REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Turkey have been the nation of the summer 2015 in Europe with third-place finishes at the FIBA U19 World Championship and U20 European Championship. But the country's 1997-born generation faces a tall task of following the leads of its two preceding age groups.

The Turks have reached the Quarter-Finals of the 2015 U18 European Championship in Greece as the top seed from the Second Round Group F. Their only loss thus far came against hosts Greece - in a blowout that gave Furkan Korkmaz a case of deja vu. 

The Turkish star admitted afterwards that he experienced the same feeling within the team that he did ahead of the Semi-Finals of the U19 Worlds - a 91-56 drubbing by Croatia. That was Turkey's only loss of the U19 tournament as they bounced back to take the third step on the podium.

Korkmaz was named to the U19 Worlds All-Star Five - but as a highly-regarded player among many others at his level on the squad. Korkmaz now returns to play with his 1997 generation for the first time since the 2013 U16 European Championship.

And expectations are high for the NBA prospect to lead his age group to a historic U18 Euros three-peat. 

Turkey have won the last two U18 European Championships and the last country to win three straight U18 tournaments was the Soviet Union, who collected four straight titles between 1978 and 1984. 

The Turks will square off against Serbia in Friday's Quarter-Finals for a spot in the last four. All eyes are on Korkmaz, who has skyrocketed up NBA draft lists in the past year, during which he helped Turkey to the U18 Euro title, play well for Anadolu Efes in the Euroleague and take third place at the U19 Worlds. 

And he is Turkey's undisputed leader in Volos, where he has struggled to perform consistently. Korkmaz is shooting just 34 percent from the field, including just 18 percent from three-point range. But he's still leading the team in scoring, is fourth in rebounds, third in assists and first in steals. 

Korkmaz is not alone of course. But the 1997 generation is not quite as strong as the previous two. Enes Taskiran and Ertan Gazi are the top two other players from Korkmaz's age group, currently ranked third and fourth in scoring in the team. 

But two strong members of the 1998 generation have helped get Turkey to the doorstep of the Semi-Finals. 

Center Omer Yurtseven is third in rebounding in the tournament with 10.0 boards to go with 9.5 points per game and a second-best 2.5 blocks per game. And fellow 1998-born Omer Al has taken charge as point guard with 5.0 assists per game - fourth best in the tournament - to go with 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals. 

While many European countries often don't mix age groups together, Turkey traditionally have done so, and it's been a key to their success over the recent years.

Korkmaz is a prime example, being the only member of the 1997 group playing a level higher with the 1996-born players both last summer at the U18 European Championship and at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship. 

Four of the 1996-born Turks played a level up at the 2013 U18 European Championship and helped the country win the tournament for the first time in history. Seven 1995 players were on Turkey's title-winning team at the 2014 U20 European Championship and five 1996 age group members went from the U19 Worlds to the 2015 U20 Euros and helped Turkey to third place.

So, it's common place for Turkey's top younger players to help out at the youth levels. 

Still, Korkmaz is the only member of the 1997 age group to have won anything of major significance thus far. That all can change in a few days if Turkey can etch another major milestone into the annals of youth basketball history. And players like Taskiran, Gazi and the others of the age group can finally celebrate with a trophy.

FIBA 

David Hein

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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