When you hear the name Alba Berlin, the first thing that probably comes to mind is winning. The club is the New York Yankees, the Boston Celtics or the Montreal Canadians of German basketball. What the organization has achieved in the last 30 years has simply been amazing in terms of being able to rack up titles. They have won a total of 23 club titles with 11 league championships, 11 cup wins and one international title in 1995 with the Korac cup. But not only on the professional level are they a rock, but also at the youth level they have been able to set a special standard of excellence always being able to bring in new talents and have success. They have won 6 NBBL (U-19) titles and 4 JBBL (U-16) titles since the NBBL/JBBL league was established in 2006. At the current NBBL/JBBL Top 4, Alba Berlin was able to find their way back to the winners circle as they were able to win their 6th NBBL title. The Top 4 saw a bit of old with Alba Berlin, but also saw something new and refreshing in 2026. In the JBBL, it wasn´t a Ulm or Alba Berlin as the winner but Team Baskets Bonn/Koln RAG. They had only once reached the top 4 and that was back in 2014. The team led by up and coming young coach Tom Becker had a great season where they nearly averaged 100 points per game and had so many scoring weapons that Oldenburg and Ulm who lost to them couldn´t control. They had an incredible team chemistry and just had that special family feeling that really brought everyone closer together. These 2 teams sparkled at the 2026 basketball weekend in Berlin, but there were also many other unforgettable things that gave everyone witnessing the games joy.

Bonn/Koln celebrate 2026 JBBL title

The 2026 NBBL/Top4 was my 8th in a row that I have covered as a writer as well as a play by play broadcaster. It was the third time in a row that it had taken place in Berlin. I took on the trek to Berlin on Thursday afternoon from Montabaur and went via Frankfurt to Berlin in about 5 hours. On the train ride, I studied the team rosters for my broadcast as well as also took a break and read my new book “Killing Willis” about Todd Bridges who came to fame in 1978 as he joined the American TV series Different Strokes which ran for 8 years and after that saw his life turn 180 degrees as he had struggles with addiction and the law, but in time was able to clean up his life and find his true identity. I´m not only focusing on basketball, but every once in a while need to turn to something new. I arrived in Berlin at my hotel at 21.30 and the first known face I saw was Jochen Lotz, the JBBL (U-16) head coach of Ulm. As I arrived he was briefing his boys about the next day. I went to my room, relaxed and had a Subway sandwich and soon called it a day. Friday would be a very long day as I would call to JBBL games at 4:30 and 7:00 pm. I got up in the morning and prepared a bit for my 2 telecasts and then went on a 2 hour walk at mid day going to Spandau that has a nice mix of nature and old churches that I enjoyed visiting. I departed for the arena at 2:45 with the JBBL Oldenburg team in their mini bus. Oldenburg has reached the Top 4 the last 3 years. I had ridden with them each season to the Berlin arena and brought them luck in 2024 as they won the title. I simply kept up the tradition. I got in the arena and as usual walked around and just took in the atmosphere. It is an older gym, but one that is very bright. Then I went up to the area where I would call the game. It is about 20 rows up. The lightening wasn´t great in terms of being able to read my notes, but that was something I had to accept and deal with. The first game was the Baskets Juniors Oldenburg against Team Baskets Bonn/Koln RAG. I called the game and saw a real classic youth basketball game. It was a game of ups and downs for both teams and was really close in crunch-time. Oldenburg was led and carried by allrounder Samuel Shchepotkin who displayed his ruthless scoring talent taking 32 shots and finishing with 29 points. However his scoring in the end still wasn´t enough as Bonn/Koln won the game on their last possession with a game winner by Khalil Idbihi who is the second eldest son of former German national player Yassin Idbihi. He barreled into the zone scoring over 3 players and sent their fans into ecstasy and finished with 22 points. Despite totally dominating on the offensive boards, it didn´t help Oldenburg reach the final. It was a massive accomplishment for the team as they had only qualified for the JBBL regular season the summer before. In the second contest, it was Ulm against Hamburg that also turned out to be an incredible game as well where in the end Ulm was able to pull out the victory 105-99. Ulm took the lead early, but later had to give it up as Hamburg rebounded and were led by allrounder Danny Egbe who would finish with 33 points. Ulm was severely hurt when Marko Volf landed his fourth foul right before the break. Ulm had to play long stretches without Volf and trailed by as much as 17 points. However other key players stepped up from Ulm with Justus Reintjes and Gabriel De Connick who scored 27 and 25 points, Volf came back and then played carefully and didn´t get a fifth foul while finishing with 28 points. Hamburg was down by 4 points in the last minute, but 3 offensive rebounds and free throws broke their neck. Hamburg also got a powerful game from German prospect Johan Meinberg with 10 points and 19 rebounds. I had the pleasure again to call games for the third straight year with German basketball legend Dirk Bauermann who led Germany with Dirk Nowitzki to the 2005 Silver at the European championships. He is a guy that always talks exactly what he thinks and as usual gave incredible expertise about the game and the young players that he closely monitors with the German basketball federation.

Jonas Mattessek and Franz Wagner taking in the NBBL game of Alba Berlin

Day 2 had the 2 NBBL (U-19 games on the slate. I did my running that day running about 10 kilometers and then went to the arena at 2:45. I had the day off commentating, but would write an in depth game report on Eintracht Frankfurt Skyliners a team I have followed and reported on for more than 2 decades. Frankfurt had an incredible playoff run disposing of IBAM and Jena in 4 do or die games. They had a lot of self-confidence coming into the semi-final game against Alba Berlin, but at the same time knew it would be a tough challenge. It didn´t help them that 2026 AST MVP Jamie Edoka and other starting 5 player Julius Messer were out due to injury. Frankfurt was clearly the underdog and for 3 quarters were trying to comeback from 10 point differences, but the trek up the mountain was a steep one. Alba Berlin led 17-2 early and everyone knew in the arena that it would be a long afternoon for Frankfurt. Alba berlin had the depth and massive advantage under the basket as Frankfurt was severely undermined length wise. Alba Berlin was able to overpower Frankfurt as they always led between 10-20 points in the first 30 minutes. But in the fourth quarter, Frankfurt was content not to depart Berlin without a fight. Lukas Smazak had the game of his life exploding for 39 points and taking total command and leading a Frankfurt comeback that will be remembered for a long time. He continued dropping three´s and would finish with 8 and had 2 key steals and lay in´s on transition in the last 2 minutes to get them so close to 77-78. Frankfurt had the chance to send the game to overtime with a last shot from Smazak, but his shot bounced out and the game was over. The Alba Berlin fan area behind the basket went crazy and NBA player and ex Alba Berlin player Franz Wagner was also all smiles as he cheered on the boys. Alba Berlin had 11 guys score and were led by Anton Kemmer (198-F-2008) with 16 points and Nevio Bennefeld cleaned up the boards with a 12/11 game. Alba Berlin also controlled the boards 52-35. Universal genius Ivan Crnjac had an off day going 3/14 and finished with 8 points. A great season came to an end for Eintracht Frankfurt Skyliners. In the second semi-final game pitted 2 great teams with Ulm and Vechta. Vechta had won 2 years ago where they had NBA prospect Johan Grunloh while Ulm was still searching for that first NBBL title. Ulm had most likely their best team ever while Vechta wasn´t as strong as in pervious years and went into the contest as the underdog. Vechta came into the game motivated and led 23-18 after 10 minutes, but a 7-0 run to start the second quarter by Ulm got them the momentum and from then on it was clear sailing as they had the lead and would never look back again and win 87-74. Ulm led by as much as 24 points in the third quarter, but Vechta staged a late comeback in the fourth quarter, but it wasn´t enough. Vechta shot the ball well from outside at 41%, but couldn´t come to terms with Ulm´s aggressive defense as Ulm had 14 steals. Ulm also had the better individual players and depth and were led by French prospect Meissa Faye with 23 points, while Endurnace Aiyamenkhue had a monster 12/15 game while Teo Milcic was close to a triple double with 16/9/9 game and Yanu Slingerland added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

One of the great things about the NBBL/JBBL Top 4 is that it is once a year and a time where many people involved in the German basketball scene come and visit. If it´s players, coaches, agents or office employees, you always bump into people you know. People that I saw again as they are a constant fixture at this event the last years were 1993 Euro champion Henning Harnisch as well as ex German national players Stefan Hamann, Jan Jagla and Heiko Schaffarzik. I also spotted Chris Ensminger who played numerous years with Bamberg under the guidance of Dirk Bauermann. I also spoke with ex Ulm assistant coach Pete Strobl who had been in the States the last few years and recently helped A-2 Italian team Pistoia remain in the league. He was in Berlin watching his talented son Peja play with NBBL team Vechta. I also saw ex German national league player Patrick Femmerling as well as 2024 NBBL champion head coach Hendrik Gruhn as well as Rhondorf head coach Max Becker and Ludwigsburg youth and Pro B coach Khee Ree. I also saw Alba Berlin players like Sven Schultze, Jack Kayil and Jonas Mattisseck. I also met Sebastian Buchberger a guy that has been following basketball for years and is running German basketball summary which is a basketball feed where he posts all key basketball news around Germany and other countries daily. I also hung out with 2 basketball institutions in German basketball reporting with Jan Finken who has covered basketball since more than 20 years and writes great articles for BIG magazine and was there writing game summaries for the NBBL. The other was American David Hein who like myself has been covering basketball in Germany for decades as we are the only 2 guys reporting in English for German basketball. Last but not least I also saw my guy Joe Asberry who is a basketball legend that played in Germany in the 90´s and since then has been a basketball workaholic working as a MOC, motivator, basketball coach and agent. He has been helping young boys and girls play the game better. It is always fun catching up with him about the game and life. I also saw 2025 NBBL champions Ivan Volf and Dominic Dolic. Dolic gave me fantastic quotes to the Alba Berlin-Frankfurt game and even drove me back to my hotel after the semi-final games on Saturday. He is a very nice guy that has great manners, but he definitely didn´t have to do that. I also saw Paderborn center Leonard Kroger who assisted me with fantastic quotes about the NBBL final for my article.

Teo Milicic

Day 3 Sunday had the 2 final games on the plate as well as the U-19 woman´s final. I don´t follow woman´s basketball, but took in the final and saw how Alba Berlin beat defending champion Wurzburg. I also spotted a tall girl playing for Alba Berlin that had a face that looked familiar. It didn´t surprise me when the name was Lily Schultze. She was the daughter of ex Alba Berlin legend Sven Schultze. I did play by play of the first JBBL final between Ulm and Team Bonn/Koln with Dirk Bauermann. Fans saw a very high scoring first quarter as both teams combined for 48 points and Bonn had the slim 4 point lead after 10 minutes. However in the second quarter, Ulm heightened their game a bit scoring 26 points as Bonn/Koln got away from their sound team ball and played more isolation. At the break head coach Tom Becker reminded his players why Bonn/Koln had reached the final which was through team ball. His team heeded his advice and in the second half outscored Ulm 56-37 getting back to playing their game again to take the JBBL crown. The 2 stars of the game were Idbihi (18/14/5 ) of Bonn/Koln and Volf (33 points) of Ulm and both had solid games, but it was Finn Wohlert of Bonn that stole the show from Volf as he exploded for 33 points. Bonn almost averaged 100 points per game in the regular season and showed their scoring power in the final. They let it ran three´s hitting for 18 and had 10 more than Ulm. Bonn/Koln also picked up special awards as Khalil Idbihi was voted rookie of the year and head coach Tom Becker scooped up coach of the year. The NBBL final between Alba Berlin and ratiopharm Ulm was an entertaining final that saw a close battle in the first 20 minutes as Alba Berlin led 22-20. However in the second quarter Alba Berlin was able to get away leading by 9 points at the break. Alba Berlin relied on their team basketball where they always had fresh energy coming off the bench while Ulm relied heavily on their offensive duo of Meissa Faye and Teo Milicic who combined for 51 points in the game. Ulm never gave up and heightened their game a bit in the third quarter outscoring Alba Berlin 25-21 to trail only 68-63. However Ulm couldn´t get over the hump in the fourth quarter as Alba Berlin managed the lead well, but Ulm fought until the end. Milicic made clutch shots and Ulm trailed only 85-83 with under a minute to go. Alba Berlin then slammed the door shut on Ulm as Bennefeld missed two free throws and it looked like Ulm could get possession, but the rebound turned into a loose ball that landed in the hands of Anton Kemmer who finished with the put back and the 87-83 win. The team collective that Alba Berlin showed for 40 minutes and 24 offensive rebounds was simply too much for Ulm. Anton Kemmer finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds and was finals MVP. THE NBBL season awards went to Leonard Kroger as MVP, Munich´s Caspar Vossenberg was rookie of the year, Daniel Biel defender of the year and Marius Linartas coach of the year. I was still in the arena an hour after the final ended working on my game report and waiting to depart for the train station. It was another long rlde home as I had an 1,5 hour lay over at 1:30 am in Cologne. I was finally home at 4.30 am. It was another great weekend of basketball with the best youth players in Germany battling for the titles. The weekend was another great promotion for German youth basketball.