Brose Baskets

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Brose Baskets

Leagues

Basketball-Bundesliga

Founded

1955

Arena

Jako Arena (capacity 6,800)

Location

Bamberg, Germany

Team colors

Red and white

President

Herbert Lauer

Head coach

Dirk Bauermann

Championships

2 German Championships (2005, 2007)

Website

www.brosebaskets.de

Uniforms



Home



Away

Brose Baskets is a German professional basketball club based in Bamberg, Franconia. The club won the German Championship for the first time in its history in 2005 and became the first German club to qualify for Euroleague Top 16. Their home arena is Jako Arena. The team is the current BBL Champion.

Brose Baskets Logo

1 The Club
2 Euroleague Season 2005/06
3 Current roster as of September 23, 2007
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The Club

[edit] Euroleague Season 2005/06

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In the 2005-06 Euroleague regular season, the Brose Baskets became the first-ever German team which made it to the Top 16. Bamberg made its Euroleague debut this season and exceeded expectations created due to a nice combination of athleticism and versatility. Bamberg finished the regular season in Group A with a 7-7 record and sealed its ticket to the Top 16 well in advance. Things changed in the Top 16, however, as its inexperience at this stage, along with tough opponents such as TAU Cerámica, CSKA Moscow or Lietuvos Rytas did not allow Bamberg to win a single game.

Bamberg could not repeat its domestic success last season, when it won the German League, and was knocked off by RheinEnergie Köln in its domestic semi-finals in dramatic fashion. Despite that, Bamberg provided some highlights along the way. Derrick Phelps hit back-to-back game winners against Union Olimpija and Strasbourg. Spencer Nelson ranked fourth in rebounds at the end of the regular season, while Uvis Helmanis was second in three-point accuracy in this stage. Above all, Dirk Bauermann confirmed himself as one of the best coaches in European basketball, taking Bamberg to its biggest European success ever.

Bamberg played the underdog role throughout the regular season and had a strong start in Group A in which the team two of its three opening games. Bamberg edged Union Olimpija 81-80 behind 14 points each from Phelps and Demond Mallet, and then downed Strasbourg 73-60 with Nelson, a newcomer in European basketball, leading the team with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Bamberg would lose the next 4 Euroleague games to drop its record to 2-6, but Nelson and Phelps decided they have had enough losses. The team broke its losing streak with a 71-61 home win against AEK in which Phelps had 18 points, and then Nelson provided the best individual performance in the Euroleague this season. Nelson scored 23 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and dished 7 assists in a 92-85 home win against Benetton Treviso. Not only Nelson was the Weekly MVP, nobody beat his 48 index this season. Phelps took over then with consecutive game-winners. He stepped up with a driving layup to make Bamberg beat Olimpija 57-59 in Ljubljana at the buzzer, and then fired in a three-pointer which allowed Bamberg not only to get a 68-71 road win in Strasbourg, but to seal its ticket to the Top 16. Bamberg would add another regular season win, as it beat AEK 51-65 on the road in Game 14 behind 13 points from Mallet to finish fifth in Group A with a 7-7 record.

That road win against AEK happened to be Bamberg's last in its first-ever Euroleague appearance. Bamberg had to fight its way to the Quarterfinal Playoffs against some of the best teams in the competition such as TAU, CSKA or Lietuvos Rytas. Even with that, the team had some chances to win each of its three opening Top 16 games. All-Euroleague forward Luis Scola scored a Euroleague career-high 36 points to help Tau beat Bamberg 72-77 in Game 1. Chris Ensminger led Bamberg with 20 points. The hosts tied it at 65-65 with 2 minutes to go but failed to win the game. Lietuvos Rytas had to battle hard for 37 minutes to beat Bamberg 79-67 in Vilnius. Nelson led Bamberg with 16 points. Bamberg lost all hopes to advance to the next round due to a 75-64 home loss against CSKA. Mallet led Bamberg with 12 points, and a 17-1 run allowed the hosts to cut the deficit to 65-64 with two minutes left. CSKA woke up just in time to win the game. Bamberg would lose the next three games by an average margin of 19 points and could not win a Top 16 contest.

Moreover, even when Bamberg finished the German League second, RheinEnergie won its best-of-five semifinal series 3-2 with a buzzer-beating three-point basket. Bamberg will play the ULEB Cup next season, in which its Euroleague experience will be a factor to consider Bauermann's team a top contender.

[edit] Current roster as of September 23, 2007

Name	Position	Age	Nationality
Dirk Bauermann	Head coach	December 10, 1957	Germany
Volker Stix	Assistant	July 4, 1974	Germany
Rick Stafford	Assistant	November 20, 1973	Germany/United States

No.	Name	Position	Age	Height	Weight	Nationality
4	Chris Ensminger	Center	December 8, 1973	2.09 m	118 kg	United States
5	Sajmen Hauer	Guard	March 14, 1988	1.93 m	88 kg	Germany
6	Steffen Hamann	Guard	June 14, 1981	1.86 m	75 kg	Germany
7	Demond Greene	Guard	June 15, 1979	1.85 m	86 kg	Germany/United States
8	Predrag Suput	Forward	June 1, 1977	2.00 m	103 kg	Serbia/Germany
10	Darren Fenn	Center/Power Forward	February 17, 1980	2.08 m	112 kg	United States
11	Ivan Pavic	Forward	September 30, 1981	2.00 m	99 kg	Germany
12	Robert Garrett	Guard	March 18, 1977	1.92 m	96 kg	Germany/United States
13	Ademola Okulaja	Power Forward	July 10, 1975	2.06 m	107 kg	Germany
14	Tim Ohlbrecht	Center	August 30, 1988	2.10 m	113 kg	Germany
22	Luke Schenscher	Center	December 31, 1982	2.16 m	120 kg	Australia
24	Mark Dickel	Point Guard	December 21, 1976	1.87 m	85 kg	New Zealand