Walter Tigers Tuebingen

Ruben Spoden Looking To Make Strides With The Walter Tigers Tuebingen

Ruben Spoden is a 21 year old 202cm forward that will split his time in 2010-2011 with the Walter Tigers Tuebingen and Erdgas Ehingen/Urspringschule. He started his basketball career for Eintracht Frankfurt (Regionalliga) and played there from 2005-2008. In the 2008-2009 season he played for TV Langen (ProA), German League: 17 games: 2.4ppg, 1.8rpg; also played at Eintracht Frankfurt (2.Regionalliga): 11 games: 18.6ppg. Last season, he played for Erdgas Ehingen/Urspringschule (ProB, starting five): 29 games: 14.8ppg, 5.1rpg, 1.3apg, FGP: 61.5%, 3PT: 32.6%, FT: 74.7%. Ruben spoke to German Hoops about the upcoming season.

Ruben thanks for taking some time to talk to eurobasket. How has your summer been going? What have been your highlights?

Shortly after the season has ended I left for a one week trip to Mauritius, which definitely  has been my highlight this summer.

(more…)

Steven Wright Reflects On The 2009-2010 Season

Steven Wright is a 26 year old 191cm guard from Dayton, Ohio. He is playing his third season in the BEKO BBL for The Walter Tigers Tuebingen. He is an extremely athletic combo guard with great quickness, an explosive leaper and has great ball handling and passing skills. Wright hurts you with his penetration or a pull up for the mid ranged jumper, pick and roll, coming off picks for the shot, and when left open he’ll hit the three pointer also. At the same time he is an unselfish player who creates scoring opportunities for others and has a very good ability to finish around the basket. The 26 year old american is a great defensive player because of his quickness and athletic abilities and is a great and mature person with a good work ethic.

He played at Bowling Green from 2002-2006. He finished his NCAA career at Northern Kentucky in 2006-2007 averaging 16,8 ppg., 5,3 rpg., 3,2 apg., 1,6 spg., FG: 46.1%, 3PT: 34,6%, FT 77,5%. In 2007, he came to Germany an played for The New York Phantoms Braunschweig averaging 7.4ppg, 2.6rpg, 2.3apg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 44.9%, 3PT: 32.6%, FT: 75.5% in 34 games. Last season, he helped lead The Paderborn Baskets into the BEKO BBL playoffs averaging 7.8ppg, 2.8rpg, 1.9apg, FGP: 40.8%, 3PT: 38.2%, FT: 77.2% in 36 games.

He recently joined The Walter Tigers Tuebingen and spoke to German Hoops about his season in Tuebingen.

How would you rate your season with The Walter Tigers Tuebingen coming in so late in the season?

I wouldn’t rate my season high at all. This was the worse season I’ve ever had since playing the game of basketball. It’s nothing personal with the coach or my teammates I’m pointing the finger at myself. Also, coming to a team in the middle of the season was tough. I didn’t want to come in and try to do too much. I wanted to fit right in. I tried to let the game come to me while playing in games. Most of the time I stood around waiting for the right time and it never came. But at some point you have to be the aggressor and I didn’t do that in all the games. I am definitely a much better player.

(more…)

Branislav Ratkovica Aiming For The ACB One Day

Branislav Ratkovica is a 24 year old 193 cm guard from Serbia. He is playing his second season for The Walter Tigers Tuebingen. He started his basketball career in 2002 with Beopetrol Beograd. He played for Atlas Banka Novi Beograd from 2003-2006. In the 2006-2007, he played for BC Mega Ishrana Beograd. In 2007, he came to Germany and landed with The EWE Baskets Oldenburg, but found little playing time averaging only 2.3ppg, 1.0apg. Last season, he joined The Walter Tigers Tuebingen playing 29 games averaging 9.4ppg, 2.1rpg, 2.3apg, FGP: 56.0%, 3PT: 28.9%, FT: 63.4%. This season, he has belonged to the best assist players in the BEKO BBL as well as leading his team. He recently spoke to German Hoops.

You are playing your second season in Tuebingen. What are the biggest differences to playing in Oldenburg?

I arrived in Oldenburg and Germany as a rookie and I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to play. I played as Gardner’s substitution, who is one of the best point guards in the whole league. However, Tuebingen is a completely different story, as here I have the full support and trust from the coach and the board, which makes it an easier environment to play in.

(more…)

Will The Walter Tigers Tuebingen Reach The Playoffs Before The Stroke Of Midnight?

If one had dared to combine the word Walter Tigers Tuebingen and playoffs before the 2009-2010 BEKO BBL season, it may have received the same response as Dieter Bohlen does as juror of Germanys version of Super idol when he puts money into his piggy bank after hearing a horrible musical performance, but with the season half way done, Tuebingen is one of the big surprises currently as they are on playoff course riding a six game winning streak and proving all critics wrong as they are playing solid basketball.

The Walter Tigers Tuebingen won their sixth game in a row against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners 91-70 and are slowly starting to raise eye brows in the BEKO BBL as a team that could annoy the more established playoff teams. The slow start and very humbling 98-66 loss in Frankfurt in October seemed about as far away as Pluto is to earth.

“This win and winning streak feels very good right now. Our team is playing very good basketball at the moment and our main goal are the playoffs. Everybody contributed to this win. We hit our shots on a consistent level in the second half and our offense was running very well. Branislav Rathkovica did a great job with his passing. All in all, we almost played a complete game. We had some lapses, but it was very close to a perfect game”, stressed ex Paderborn basket Steven Wright.

(more…)

Teamcheck: Walter Tigers Tuebingen

Since coming into the BBL in 2004-2005, the Walter Tigers Tuebingen have been treading water in the BBL middle standings and at times Tigersscrapping the deregulation area. The best finish of the club was 2006-2007 as they finished in 10th place. The Tigers have been more a harmless creature that seems to have their mouth sealed with little power escaping instead of showing their absolute unconquerable qualities of a tiger on the court.

The team has been known for developing  a healthy fan base and letting guys like Rasko Katic and AJ Moye (his first year) develop into top BBL players, but then again also have gone the usual BBL route of signing an abundance of Americans and closing an eye for further developing German players and the organization also has been prone to getting involved with minor scandals like in 2006 with Tamien Trent and Mike Moten who were banned by the German basketball federation following  a drug test. Making the jump to the BBL is not easy and if one were to ask experts in the Tuebingen surrounding, one would always hear three things. A lack of management know how, a slim budget and not getting the right mix of players. Ex coach Tolga Öngören came in the middle of the 2007-2008 season and started getting the team in a right direction.

(more…)