Five years ago, medi bayreuth head coach Michael Koch and new medi Bayreuth forward Brandon Bowman began a very fruitful working cooperation with the Telekom Baskets Bonn that would take them to the Beko BBL final against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg, but their season came to an end in game 5 as it was Rickey Paulding and Jason Gardner sipping champagne and smoking cigars while Koch probably had nightmares after and Bowmann was already thinking about his summer in Los Angeles and how much harder he would work to get even better on the long bus ride home to the former German capital Bonn. Since that frightful June evening in Oldenburg that ended their season, Bowmann had had more team changes than Koch. Koch remained in Bonn until 2013, but would never get back to a final except for the Cup in 2012 and even missed the playoffs in 2011 for only the second time since 1996 for Bonn. Bowmann on the other hand got to know the basketball world as he was on the training camp roster of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2009 and also played in countries like Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Serbia, Israel, Korea and New Zealand. It took him a while to win his first title as a professional as he did this past summer for the Pacific Jewellers Saints (New Zealand-NBL) where he played 10 games averaging 18.5ppg, 7.4rpg, 3.2apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 53.8%, 3PT: 40.0%, FT: 77.1%. Bowman is one of those guys that eats, sleeps and thinks basketball. Last season he played for SC Rasta Vechta which has 32,000 people and about the only thing to do besides count cows on the pastures and take a stroll down the miniature main-street is to live in the gym which he did. Its no different in Bayreuth, even if the city is a little more than twice as big as Vechta, it is in the nature of the Los Angeles native to always get better even at the age of 30. Koch is still looking for his first coaching title in Germany and continues to be very hungry while Bowman is still hungry to get another professional title which would be only his second. Just how well medi Bayreuth functions this season is still difficult to predict since the season is still young, but the club has a good mix of veterans and youth and with the leadership of Bowman and unending preparation mentality of Koch, the only thing that might be missing for the team to get the extra push for success is if Bowman puts on the famous song Glory Days of American singer legend Bruce Springsteen to get his team ready each day. Often a player is in his prime at 31 according to 2 time Euroleague champion Kyle Hines, so Bowmann should be close at age 30? “I personally think that Brandon is in a great point in his career. The word prime is just a word. When you prepare and workout like Brandon does, you control how good you can be. We live together and I see first hand how hard he works to be a top talent in this league. The biggest strength I would say is his ability to let the game slow down. This allows him to pick his moments when he can be productive. Just like most players, the longer you play the better you read the game. His good decision making will play a big role in every win for THE TEAM. Brandon has always been a motivated player. That doesn’t change. I can’t give away all his eating habits/secrets but I will say, he is by far the cleanest eater I’ve ever met. His dedication to his eating and training habits is why he will play the game as long as he wants at a productive level.”, warned friend Zeon Gray who plays for Bayreuth Regionaliga team. Teammate American Bryan Bailey is also very content with the work ethic of Brandon Bowman. “Brandon can play different positions for us and brings and inside and outside presence for us. He can take slower defenders off the dribble and can post up guys that are smaller. He is a guy that always works hard and wants to continue to improve every day and leads by example. I’ve never seen a player put in so much extra work in the weight room than him”, stressed ex Artland Dragon Bryan Bailey.

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