The base of the El Ceibo Association, Agustín Lozano, spoke with DSP in the preview of the debut of the Provincial Basketball League. The Sanfrancisqueño gave details of how he sees the preview of the tournament.
The “national flower” will be the only San Francisco team in the Provincial League, together with Almafuerte de Las Varillas will represent the San Francisco de Básquet Association in the highest competition in Córdoba.
Agustín Lozano, after the departure of Martín Muller, remained the most experienced player on the squad led by Eduardo Blengini. After a good walk in the Associative Tournament where he has not yet lost, they have to start with the Provincial League and the San Francisco base talked about that.
How do you get as a team to the debut of the Provincial League?
We arrived well prepared, we have been training for several months and we arrived in the best shape. Anyway we know that it is going to be a fairly even and tough tournament that is defined in three months. It is going to be a short but quite intense tournament and there are 20 teams. We have to go step by step.
How do you see it at debut?
We have the away debut against a difficult opponent because it is a team that has been playing together for several years and on a difficult field. We have a nice challenge now in debut to see where we stand.
You are going to be the most experienced player on the squad, is it a challenge for you?
I do not take it that way so much, I consider that within the establishment I am a bit the most experienced but I do not consider myself that experienced. I have more experience there than the rest, but there are also players on the team who are older than me and who have also played basketball for many years. We are a very even group and all the same within the team, that tries to convey ‘mara’ (Blengini) that the one who really applies the philosophy of the game is going to play. I consider myself one of the squad and I am going to do my bit to try to achieve the group objective which is to be a competitive team and play a good role in the tournament.
What is a short tournament in time gives you little room for error?
In no tournament in the playoffs you can fail because when you stumble in the decisive moments they do not give you room for error. Nor do we have to put so much pressure on ourselves because we know that we are a young team and the majority of players from the city. We are working very well, with a lot of humility and a lot of sacrifice. We are very hungry for glory and we want to be protagonists for that we are preparing.
What could they learn about the rivals in the area?
Since the zones were announced by the draw, we all started looking for information about the rivals. That speaks of the group being focused and involved in the tournament. We know Almafuerte from the Associative, Bochas we know that he put together a good team with the Jure brothers, Alloco and Altamirano. We were looking for information and now we hope that the first games will be played to have images and to have more conclusions and to be able to carry out the pertinent scouting.
For many, El Ceibo will be a candidate in this League. Do you feel that way?
Because there is not so much information from all the teams, I think it is very hasty to give some candidates before the start. I think you have to go step by step, game by game because although we know that it is short, you have to go week by week to prepare for the games. First we have to try to classify, if possible, among the best four at good time. But I insist that it is very hasty to talk about candidates because we did not see the teams play, we have to wait a couple of dates and the same competition will mark them.