Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and legendary head coach Svetislav Pesic in Frankfurt in 2015

48 house ago, I went into the historic 2023 World Cup semi-final clash between USA and Germany with a positive feeling and big smile knowing I couldn’t lose. I mean as a born and bread American with German parents, I was always proud of having both citizenship’s, but when it came to basketball my heart always pounded more for the Americans than for Germany. That was the case again in this contest. Germany has made massive strides in the last 10 years with breeding new talent and thus they finally recorded a medal again last year at the Euro after being idle for 17 years. But despite Germany upsetting USA 113-111 in a classic power struggle of a game, I could still smile after the buzzer sounded. I mean I know the head coach personally and have had dealings with many of the German players over the 10 years. Now my mind set was 100% focused for the final on Sunday crossing all fingers for Dennis Schroder and co. But there was only once difference as now I could lose namely if Serbia win. I didn’t have the luxury again like with USA-Germany, but young basketball player Marko Rosic (174-PG-2005) of the Dragons Rhondorf does. The 18 year old grew up in Germany, but his family roots are in Serbia. He played the last few years in the ratiopharm Ulm organization and played youth basketball and pro B for Orange Academy and also played in the Regionalliga for BBU 01 Ulm. Now he is up for a new challenge with Pro B team Dragons Rhondorf and has 2 special experiences connected to Serbia. ‘My nicest experience as a player was being invited to the U-16 Serbian national team and as far as the Serbian national team goes, it’s having watched their march to the final this summer. Serbia has performed so well despite not having many stars like Nikola Jokic. They have proved how well they can perform without him’, stressed Marko Rosic. It is obvious who his heart will beat strongest for on Sunday. ‘My heart is with Serbia in the final’, stated Marko Rosic.

Marko Rosic pic credit Martin Jung

Serbia reached the final by registering a 6-1 record. They achieved this record without many superstars most notably Nikola Jokic for some the best player on the planet. They destroyed countries China, South Sudan and the Dominican Republic by a combined core of 332-225. They even had little difficulty against top nations Lithuania winning 87-68 and got by Canada 95-86. Their only slip up was against Italy where they suffered a close and brutal 78-76 loss. ‘I wasn’t as convinced of their play in the early going. But the way they reacted after the loss to Italy was inspiring. They began to play with character and did a great job playing together and staying together in tough moments. They really heightened their game and improved until the final’, expressed Marko Rosic. Many may have been expecting a USA-Canada final, but Serbia had other ideas. They took on the challenge and didn’t disappoint. ‘Serbia was very well prepared for Canada. Especially on defense they played very well and always had answers. Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t have a great game keeping him better in check. Bogdanovic played great offensively against Brooks. Serbia was better prepared mentally and tactically for Canada’, commented Marko Rosic. The 7 year NBA veteran Bogdanovic has had a strong World Cup averaging 19/3/4/2 stats and shooting 40% from the parking lot. Has he been a bit lost in the shuffle among the superstars Doncic, Schroeder and Gilgeous-Alexander? ‘He has played a very good World Cup. You can’t forget he was injured for a season. The focus wasn’t on him. You look at Canada or Australia that ha so many NBA players, I think he built up his rank again and got respect again by reaching the final. He led Serbia to the final without stars’, added Marko Rosic. Even if Serbia is missing some guys, they still have very talented players with Euroleague player Nikola Milutinov and young NBA player Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat. ‘They are both extreme important players. Jovic may be in the NBA, but he is still very young. The way he has taken on the challenge of an important role has been great. This is still the World Cup with the best players and he has played great. Milutinov helps the team so much under the basket. He is one of the best bigs in Europe and he helps some with leadership’, added Marko Rosic.

Germany steam rolled into the 2023 World Cup final with an impressive 7-0 record. They had easy wins over Japan, Finland, Georgia and Surprisingly Slovenia as well. But they also showed when the going got tough, they were able to withstand adversary with grind out wins over Australia and Latvia. ‘Germany has a very strong team. I awaited them to play like that. I didn’t expect a cake walk, but I knew they would perform well. They have a great leader in Dennis Schroeder and so many good role players with Daniel Theis and Johannes Thiemann. Their biggest strength is their team basketball. It is cool that the team doesn’t only rely on Schroeder. Any guy can step up. Against USA it was Andi Obst’, said Marko Rosic. We will see if they only saved their best for last by defeating the mighty USA or if they will have even more left against Serbia. The victory against the United States will go down as one of the countries greatest wins even if they can win the Gold against Serbia. It was a back and forth clash that seemed like a classic elite boxing match where punches were exchanged all day long with no one wilting. The game went down to the wire and Germany had one extra punch too much. Could the win over USA already been Germany’s Gold medal game? ‘This was a huge success for German basketball. But they can’t celebrate it. They still have to compete for a Gold Medal. Andi Obst is the reason they won. They way he faked out Haliburton at the end and made that shot was incredible. He had so much courage to take that shot and showed real fight. Germany really wanted to win more than USA’, warned Marko Rosic. Andi Obst has contributed well averaging 10,0ppg in the World Cup and shooting a potent 45% from outside. The FC Bayern Munich sniper has been an incredible shooter for years, but why isn’t he in the NBA? ‘I actually was thinking the same thing during the game. I think he just hasn’t had a big stage to show his skills like now. Maybe now with his play at the world cup, he will be in the note books of NBA teams. I hope he gets there. He has incredible shooting qualities. He now belongs to the best shooters in Europe’, added Marko Rosic.

Germany can win another Gold Medal for the first time since they surprisingly won the Euro in 1993 over Russia. Germany will have a reunion with legendary coach Svetislav Pesic who was Germany’s head coach then. He won the World Cup in 2002 with Yugoslavia and now at age 74 is in the final again. ‘Pesic continues to prove how good of a coach he is. He won with Germany many years ago and shows he can be successful with different countries’, said Marko Rosic. Germany has a 5-5 record against Serbia dating back to 2009. Their last meeting against Serbia at the World Cup was in 2010 in Turkey where Germany squeezed out an exciting 82-81 win with Jan Jagla leading the way with 22 points. So what kind of final can we await? ‘We will see team basketball from both sides. Both teams will step up their defense. I think it will be an emotional game and be dirty at times. It will be a good time and be close’, warned Marko Rosic. A good question will be who is coming in as the favorite? One thing is for sure that both teams will come into the final with a lot of self-confidence. Obviously many may think that Germany is the favorite simply from having beat USA, but one shouldn’t underestimate Serbia. ‘Serbia will play with a lot of emotion. They will take that emotion and energy of the win and their fans into the final. I also think they will be playing for Borisa Simanic who lost a kidney and be thinking of him. Key will be trying to keep ball away from Schroeder as much as possible. If they allow Schroeder to create then that could really give Serbia problems. Also important will be keeping an eye on Andi Obst and not losing him’, stated Marko Rosic. It will be interesting to see how Germany reacts after playing against a high tempo USA team and now playing against a more physical and team basketball orientated club like Serbia. ‘Germany has to take their confidence with them from the USA game. They don’t really have to change anything up, but just continue to play their game and show that good team basketball that carried them the whole way to the final. They definitely will have to play better defense than against USA. I also think they have to play more under the basket. They have the advantage there and could hurt Serbia’, warned Marko Rosic. Near the end of the USA game, ex NBA player and Fraport Skyliner Isaac Bonga made a key block to help secure the win. Could Bonga be the X-factor? ‘ On defense yes. He guards the other team’s best player. Slowing down Bogdanovic would be a big help’, added Marko Rosic. The semi final between Germany-USA was already a huge highlight and one of the greatest games in German basketball history, but could the final top it? We will see. It is no surprise who Marko Rosic picks. ‘I’m going with a 87-84 win for Serbia’, said Marko Rosic. I’m going against that prediction. I predict a 92-90 win with the game winner from Franz Wagner. Team Germany already put basket Germany in heaven after the win over USA. Imagine what will happen if Germany wins the Gold? If someone had said 10 years ago that Germany would be playing for the World Cup Gold and have a 7-0 record going in, nobody would have believed it.