Sean Sonderleiter is a 29 year old 206cm center who is playing his first season in Europe for Ratiopharm Ulm. He has a quick first step. He is 
the kind of a penetrator who attacks with the dribble and is capable of thunderous dunks. He played at Iowa from 2000-2004. He played in Australia in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, he played for Perry Lakes Hawks (Australia-SBL): 20 games: 23.9ppg, 12.5rpg, 2.8apg, 1.0spg, 1.5bpg, FGP: 56.0%, 3FGP: 20.0%, FT: 68.6%. In 2008-2009, he played for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League), left in Jan.’09, but returned shortly after leaving: 33 games: 4.0ppg, 3.1rpg, 2FGP: 41.5%, FT: 65.0%. Last season, he played his second season for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League): 45 games: 11.0ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.3apg, FGP: 49.0%, FT: 72.3%. Recently he played Summer League in Las Vegas (New Orleans Hornets). He took some time to talk to German Hoops about basketball.
ratiopharm Ulm
The Rapid 10 Miles Questions Basketball Exchange With Travis Walton(Ratiopharm Ulm)
Travis Walton is a 23 year old 187cm point guard from Lima, Ohio. He is playing his first season with Ratiopharm Ulm. He played at Michigan State from 2005-2009 where he served as team captain for three consecutive years, being the 3rd in history of Michigan State school to do that. Led the Big 10 in assist to turnover ratio 2.4 to 1 and broke Magic Johnson’s career assist record at Michigan State. Walton possesses great toughness, strength and leadership skills and is an exceptional defender. Last season he played shortly for Lugano Tigers (Switzerland-LNA, starting five), left in Dec.’09: 13 games: 8.9ppg, 1.2rpg, Assists-5(4.9apg), 1.5spg, FGP: 52.6%, 3PT: 33.3%, FT: 85.7% before returning back to Michigan State to help the coaching staff. Some achievements that he has received were Big Ten Tournament Semifinals -06, 08, 09, Big Ten All-Defensive Team -07, 09, NCAA Sweet 16 -08, Big Ten Regular Season Champion -09, and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year -09. Walton took the rapid 10 Miles questions basketball exchange for German Hoops.
Coach Mike Taylor is well known for having magical strength of getting players to come to Ulm to play. How did coach Taylor persuade you to come to Ulm?
Well firstly, Mike Taylor is a great guy and I had met him out in Vegas while I was playing basketball last year, so we already knew each other a little bit. Then when we talked over the phone and he told me about the team and that Ratiopharm Ulm is a great organization, I just knew it would be a great fit for me.
Robin Benzing Reflects On The 2009-2010 Season
Robin Benzing is a 21 year old 208cm forward from Seeheim-Jugenheim playing his first season with Ratiopharm Ulm. He played with TV Langen from 2004-2009. In the 2008-2009 PRO A season, he played 25 games: Score-4(18.7ppg), 4.4rpg, 1.1apg, 1.0spg, 1.0bpg, FGP: 52.4%, 3PT: 31.8%, FT: 80.1%. Robin belongs to the German class of Basketball players (the Nowitzki style). He is a big forward who can play in both positions as he has the size and the shooting skills too. His game looks like his country-mate Jan Jagla, he is a bit lighter than the German international, and is playing mostly within the wing. He is amazingly a good ball handler for his size and he can attack the basket going both ways. Even though is nearly a 7footer he doesn’t have the strength to post up his opponents while he does prefer to play mostly on the parameter. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of the season.
NBA Scouts from the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers watched you play in Oldenburg. Were you able to block this out?
It was not difficult for me to play in front of the NBA scouts. There have been scouts at practice this season in Ulm and I am able to block this all out. I just concentrate on the game.
Despite The Current 13th place Of Ratiopharm Ulm, The Team And Robin Benzing Are Fun To Watch
At this time last season, Ratiopharm Ulm with Jeff Gibbs, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce and co were gleaming in the playoff range while 12 months later and on the eve of Superbowl 44, the club is toiling in 13th place, but coach Mike Taylor and the team can put their feet up and enjoy the game with a smile and be relatively happy with the current fortune of the team. The team was unable to keep key players from last season and got a facelift that totally left the club unrecognizable just like actress Melanie Griffith except for the friendly wide smile of coach Mike Taylor and a few players as he had to build a new winner in Ulm. Nobody was really expecting the team to reach the playoffs and seemed more concerned and interested about the season that Robin Benzing would have.
“I am happy with how Ratiopharm Ulm has played. We had some tough loses against Phoenix Hagen and The Giessen 46ers. I think if we would have won those games, most people would have said that we are playing well and we would have 10 wins and be pretty close to being saved for next season. We need two more wins and then we will be ok for next season”, stressed ratiopharm Ulm manager Thomas Stoll.
Jerome´s Diary Entry #17: Dedication For A Run
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.
Jerome’s Diary Entry #16: Content Going Into 2010, But Still Work To Be Done For Ulm
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.
Strange Ranking and Early Hot-Shots
Trouble with the rankings
It had been a press release no one really cared about during the off-season. On the 7th of June the DBB (German Basketball Federation) announced that for the 2009/2010 campaign all german leagues will have to follow the FIBA scoring system. Just like before a winning team is now rewarded with 2 points. But with the new system also the losing team earns 1 point for attending the game. Last season and all those years before the loser got no point, but had to deal with 0:2 points.
If you follow the BBL you might remember the odd story about Gießen not making it to the game in Ludwigsburg. The 46ers’ teambus was stuck in traffic and the team could not make it in time. Ludwigsburg got the win and Gießen was punished by the league with the loss of all direct comparisons. If a situation like this would come up now, the team not attending the game would have to deal with 0 points.
Jeromes Diary Entry #15 Preseason Blues
Losing to Bamberg by a lot, didn´t really help us to see where we are at and where we have to get better. We would not sit on this test 
forever. We were facing Ludwigsburg on Tuesday. Against my and also Colemans former team. It was good to see some old and common faces again. Talking about David McCray, Philip Heyden and Ziyed Chennoufi. I met Tim Koch at the parking lot. I used to hang around with Tim a lot. I mean he was my class mate, teammate and also my study hall mate. I didn`t get the chance to talk to my roommate last year David Michalczyk.
It was an unoffical game. But my family was there to watch. It was also good to see we were playing in the Rundsporthalle and not in Ludwigsburg new gym. I have never been in there, but I heard that the new gym is amazing. Ludwigsburg does really have a great team this year. Just by its names. Kyle Bailey, Quadre Lollis, Domonic Jones, Richard Chaney and Kyle Visser. I think they can really be on top of the league this year. Our formation was very shorthanded. We were just nine guys. Lee, Chris and Per were still missing. We were starting with Kevin, Basti, Rocky, Robin and Coleman.
Jeromes Diary Entry #14: Can we get a lucky fairy please!!!
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.
Jeromes Diary Entry #13: Additional Memories Of Pre Season In Austria
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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