Papatheodorou: “AEK is built to advance or even conquer the BCL”

THE Prometheus made 2/2 against Le Mans and advanced to the “16” of the BCL, where he will be in a joint group with AEK Betsson BC.

The technician of Patrina, Ilias Papatheodorouhe spoke to EEC Web Radio about the progress of his team and the Joinwhich he described as one of his favorites BCL.

In detail what he said:

For the series with Le Mans, which they eliminated with 2-0 victories: “They were demanding games for us, in the sense that Le Mans showed that they are a very difficult team to beat. To be honest, we did not expect this picture. I think we dominated both games from start to finish. It was easier for us to qualify than we expected, but we had aimed, we had trained and worked very hard and we really wanted this set of players to continue in the BCL. It is a great honor for us to participate in the top-16”.

For their group in the round of 16: “For sure, playing with a Greek team is more special and different. Our group has objective difficulties. Both AEK and Murtia have been “built” to go very high or even win the trophy. Holon and Ostend are good and traditional BCL teams. The best play in the top-16, so it is a privilege for us to be there, to face the best and to claim the best possible. The group will be very interesting and will be “open”.

For his team roster: “We’ve built a roster that has first and foremost good character, health, mentality and kids motivated to excel. The downside to this roster is its quantity. In the Greek league we have to play with 6 foreigners like everyone else, we have 2 Greeks with experience and the other 4 kids are kids from the “NOUS” program and Karagiannidis who is a kid from the Elite League. It is not easy for us in the long run to have the same performance, because of the quantity, but it is a very interesting project, because we give these children the possibility to play a role in a team that is leading in Greece and Europe, something that it satisfies us doubly.”

For the injuries that Prometheus had: “Hale’s injury cost us a lot. At the same time, we had other absences, there were games where Cowan, Etsenike, Jones, Chrysikopoulos missed. In a small roster every loss counts and for us it counts doubly. Sometimes you have to risk something or turn your attention somewhere else to manage these losses. We got through with the smallest possible losses this time. We lost some matches that will cost us, but we could not do otherwise. Because the rest of the guys have a lot of respect and work very hard, they partly filled the void of players. I want to believe that the rest of the year will find us healthier.”

For the upcoming (13/01) away match against Maroussi: “It is a team that after the arrival of Giorgos Limniatis shows a very good face. He has very good results, he plays good basketball, he has good quality players. It is on the rise, it comes from a victory in “Palataki”. It is a very difficult match for us, for which we have little time to prepare. We treat Marousi with great respect and seriousness and I want to believe that we will have a better face than last Saturday (06/01) against Karditsa”.

For the renewal of his cooperation with the Swiss National Team: “It is a collaboration that has started for 3 years. The Swiss federation has done me the honor of working together and it’s a very nice experience for me too, because it’s a country that wants to develop basketball. We are given the opportunity to continue a good work that we have started there. They appreciated our work and our effort. We have a good relationship with the people and the players in the team, there is material of new players coming. From the moment we had the same goals and good cooperation, we decided to walk together for the next few years.”

For Switzerland’s goals in the European Pre-Qualifiers: “Our goal is to go through our group. Because the games are in the middle of the year, it is never easy to have all the players there. It will depend on the roster we have. Our goal is clearly to win as many matches as we can, so that we pass the 1st phase of the qualifiers and continue to the 2nd.”