Ulm had a very nice trip to China and a break during the All Star Weekend. Everybody had some days off. But most of the players stayed educated. And we bounced back strong against Hagen (87:72). We won two in a row now. Unfortunately this is our longest winning streak for this season. Our main goal should be to perform strong on the road. The team stays very hungry, because nobody is really satisfied with the first half of the season.

I did hit the weight room and the gym with Darko and Austen to do some extra strong. Darko and me are also are very focused on the second team of Ulm. We are at the first place at the moment, but do have some important games coming up against 2nd and the 3rd seed teams. If we win those games we are through and moving up to the next level. We would reach our goal and complete one of our missions.

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It is Christmas time. The first three months of the season are over now. It`s been an up and down season for us so far. We had a lot of great moments and also bad moments. Some unneccessary losses and some great victories. The biggest upset for me was the unnecessary loss against Ludwigsburg. It was good for me to be back in my hometown and walk into the new gym. Seeing old faces. Classmates, teachers, teammates, friends and my family. It was one of the greatest feelings of my life and the game was even on National TV. The loss did really hurt. We were dominating them the whole game, but did fall apart at the end.
We only experienced one nice road victory at Bremerhaven. We weren`t able to play strong on the road so far and had plenty of hurtful losses.

One of the greatest memories so far was the game when I saw my first BBL minutes this year.

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We were missing him for a long time, but now Robin Benzing arrived in Ulm. It`s been two years since I had met him the last time. He is a nice guy and so talented. He is very skilled for his size. Hard to believe. We were going hard in practice this week after we got back from Austria. Everybody was very focused and the pracitce was intense. I am very astonished how fast Robin picked up the all of our plays. I think we had the best practice on Thursday.

Everybody was fired up for our next test game against Bamberg at Saturday. It was war out there while we were playing five on five. No easy lay ups. Nothing. We were only nine guys thou, so Coach Olatunde (Tunde) was practicing with us and was playing on the young team. The young guys (Nermo, Darko, Michi, Tunde and Me) were competing well against our Stating Lineup. They got a little bit frustrated and Chris just threw me to the ground one time while I was trying to set a backscreen on him. He is strong. Didn´t expect to fall that hard. I liked that roughness though.

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Our Sunday and game preparation was a little bit different today. We were watching the sights of the city Gmunden. It is a wonderful city. I do really love the fresh and natural air.Everybody seemed a little bit rusty today. Our OT loss against Wels did cost us a lot of energy. But we wanted to beat Gmunden this time. We played them already in the preseason and suffered a horrible 20-point deficit loss. This shouldn`t happen this time. We were starting very well and the game was always tied. Everybody did a great job.

We do really have an offensive powerhouse. Chris, Cole and Rocky do really now how to put points on the scoreboard. The roster of Gmunden is very old. Deteri Mayes is for example 35 years old and known as the Austrian legend. He had a great game. He is a dead eye shooter and was hurting us a lot. I think I did an excellent job while I was on the court. Mayes did beat me over the middle one time and did hit an difficult step back jumper. I mean I cannot complain. He finished the game with 28 points. His knowledge and his routine is impressive. He is just using his brain. Just like Boyle. He knows when to cut, how to cut etc…

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We had another shootaround on Saturday before the game. I did not feel too good. My Jumper is just horrible at the moment. Mike took me to his side after practice and gave me some new Coaching points I have to work on. I think my Jumpshot looks ugly as hell. It is just how it is with Leftys. We had a big gap in between the game started at 7pm. So we had like 6 hours to rest.
I started a small warmup with Coleman one hour before the game. He is a good role model, too. We were playing a little bit one-on-one. He helped me with what i could do better in offense and defense.
Wels was playing strong and aggressive this time. they started of very well.

Rocky had a strong game. He was leeading us in every category. Unfortunately, Lee landed on Conleys foot after a deep three in the 2nd quarter and twisted his ankle badly. He was really laying on the floor with pain for a long while and would not return. Mike got a little bit furious with the refs. In this case, the ref does also have to protect the players sometimes. We did really get hacked by the welser squad. But that was why we were here for. Compete on the road against unfair circumstances. They called almost everything on us. Kevin and Basti fouled out in regulation.

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Meeting point 10am at Ulm. Austria we are coming. The road trip to Austria should compare us for the away games of the upcoming season. We would face Wels and Gmunden again.
The travelling was very nice. We were using two small buses. We got there (Wels) within 5 hours.

Our hotel was very nice. To be honest it was the best hotel I have had every been. Our room was so big. And we really had everything. LCD-TV Screen, Internet, nice bathroom, toilet etc. This is life.

I was sharing my room with Darko.It was really fun with him. We do really get along. We had a light practice at 8pm. We had a shootaround and were running through some offensive plays.

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We had a nice day off on Monday. The Americans could relax. I had to head back to school. It was alright though. My school seems very nice. I got lunch with my teachers. I did not introduce myself as a ratiopharm Ulm player. I don`t know. I got some strange looks though. Seemed like some kids did recognize me or know that I am playing basketball for Ulm.

I had a horrible practice week. I don`t know what is going on. I am getting killed at the defensive end at the moment. Not talking about getting crossed or something. That never happened. But defensive Rebounding against Rocky Trice. It is hard. It is probably harder to box him out then Robert Maras for example or Aleksandar Nadjfeji. He is so quick and fast. And it is hard to put your body on him, because he is so small. He will outjump you all the time. You got to put your body on him.

We were having another pre season game against BG Leitershofen, a 1.Regionalliga team. I do not really want to talk about this game. They have not lost a pre seaosn game yet and were ready to play. The first quarter was an up and down. But they couldn`t keep up with us for the whole game. They were hustling though. We were heading with an 20-point lead to the locker rooms.

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Three games, three days. I figured out that this costs a lot of energy. My body and legs were all sore. Well, I wasn`t the only one. The rest of my team felt the same way. Today we were facing an All-Star team. A selection of some ball players, which have not sigend with any team yet and are still trying to sign something. If we would win this game, we would win the tournament, because Tübingen just got toasted by Wels with 20.
Darko Jukic, who is usually playing on our team, was playing for the All-Stars for the weekend. He had a few words to us about what he is going to do. Dunking on somebody and so on. We started off well, but the game seemed kind of slow, no intensity. The All-Stars were not playing with any intensity. We didn`t take care of the ball at all and had like 6 turnovers or more in the first quarter. Both team looked rusty out there.

I was already playing in the first quarter. We were down by 7. We had the last possession of the quarter. Lee was penetrating and did hit me on a cut I pumped faked it. My man left both feet from the ground. I leaned a little bit into and got the shot off before the buzzer. I made it. It felt great. I got some high fives from Lee and Mike. That shot did cut the lead to 5.

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Rivalry! It couldn`t be better than having a home game at 7:30pm on a Saturday night. You got to love it, that is what our assistant coach Ademola Olatunde told us. I met up with my fomrer team-, classmate and friend Andi Kronhardt. We had a nice pregame talk. Also a lot of trash talking was going on like basketball players always do. I’m gonna dunk on you. Three pointer in your face, Block the s§§t outta you etc.
Well, we both headed t o the locker room at the same time. I could feel a little bit nerovsity today. The gym was much more crowded than yesterday. I guess a thousand people. Well, it was the first test for us and me against a 1.Bundesliga team. Former Ulmer player Romeo Travis got booed very badly at the players presentation.

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