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The Turks take this competition seriously as always

Tofas currently have a 2-2 ratio in Turkey, they've won all their home games, they've lost all their away games, they gave Galatasaray a hard time last weekend and they left the impression that they could have done better as the Turkish champions are pretty weak at the moment

The Turkish teams have been taking this competition rather seriously (even though it's the third competition in terms of quality) as is witnessed in the fact that the last year's finals were held in Izmir where Karsiyaka aimed to get the title but the Russian Samara got in their way. Considering the expansion of the Eurocup and the fact that some quality clubs from Turkey got into this competition unplanned, such as Besiktas, Tofas and Gaziantep joined the EuroChallenge and they definitely don't want to be just passers-by. 

- I hope our fans will support us in our first European test, as our wish is to pass this group - says Tofas coach Ahmed Caki.

Today's game should be the easiest in the group as the remaining three teams seem better than the Hungarians, at least in theory. Tofas have decided to give their younger players a chance this season, but the game still depends on the American shooter Denmon, Slovenian Balazic and Croatian point guard Stipcevic, while Serhat Cetin and Chinemelu Elonu also have important roles as the latter is their main man in the paint and has been doing great since the start of the season.

There is no question Tofas have more quality than the Hungarians as the have national team players in their ranks and they traditionally do well in Turkey.

They've had tough away game in Istanbul last weekend against the champions Galatasaray who were left without 5-6 important players. Tofas have gone through a bad start, came back from being down by 12-13 points and they were in the game for a while but numerous turnovers and poor defense (coach Caki said 87 points were too much) cost them their points. Balazic (17 P), Cetin (19 P), Elonu /17 P) had a good day, but Denmon had a poor one (1/6) and it's hard to believe he will have such a poor game ever again.

The Hungarian team had a solid start of the season and they are currently the third-placed team in their championship with 4 wins and 2 defeats. Jaszberenyi have beaten Zalakeramia at home in the last round and thus got a valuable win after 2 defeats in a row.

The best individuals for the Hungarian team were Rastko Dramicanin with 27 points and the American Nicolas Raivio with 23 points and 11 rebounds. The Hungarians depend mostly on these 2 and they have a task ahead of them against Tofas. The Hungarians have no expectations from this competitions and they aware they are facing the title contenders in the first round.

The Hungarian team also have injury problems as their shooting guard Dejan Mladenovic has been out for a while and they will not be able to count on him against Tofas. Slovenian point guard Brane Savic has some minor problems but he will play.

- We've gone through their video against Galatasaray and we've seen they're a great team. They play very fast and this should suit us and I'm sure we'll have something to show in this game as we are going into it without any pressure whatsoever. The most important thing for us is to play well - said Jaszbereny coach Sandor Foldi.

They don't have a wide bench and that might be a problem for them as this decreases their rotation, and their coach is aware of that:

- Considering some problems in the team, we are forced to play with less rotations and this is bound to affect the tempo of the game. We will not be able to keep our aggression at the maximum level and it's important that the fluctuations in our game are not too drastic - said Foldi.

Tofes have been playing really fast basketball, spearheaded by the excellent American shooter Denmon and six of their seven official games so far have gone over this margin. The Hungarian coach says they prefer faster basketball, and they had games in the Hungarian league that went over 190 points so I don't believe they will relinquish their philosophy today. The reason I will go for this with a smaller stake is the inability to compare the quality of the Hungarians, that is, the Hungarian league, as Tofas are simply to far above its level.