Ermal Kurtoglu, who has a dayjob as a center for professional team Efes Pilsen when he’s not working for his country, had glowing praise for Engin Atsür yesterday in an interview with FIBA. Engin had fallen off the radar in his home country somewhat by coming here to North Carolina, but his coming-out party on the national stage has impressed his older, more experienced teammates who all have professional careers:

FIBA: Greece like to talk about having 12 excellent players and not just one `go-to’ man. You could argue that Turkey is the same, even though the team has some young players.

Kurtoglu: "On any given night, anyone is going to step up and hit some shots like Engin Atsur did tonight (Atsur buried two crucial three-pointers in the fourth quarter against Slovenia). Not too many people in Turkey know Engin Atsur because he plays in college in the US and that is not shown in Turkey. But he’s showing how tough he is, and that’s big. That, coming from a guy who doesn’t play in Euroleague competition is real big. That’s huge. When you’ve got nine other guys out there doing that, coming through, that’s important."

Kurtoglu goes on to express the attitude of the entire Turkish team:

FIBA: You picked up four fouls in the third quarter but stayed in the game. How did you continue to play as hard as you did. It looked like you almost bumped a player out of bounds. Are you not worried about picking up a fifth foul?

Kurtoglu: "We have confidence in each other. I’m not even thinking I’ve got four fouls. It doesn’t matter who is on the floor. Everybody plays his heart out."

That is sportsmanship any country could be proud to claim.

I continue to remain bitterly disappointed that the local media has nothing to say about Engin Atsür’s performance in these basketball games (he is shooting a lovely 66%). I realize that kickoff for college football is less than one week away now and football plays the bills. I just can’t believe Raleigh isn’t a big enough market that they can’t spare one guy to pick up the same information I am and give Engin some press.  It wouldn’t even be work at this point. By the time they catch up, it’s going to be over. Big hint guys: Engin Atsür is now playing on one of the eight best teams in the world.

Tags: engin atsur, FIBA, wolfpack basketball