By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Thanks to Sam Dekker and Kyle Wiltjer, Turk Telekom was dubbed as the “Ankara Rockets”. However, this week on the last days of March both Turk Telekom stars must remember their glorious college days with Wisconsin and Gonzaga respectively.
It’s March Madness time on the other side of the pond and it’s win or go home for Turk Telekom in the home game against AEK.
That’s the only scenario for the survival of the Turkish club in the BCL cutthroat race to the Final Eight in Group K.
Amid a global pandemic, Turk Telekom had its own share of misfortune when Tyler Ennis was injured once more, missing the whole season. And when CSKA Moscow came calling for Michael Eric, the club decided to let him go.
Still, Turk Telekom remains one of the more intriguing projects of the Basketball Champions League and also, mainly thanks to the duo of Dekker and Wiltjer, one of the “bridges” of the competition to the other side of the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, with AEK having its own shares of woes, missing half its frontline due to injury, and having to face the Rogkavopoulos turmoil, no predictions can be made for the outcome of the game.
Yes, AEK (2-2) has one more win than Turk Telekom (1-3) but lost by 28 points to Nizhny Novgorod and by 18 to SIG Strasbourg last week, losing also the tie-breaker to the French side.
However, the Greeks even without winning the game will still have qualifications hopes, hosting next week already-qualified Nizhny Novgorod.
It’s do-or-die time for both sides and there’s no tomorrow in the 2020-21 Basketball Champions League for Turk Telekom in case of a defeat.
And no matter what happens, one of the two teams which competed in last season’s Final Eight, will not be able to attend the big dance this time around.