If you were to have entered the cook county jail in Chicago in the 70s and told a prisoner(Chicago Cubs fan) who was about to be set free and had
been totally shielded from society for the last 30 years that the Chicago Cubs had recently won 4 World Series in a row after not having sipped the champagne since 1908, would have been as cruel as banning sunglasses from society girl Paris Hilton forever, the Boston Celtic organization putting a clause in the contract of Rajon Rondo not allowing him to follow his passion of roller skating, because of the fear of possible injury or Charlie Sheen not coming to the rescue of former Met star Lenny Dykstra´s 22,000$ debt after the former baseball player had tried to get a star lawyer to help negotiate the return of the actor back to Two and a half men, but for faithful Alba Berlin basketball fans the waiting of experiencing titles has not been as cruel in Chicago, but in Berlin winning was a tradition from 1997-2003, but since then the team has only won one league title in 2008 and two cups in 2006 and 2009. After their undesirable and somewhat unexpected and embarrassing departure last season in the quarterfinals against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners, the expectations to win grows as much as the anticipation of the Royal wedding between William and Kate, if Charlie Sheen will make it a habit to lock lips with elderly women at his show and how long the new found love between teen stars Justin Bieber and Selina Gomez. For the EWE Baskets Oldenburg, they are a novice compared to
8 time beko BBL champion Alba Berlin when it comes to kissing hardware and making additional trophy cases for their titles. The Oldenburg club led by coach Predrag Krunic won their first and only title in 2009 beating The Telekom Baskets in game 5 in the last seconds and since then have been unable to recapture the success of the fabulous 2008-2009 season. Both teams have something to prove to their fans and themselves and will be as motivated as German basket ball star Dirk Nowitzki to reach the next round and despite start problems against the Portland Trailblazers, Kevin Love not taking off the summer and continuing to work hard in the gym and on the court to return next season even better than he is now or The Boston Red Sox trying to rebound from their sickening 11-12 start and attempt to continue to give The New York Yankees competition in the dog days of summer.
Author: Miles Schmidt-Scheuber
Achmadschah Zazai(BV Chemnitz): s. Oliver Baskets Wurzburg Had The Bigger Will And Everyone Did Their Job
Achmadschah Zazai is a 22 year old German/Afghani 177 cm guard that is playing for BV Chemnitz. He started his basketball career for TUS 
Lichterfelde Berlin (2.Bundesliga) in 2003 and played there until 2005. In the 2005-2006 season, he played for SG FT/MTV Braunschweig (2.Bundesliga) playing 28 games and averaging 6.3ppg, 1.3rpg, 2.2apg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 48.3%, 3FGP: 26.9%, FT: 75.0%. In 2006-2007, he played for BSG Ludwigsburg (Germany-Regionalliga) playing 15 games averaging 19.3ppg, and also had a license for EnBW Ludwigsburg (1. Bundesliga) playing 12 games and averaging 1.1ppg. In 2007-2008, he played for the Bremen Roosters (Germany-ProA) playing 14 games averaging 3.4ppg, 1.1apg, and then went to Denmark to play for Horsens IC playing 8 games and averaging 9.8ppg, 3.0rpg, Assists-3(4.5apg), 2.4spg, 2FGP: 44.4%, 3PT: 29.0%, FT: 92.0%. In 2008-2009, he played for Telemotive Muenchen (Germany-ProB) playing 25 games averaging 13.6ppg, 2.4rpg, Assists-4(5.5apg), Steals-5(2.2spg), FGP: 53.9%, 3PT: 37.7%, FT: 82.4%. Last season, he played for Freiburg (Germany-ProA, starting five): 14 games: 10.4ppg, 2.5rpg, Assists-5(4.9apg), Steals-1(2.4spg), FGP: 54.5%, 3PT: 21.8%, FT: 76.0%. He spoke to eurobasket after the loss to s. Oliver Baskets Wurzburg on the last game day as BV Chemnitz was unable to move up to the beko BBL.
A very disappointing 77-61 loss against Wurzburg. How sad are you a day after loss and how are you digesting the loss?
Very sad, because no body likes to lose a final!! They had the bigger will and they won it!!
The Deutsche Bank Skyliners And Globetrotter Basketball Wipe Out The Playoff Hopes Of EnBW Ludwigsburg 94-79
The 2010-2011 beko BBL season has flown by as rapidly this season like having a two week all expenses paid trip to the Bahamas and Rihanna as
a companion, the time since the 90s where the Boston Celtics were fighting to keep their good name as they were struggling under new coach Rick Pitino and he was blasted for saying the infamous word at a press conference that the legend Larry Bird was no more or the last time the Detroit Pistons won the NBA title in 2004. On the last game day there were many do or die games for teams fighting to stay in the league like BBC Bayreuth was hoping for a miracle win in Bamberg, the MBC wolves attempting to trap the pesky unorthodox full court press of BG Goettingen in quick sand in their den or teams trying to secure that last playoff spot like TBB Trier trying to out hustle the Artland Dragons, the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven trying to out freeze Ratiopharm Ulm or EnBW Ludwigsburg hoping for the best Lionel Richie basketball performance by Jerry Green being able to yell the famous Hello track to the 2011 beko BBL playoffs into the glowing and over joyous face of coach Markus Jochum, but instead the German coach was
seen sneaking through the Ludwigsburg arena with a emotionless face as if he just witnessed the rebirth of Craig Hodges on the court transformed into the body of Roger Powell as The Deutsche Bank Skyliners ruined a playoff appearance for EnBW Ludwigsburg 94-79 as the Schwaben team missed the post season for the fourth consecutive season and the Hessen team reach a date with BG Goettingen in the playoffs. “The third time is supposed to be a charm, but wasn´t for me. I missed the post season for the third straight year on the last game day. We really believed that we could win this game. However this team had two different faces this year. With the right face, this team had the talent to beat anyone in the league. With the wrong face as we showed tonight, we had no chance to win”, stated 1995 UCLA NCAA champion Toby Bailey. Frankfurt didn´t have their thoughts on the upcoming training camp in Mallorca and played as if it was game one of the playoffs. “I am a bit surprised by the outcome of this game. Ludwigsburg was a little nervous. We played a very good game. This was a good test for us in a playoff like atmosphere”, stressed Skyliner center Marius Nolte.
Achmadschah Zazai(BV Chemnitz) Who Will Reach The Beko BBL? s. Oliver Baskets Wurzburg Or BV Chemnitz 99?
Achmadschah Zazai is a 22 year old German/Afghani 177 cm guard that is playing for BV Chemnitz. He started his basketball career for TUS
Lichterfelde Berlin (2.Bundesliga) in 2003 and played there until 2005. In the 2005-2006 season, he played for SG FT/MTV Braunschweig (2.Bundesliga) playing 28 games and averaging 6.3ppg, 1.3rpg, 2.2apg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 48.3%, 3FGP: 26.9%, FT: 75.0%. In 2006-2007, he played for BSG Ludwigsburg (Germany-Regionalliga) playing 15 games averaging 19.3ppg, and also had a license for EnBW Ludwigsburg (1. Bundesliga) playing 12 games and averaging 1.1ppg. In 2007-2008, he played for the Bremen Roosters (Germany-ProA) playing 14 games averaging 3.4ppg, 1.1apg, and then went to Denmark to play for Horsens IC playing 8 games and averaging 9.8ppg, 3.0rpg, Assists-3(4.5apg), 2.4spg, 2FGP: 44.4%, 3PT: 29.0%, FT: 92.0%. In 2008-2009, he played for Telemotive Muenchen (Germany-ProB) playing 25 games averaging 13.6ppg, 2.4rpg, Assists-4(5.5apg), Steals-5(2.2spg), FGP: 53.9%, 3PT: 37.7%, FT: 82.4%. Last season, he played for Freiburg (Germany-ProA, starting five): 14 games: 10.4ppg, 2.5rpg, Assists-5(4.9apg), Steals-1(2.4spg), FGP: 54.5%, 3PT: 21.8%, FT: 76.0%. He spoke to German Hoops concerning the do or die game against s. Oliver Baskets Wurzburg to see who jumps to the beko BBL April 23rd.
A do or die game on the weekend against S. Oliver Baskets for the chance to move up to the beko BBL. If someone had told you before the season that Chemnitz would be fighting on the last game day to reach the beko BBL what would you have said?
I always believed in our team and always knew that we would play an important role at the end of the season. We didn´t want to put ourselves to much under pressure, but deep down we knew that we could move up to the beko BBL.
Can Jerry Green Sing A Little Lionel Richie Hello To The beko BBL Playoffs After 40 Minutes Against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners April 23rd?
Jerry Green gliding through the lane to the hole and humming the Lionel Richie classic tune “Running In The Night, Nate Harris and Paveles Cukinas fighting and hauling down rebounds, Je Kel Foster frustrating opponents on offense and defense for 40 minutes, 34 year old Serb Milan Goljovic parked behind the three point line and dropping bombs while blindfolded or coach Silvano Poropar entertaining with his interviews in broken German are all beautiful memories of the 2006-2007 EnBW Ludwigsburg season were the big surprise team closed out the season in first place and first packing their bags in the semi finals against the Brose Baskets Bamberg who would win the beko BBL title. Since then EnBW Ludwigsburg has been scampering around no mans land in the beko BBL standings like a whimpering and disillusioned turkey seconds before getting slaughtered for Thanksgiving as the club has failed to make the playoffs the last three years. But this season, the chances for EnBW Ludwigsburg to make the playoffs are as great as Chicago Bull Derrick Rose running away with the 2011 NBA MVP trophy, baseball fans never seeing another live towering moon shot home run from Barry Bonds and Suri Cruise never having a normal childhood. Bynum played against EnBW Ludwigsburg in the 2006-2007 with Bremerhaven and hasn´t forgotten how they played. “They were a tough team, they had a great regular season run and surprised a lot of people. They were a great team and had much success”, stressed John Bynum. Bynum knows what the team from the Schwaben land has been going through not reaching the post season for a number of years. “I think it is makes you hungry for the next season but at the same time it is good for any organization to make the playoffs any time you have a span where you havent been in the post season in a while. It can be frustrating cause it seems like all the work that you put in the whole year was for a waste especially when you are so close to making it. But at the same time you can look back and see in what ways you can improve for the next season as well”, added John Bynum. For En BW Ludwigsburg to reach the playoffs, they must win or in the case of a loss can miss the playoffs if Bremerhaven and Trier win and also BG Goettingen. TBB Trier guard John Bynum who will be hoping for a Frankfurt win remembers the 2006-2007 EnBW Ludwigsburg team as a player with Bremerhaven. “They have a great shot at making the playoffs but hopefully they can lose to help us out”, said John Bynum. But overall they have a good team and deserve to be in as much as the other teams battling for that spot. Four teams are fighting for the last two spots including BG Goettingen, TBB Trier and Bremerhaven and is there any separation in the ability of the teams? “I dont think there is much of a separation from any of the teams you named. I think at this point of the season it is all about who your opponent is and where the game is being played”, commented John Bynum.
Chris Oliver (Walter Tigers Tuebingen): Everyone See Me As A Scorer And Rebounder, But No One Pays Attention To My One On One Defense
Chris Oliver is a 25 year old 198cm forward that is playing his first season with the The Walter Tigers Tuebingen. He is a athletic forward that has
great hands, the versatility to play inside and outside, with three-point range on his jump shot, and has tremendous poise and maturity. He played at Radford from 2003-2007 and in his senior year, he played 30 games averaging 18.8ppg, 8.3rpg, 2.1apg, 1.9spg, 1.3bpg, FGP: 48.7%, 3Pts: 25.8%, FT: 74.8%. He came to Germany in 2007-2008 and played for the Kaiserslautern Braves of the PRO A playing 30 games: Score-2 (20.5ppg), Reb-5 (9.0rpg), 1.2apg, 1.3spg, 1.7bpg, FGP: 56%, 3PT: 25.0%, FT: 79.6%.In 2008-2009 in Goettingen, he averaged 10.6ppg, 5.2rpg, 1.4spg, FGP: 46.4%, 3PT: 37.0%, FT: 75.5% in 34 games. Last season, he won the EuroChallenge and played ): EuroChallenge: 13 games: 11.5ppg, 5.8rpg, 1.0spg, FGP: 41.7%, 3PT: 37.9%, FT: 77.1%; German League: 35 games: 14.1ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.1apg, FGP: 50.9%, 3PT: 27.3%, FT: 80.9%. Chris spoke to German Hoops recently about the 2010-2011 Beko BBL season.
Where would you stack your teammate Dane Watts in the BEKO BBL top power forward players?
I would place Dane near the top. He is a very versatile player that can score inside off the block and has a great jumper and great off the pick and pop. he is hard to defend.
Virgil Matthews (Erdgas Ehingen): When We Are Unselfish, We’re Really Good
Virgil Matthews is a 27 year old 188cm guard from Federal Way, Washington that is playing in Germany in the PRO B for Erdgas Ehingen. He
played at Montana (NCAA) and in his senior year played 31 games: 10.1ppg, 4.6rpg, 4.0apg, 1.7spg, FG: 49.8%, 3PT: 48.4%, FT: 76.1%. In 2006-2007, he turned professional and came to Germany and played for KICKZ Muenchen Basket (Germany-2.Bundesliga): 29 games: 18.0ppg, 6.1rpg, 5.2apg, 2.6spg, 2FGP: 57.3%, 3FGP: 31.8%, FT: 66.5%. In 2007-2008, he played for Tacoma Jazz (IBL). In 2008-2009, he returned back to Germany and played for Schwelmer Baskets (Germany-Regionalliga). Last season, he played for Olympia Reign (IBL, starting five): 21 games: 23.1ppg, 7.2rpg and for Seattle Aviators (NABL). Awards and Achievements in his career have been , Big Sky Conf. Regular Season Runner-Up -05, 06, Big Sky Conf. Tournament Winner -05, 06, Big Sky Tournament MVP -06, Big Sky All-Tournament Team -06, All-Big Sky Honorable Mention -06, and USBasket.com All-IBL Honorable Mention -10. Currently for Erdgas Ehingen he is averaging 11,2ppg, 5,5rpg and 3,6apg. He spoke to German Hoops after beating NBC and reaching the PRO A.
What was your feeling on the court in Ehingen when the final buzzer sounded propelling your team to the PRO A?
The feeling was great it was like joy and relief because to be in first place all season and have it come down to one game is tough but its great to win.
Ethan Niedermeyer (Erdgas Ehingen): Mario Blessing And Kevin Bright Were Huge For The Team This Year
Ethan Niedermeyer is a 23 year old 198cm forward that plays in the German PRO B for Erdgas Ehingen. He was born in Portland, Oregon, but grew up in Lafayette, California. He played at Portland (NCAA) from 2006-2010.In his senior year, he played 32 games: 6.7ppg, 3.1rpg, FGP: 37.7%, 3PT: 34.9%, FT: 74.1%. He reached the WCC Tournament Semifinals -09, 10. This season in the PRO B he is averaging 4,9ppg and 1,9rpg while averaging 13 minutes per game. He spoke to German Hoops following the 59-47 win against NBC where Erdgas Ehingen clinched the ticket to the PRO A.
Congrats on the 59-47 win against NBC and moving up to the PRO A. Being a rookie, did you feel much nervousness or were you able to shut it down with the NCAA experience that you had had at Portland?
Everyone always has some nervousness before big time games. That being said, playing at the University of Portland gave me a lot of opportunities to know and embrace that feeling.
Dane Watts (Walter Tigers Tuebingen): The What If Game Is A Hard Game To Play, Monday Morning Quarterbacks Always Get It Right
Dane Watts is a 24 year old 203cm forward from Warrensburg that is playing his second season for the Walter Tigers Tuebingen. He played at Creighton (NCAA) from 2004-2008. In his senior year, he played 33 games: 11.3ppg, 6.4rpg, 1.0apg, FGP: 53.4%, 3Pts: 42.5%, FT: 71.8%. In 2008, he came to Germany and started his professional basketball career with EnBW Ludwigsburg (Germany-1.Bundesliga, starting five): 32 games: 8.9ppg, 3.8rpg, FGP-1 (68.4%), 3PT: 30.8%, FT: 68.7%. Last season, he played for The Walter Tigers Tuebingen playing 34 games: 10.2ppg, 5.4rpg, 1.5apg, FGP: 57.1%, 3PT: 37.6%, FT: 71.0%. He returns to Tuebingen for the 2010-2011 BEKO BBL season. At Creighton, he won awards such as MVC Tournament Winner -05, 07, MVC All-Freshman Team -05, MVC Regular Season Runner-Up -07, and MVC Tournament Semifinals -08. Watts sat down with German Hoops after the 81-70 win against Bremerhaven.
Congrats on the 81-70 win at home. How important was rewarding your fans with a win in the last home game considering the long losing streak?
It was big, we had some bright spots in the season but we knew that we would be remembered poorly if we did not finish out the year strong. It was good to beat a quality team at home to finish up.
The Deutsche Skyliners Secure Second Place Controlling The Telekom Baskets Bonn 78-60 Without Forest Gump, But Steal Marius Nolte Steal
Winning for The Deutsche Bank Skyliners in Bonn the last 6 years has been as difficult as NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard refraining 
from hurling expletives in the direction of refs recently, actress/singer goddess Jennifer Lopez not feeling worthy of being named worlds most beautiful woman by People Magazine or Oscar award winner Robin Williams trying not to look like a combination of the Tom Hanks Castaway character and the Unibomber Ted Kaczynski in his new role in the new Broadway piece “The Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo”, but in the Ballsporthalle, Frankfurt has achieved solid success since the last win in Bonn(Jan 1, 2005)having a record of 6-3. Despite the non desirable history that has swept before the feet of Frankfurt in Bonn, they seem to have less problems at home as they were able to win their second game in a row against Bonn at home with a convincing 78-60 win securing second place for the 2010-2011 regular season. Frankfurt forgot any past bad misfortune in Bonn as they have had a superb season at home. “We had a great season at home winning 15 games. It is always important to win at home to secure that home court advantage in the playoffs. This was a huge win since we secured second place”, stressed current beko BBL top scorer Dashaun Wood. This was one of those games where an innocent bystander that had been caught at the hot dog stand flirting with a woman and had missed the game would of had an idea what went wrong just by staring at the post game stats. “We didn´t take care of the ball. We had 20 turnovers and three assists. But you have to give a lot of credit to Frankfurt. They played well and our turnovers hurt us”, stressed Telekom Baskets Bonn forward Jaacob Jaacks. Frankfurt also showed a sign that they were capable of recovering after the bitter loss 48 hours earlier in the Bamberg like atmosphere in Bayreuth. “BBC Bayreuth wanted to win more than us and it was really difficult to play there. However I have to compliment our coaching staff for finding the right words for the Bonn game. They told us to forget the loss in Bayreuth and just focus on Bonn and were able to get our heads free”, stressed Skyliner forward Marius Nolte. ex Skyliner Alex King lost for the second time this season in his old living room and one name was on his mind as has been so often for every other team. “We started well and defended well, but it is always hard to stop Dashaun Wood. Our biggest problem was our turnovers”, stressed Alex King.
