Kanzouris: “All potential opponents are of high quality, we will give it our all”

THE AEK despite the expectations at the beginning of the season managed to overcome, and is in the “8” of the BCL waiting on Friday morning (24/3, 11:30) to find out which team from Tenerife, Bonn and Hapoel Jerusalem will face

THE Elias Kanzouris spoke about the team’s progress so far in the competition, he emphasized that a great achievement has been made and that its presence is a success AEK in the quarterfinals, while he sent his message for the next phase as well.

The interview of Elias Kanzouris on the official website of ESAKE:

“The qualification to the “8” of the Basketball Champions League is for the team with a great achievement in terms of proportions. From the beginning of its journey, the team kept its promise and gave everything. We must continue with the same competitive spirit.”

– AEK in its attempt to qualify for the Final Four will compete with a home disadvantage, what can it achieve?

“From now on, all the opponents in the “8” of the Basketball Champions League are of high quality. These are large sizes with high budgets, with an important historical path and recognition in European basketball. Our team during the year showed character to claim things away from home. We have two weeks to prepare alongside our Basket League commitments to give it our all”.

– You talked about character. It is a season for AEK with quite unexpected changes in the roster, however, the team is in its goals.

“The truth is that in relation to the original roster there have been several changes, departures and integrations. All new teams and therefore we too need time to find our “chemistry” and our constants. Misfortunes are in life. The point is to adapt and find solutions, to improve during the season and to be able to meet the big obligations of two and three competitions”.

– How would you characterize AEK’s progress so far?

“Every year for every team is different. The qualification of AEK to the “8” of the BCL is an accomplishment. We had to make mini overpasses to get here. Our qualification is very important.

We do not want to sell slavery to the world. We know who we are and where we are going. To say that because we are AEK we claim trophies and championships is not realistic at this stage. We are trying to build a “healthy” team, which in the future will claim titles and distinctions not by chance but through the constants of hard work and consistency. We are in contention for the third place in Greece and for us both competitions, Basket League and Basketball Champions League, have the same weighting importance”.

– Apart from the obvious that at the end of the season you would like AEK to have qualified for the Final Four of the Basketball Champions League and to have finished in 3rd place in the Basket League, what else would you be satisfied with?

“We have come close to achieving our goals. Personally, I want first of all to keep our promise to the end. To give our all in every match respecting the people and the tradition of AEK. We want to have peace and health. Janis Strelnieks was a pivotal player for the functioning of our team.

He was knocked out for the rest but that’s our job. In high goal groups this happens. We should not “dwell” on the loss of Strelnieks. We faced other similar cases during the season and continued. In the same spirit we must continue to operate. We all have to step up and give it our all. Sometimes it may not be enough, sometimes it is. We must enjoy the… journey.”

– You have managed to combine competitiveness with the emergence of new players or upgrading the role of some others.

“The truth is that we have several children with upgraded roles and two members of the National team, Dimitris Flionis and Konstantinou Godikas. In my mind all the players, Greeks and foreigners, are equal members of the team. We all work for the benefit of the team. I want all the guys through hard work to improve the team’s game and themselves their functionality as a whole”.

– Do you want to add anything else?

“It’s a big challenge for the whole organization. First of all with “healthy” steps to continue marching towards the end of the season and to claim the best under the conditions. And above all at the end of the competition year let’s move forward with our heads held high because we kept our promises to the world and the AEK organization”.