In Winston-Salem, in the heart of the state of North Carolina, where college basketball is a cultural, social issue, they used to call him “The Greek Deac”, the Greek deacon. Konstantinos Mitoglou, Dinos for everybody, played for three seasons in the U.S., at the University of Wake Forest, the one made famous all around the world mostly because in the past the great Tim Duncan played there (and later also Chris Paul who obviously plays a completely different position than Dinos on the court). Wake players are called “Demon Deacons. Hence the nickname glued to Mitoglou, one of the Olimpia newcomers, a player who already has a long career behind him but is still young, 25 years old, and who is, only now approaching, the prime time of his career.

Wake Forest is one of the Big Four schools of North Carolina college ball, but generally – except during some rare seasons – it is considered the fourth most important, behind Duke, North Carolina, and North Carolina State. During the Mitoglou years, the coach was Danny Manning, another basketball legend, especially at college level, in Kansas, where he won the NCAA championship and earned the number 1 spot in the subsequent NBA draft (he eventually played in the NBA for over a decade). This is where Mitoglou became a top-tier player, playing for two years alongside Atlanta Hawks star John Collins, one who publicly endorsed Mitoglou simply saying that “a 2.10 guy who shoots like him, tough, can play in every league in the world.” Perhaps in his eyes there was that incredible game against Louisiana State in which Mitoglou eight three-pointers.

Mitoglou, who obviously had played on the Greek youth national teams, became what he is now during those three seasons spent on American soil. “Going to the United States completed a journey, it was a dream of mine, and I wanted to do something different,” he said. He left a year earlier giving up the last year of eligibility, to become a professional player at Panathinaikos, back home.

Before moving to America, Mitoglou had played in Thessaloniki and with Aris he had made his debut in the Hellenic top league, when he was very young during the 2013/14 season. In Thessaloniki he ended up following his father path, Dimitris, an excellent soccer central defender, first at Drama and then at Paok. Soccer runs in the family’s veins. Dinos’ brother Gerasimos played for AEK Athens during the last season. “I discovered basketball when I was 12, playing against my brother. I ran up and down the court, it was fun, I started like this – he says – My favorite player was Toni Kukoc, when he was playing for the Chicago Bulls, then it was Dirk Nowitzki. In my opinion they were the best power forwards in the world, but they also knew how to handle the ball.”

At Panathinaikos he had four years of constant growth: during the 2017/18 season, he essentially played only in the Greek league, but after that he kept climbing the ladder. During the last season, in the EuroLeague, he averaged 9.3 points per game and shot 57.5 percent from two. In addition, he was the fourth rebounder, the fourth offensive rebounder in the league, and finished the season with 103 two-point baskets, 21st overall. In the Greek league, he averaged 11.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, shot 60.7 percent from two and a sensational 44.0 percent from three. In the game that gave Panathinaikos the fourth Greek title of his career, against Lavrio, he scored 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 35 points of index rating. A nice way to say goodbye.

Mitoglou will be the seventh Greek player to wear the Olimpia jersey. The first one was in 1955 Mimis Stefanidis, the great Panellinios star who became the first foreigner in the club’s history. Stefanidis stayed in Milan for a year, then he also played in Venice but basically returned to his homeland. Later in Milan more Greek players came: Giorgios Sigalas, Giorgios Kalaitzis, two big stars like Antonis Fotsis and Ioannis Bourousis, both for two years spent together, and finally during the 2013/14 season Ioannis Athinaiou, signed as an insurance player before the playoffs, became technically the only Greek Olimpua player to win the championship.

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