The pleasant surprise of this year’s championship is undoubtedly the newly promoted team of PAEEK.
The refugee team, in its return to the First Division, has managed to win the respect of everyone, since after 15 rounds it has five wins, three of which in the last four rounds!
Wins that largely ensure the team’s survival in the OPAP Basket League, barring a shocking contingency.
The architect of the success is the coach of PAEEK, Euripides Andreou, known to the basketball world as “Pipis“.
The Cypriot coach who brought the team back to… He had a difficult task last summer: To put together a squad worthy of standing in the A’ Division.
He tried it with (more or less) the same guys who starred in the B’ Division, plus the very good foreigners he found on the market.
The difficult thing for “Pipi” was to change the mindset of the Cypriot basketball players, to convince them to change their mindset and tune in to the demands of the big league. The PAEEK coach has succeeded to a great extent and is getting what he needs from his players.
PAEEK has the 5th best offense in the league as it scores 80.1 points per game, below only Thunder (86.6), AEK (86.0), Anorthosis (83.8) and AEL (82.1).
Also, he grabs the most rebounds of almost all the teams in the OPAP Basket League (40.0) with the exception of AEK Larnaka (42.3) and Anorthosis (41.1).
He earns the most fouls in the league (20.1) and shoots the most free throws (21.5).
At the same time, they also stand out on the defensive end as a tough team that makes steals (5.3), hands out blocks (2.2) and fouls when and where needed (17.8).
The work done by coach Andreou is reflected in the numbers and the ranking of PAEEK is a testament to the success, despite initial predictions.
Antonis Katsaros
