BCL Podcast gears up ahead of 2021 Final Eight. Raymar Morgan of Pınar Karşıyaka joined the podcast for its latest episode. One of the stars of the season touched on a variety of topics with Kemal Rutkay Özcan.
Final Eight matchup against ERA Nymburk, the scoring prowess Raymar Morgan has this season, Coach Ufuk Sarıca’s and his teammates’ effect on him, the reasons he reunited with Karşıyaka, and the way BCL handles the season were mainly discussed. The 32-year-old power forward also gave insight from his overseas career, as well as advice to the younger players.
You can listen to the podcast on SoundCloud and Spotify. Here are the highlights of the conversation:
Raymar Morgan: “We expect everybody’s best and they’re gonna get our best”
At this point in time, all eight teams are pretty good teams. No matter who we had the pleasure of getting a draw with, we were just excited to be here. This is something we talked about at the beginning of the season. To get here is a lot of excitement and we’ll be prepared for our game Wednesday. Every team that we’ll play from now on is after the same goal. We expect everybody’s best and they’re gonna get our best.
I think Nymburk just plays well as a team. They can get a ton of possessions and it’s a very fast-paced game they like to play. We’ll try to slow them down in transition and stop the ball in many different ways. They have an inside-out presence. Our tactics are just gonna be more defensive than offensive.
Not only the BCL season, but the time we’re living in right now also has ups and downs. You never really know what you’re gonna expect, but you hope for the best. I think that’s what we’ve been adapting throughout the entire year. Whatever the outcome is, we take that challenge head-on. We took some bumps on the head but they say experience is the best teacher.
His season with Pınar Karşıyaka
Just seeing what they did last year was impressive. They dominated the Europe Cup; they pretty much dominated the Turkish League as well. Before the season ended, they were in second place. They played well under a good coach and got that same roster back. It was a no-brainer for me to come to join a team that was already well put together.
I gotta give some credit to my teammates and to the coaching staff. They do a great job and give me the ball in places that I can create for myself and others. I’ve been really focused this year; I’ve been trying to get to my spot, create for others. You know, just playing basketball. I’ve been locked in and it’s been paying off.
Coach Sarıca is a great, experienced coach. He’s won on different levels; he was the national team coach. He has the experience. For the most part, I’m just trying to soak in anything he says and learn from him. It’s easy playing for the Coach and I enjoy it.
I was one of the three guys coming in. So, they already had chemistry and familiarity was there with one another. It was easy for me to get in there and start playing with these guys. They’re a bunch of great guys. It’s not like it’s anything hard. Once you learn the X’s and O’s and the concepts on the floor, it’s easy to just play basketball. It’s something we’ve been doing since kids. It’s fun and it’s been a pleasure this year, getting a chance to play with this group of guys.
Morgan’s opinion on the BCL season and Final Eight format
I think I like it. BCL has done a great job. I think it’s very smart; it’s less risky, as far as keeping everybody safe. NBA, in the form of the bubble, gave the idea and I must say it’s been working.
I personally like to play one time. I think that it might be a little unfair to the teams that are truly better because anybody can lose one game. But at the same time, you have to be sharp. You gotta play like it’s your last and give your all every game.