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1.90
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| Jovo Stanojevic |
C
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2.07
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| Hakan Demir |
Head Coach
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Besiktas brings great tradition to the task of trying to remain in basketball’s upper echelon both at home and abroad. Although Besiktas was founded as a multi-sport club in 1903, its basketball section came along much later. Besiktas traveled a long road to basketball success, finally lifting a Turkish League title in 1975 and then adding its first national cup in 1987. Besiktas spent some more years struggling before reaching the end of the century with steady momentum toward improvement. The "Black Eagles" placed fifth in Turkey in 1998 and made it to the next season's Korac Cup quarterfinals. The club had to wait until the 2003-04 season to make it to the Turkish League semifinals, then took part in the 2005 FIBA Champions Cup quarterfinals. The team kept improving Turkey, finishing third in the next regular season and vaulting all the way to the 2005-06 Turkish League playoff finals, where it could not stop Efes Pilsen. Besiktas did not reach the ULEB Cup elimination rounds in 2005-06, but made it once again to the Turkish League semifinals, losing again to Efes. The following season, Besiktas finished fifth, but couldn't get past the Turkish League playoff quarterfinals. The 2007-08 campaign marked another step forward for Besiktas, which took the ULEB Cup by storm when it became the competition's first team ever to finish the regular season unbeaten. That paved the way to the Final Eight, where heartbreak came in the form of a close quarterfinals loss. Back home, Besiktas finished first in the Turkish League regular season but got ambushed in the semifinals. Besiktas spent the summer reaching for more with a full blast of new talent to join one main holdover, all-around contributor Rick Apodaca. Helping him this season will be scorers Mire Chatman and Marcus Faison, big men Mario Austin, Jovo Stanojevic and Adem Oren, and veterans Muratcan Guler and Haluk Yildirim, both of whom have been with Besiktas before. Power forward Cevher Ozer and promising young guards Mehmet Yagmur and Arin Sogancioglu round out a lineup that has plenty of balance in size, experience and talent. Under new head coach Hakan Demir, the challenge for Besiktas is to keep growing as it has been all decade, which should guarantee that the team is a serious contender in the Eurocup.
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Eurocupbasketball.com
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