s.Oliver Würzburg

s.Oliver Würzburg
Leagues Basketball Bundesliga
Founded 2007 (2007)
History SCH Würzburg Baskets
(2007–2010)
s. Oliver Baskets
(2010–2016)
s. Oliver Würzburg
(2016–present)
Arena s.Oliver Arena
Arena Capacity 3,140
Location Würzburg, Germany
Team colors Black, Red
         
President Steffen Liebler
Head coach Dirk Bauermann
Website soliver-wuerzburg.de
Uniforms
Home
Away

s.Oliver Würzburg (formerly known as s.Oliver Baskets) is a German professional basketball club located in Würzburg, Germany. After one year of absence from the Basketball Bundesliga, the club has returned to first division German basketball for the 2015-16 season.

It was founded in 2007 with the aim to substitute the original club of the city, who was known as DJK Würzburg, which stood for "Deutsche Jugendkraft" (German youth power), and was affiliated to the DJK-Sportverband (Sport Association), which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. The club has gained fame through its basketball department, in which NBA player Dirk Nowitzki got his start.

History

The old DJK Würzburg

The DJK Sport Association was founded on September 16, 1920 in Würzburg. Due to the geographic location of its home office, the DJK soon founded a local club in Würzburg. However, the different athletic departments found themselves divided among various Catholic clubs. During the Third Reich, all DJK affiliates were banned by the government. After World War II, the DJK consolidated all of its local departments into DJK Würzburg. Today the club has over 3000 members, including a variety of non-Catholic members.

The club's top women's handball team played in the Handball-Bundesliga Frauen, the top flight of women's handball in Germany, from 1976 to 1985, during the 1987–88 season and from 1993 to 1995.

The club's basketball department gained fame in the 1990s as both the men's and women's teams qualified for the top German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) division. The women's team played many years in the first and second divisions and was crowned German Champion in 1993. In 1989, the men's team made the jump into the second division. In 1997, featuring Dirk Nowitzki in the line-up, DJK Würzburg claimed the 2nd Division South title, qualifying for the Basketball Bundesliga. In 2001, DJK spun off its men's basketball team into a private corporate entity, now known as the Würzburg Baskets, to capitalize on their growth as a professional basketball team. DJK Würzburg has produced numerous players who have gone on to have success in the BBL, with the senior men's German national basketball team and, for Nowitzki, the NBA.

In 2005, the club resigned its spot in the BBL and the club stopped competing.

The current club

In 2007, American businessman Jochen Bähr acquired a license in the Regional league for a new team in Würzburg with the aim to reach the Pro A in few seasons.

In 2011, the Würzburg Baskets, now by the name of s.Oliver Baskets (after their new sponsor s.Oliver), gained promotion from the PRO A (German Second Division), and moved up to the Basketball Bundesliga (German First Division). In its first season back in the first division, in 2011-12, the team reached the German League semifinals, after beating Alba Berlin by 3–1 in the quarterfinal series of the playoffs. In 2012–13 the actual club played in Europe for the first time, in the second tier Eurocup.[1] In 2013–14 they relegated from the BBL. They immediately promoted back to the first tier in the 2014–15 season. The 2015-16 season was finished on rank 8, thus qualifying for the playoffs for the second time after 2012. In quarterfinals the team was eliminated by future league champion Brose Baskets, losing every game with at least a 35-point margin.

On July 15, 2016 the team changed their name from "s.Oliver Baskets" to "s.Oliver Würzburg" to strengthen the identification of team and city. Additionally the sponsoring contract with s.Oliver was extended through 2019.[2]

Honours

Numerous Bavarian amateur titles Women's German Basketball Champions: 1993 Men's 2nd Division South Basketball Champions: 1997

Logos

Season by season

Season Tier League Pos. European competitions
2007–08 4 RegionalLiga 3rd
2008–09 4 RegionalLiga 1st
2009–10 3 ProB 3rd
2010–11 2 ProA 2nd
2011–12 1 Bundesliga 4th
2012–13 1 Bundesliga 9th 2 Eurocup
RS
3–3
2013–14 1 Bundesliga 17th
2014–15 2 ProA 2nd
2015–16 1 Bundesliga 8th
2016–17 1 Bundesliga 14th
2017–18 1 Bundesliga 4 FIBA Europe Cup

Team

Current roster

s.Oliver Würzburg roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age
PG United States Hammonds, Cliff 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 31 – (1985-12-18)18 December 1985
SG United States Richardson, D. J. 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 26 – (1991-02-11)11 February 1991
C Germany Kratzer, Leon 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) 110 kg (243 lb) 20 – (1997-02-04)4 February 1997
F Lithuania Olisevicius, Osvaldas 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 24 – (1993-01-10)10 January 1993
F Lithuania Lipkevicius, Vytenis 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 28 – (1989-05-19)19 May 1989
SG 9 Germany Stuckey, Maurice 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 27 – (1990-05-30)30 May 1990
PF 11 Croatia Lončar, Krešimir 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 115 kg (254 lb) 34 – (1983-02-12)12 February 1983
F 34 Germany Hoffmann, Felix 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 28 – (1989-01-19)19 January 1989
SF 42 Germany Wank, Lukas 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 20 – (1997-01-19)19 January 1997
C United States Anderson, Ryan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 24 – (1992-12-04)4 December 1992
PG United States Gaddy, Abdul 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 25 – (1992-01-26)26 January 1992
PF Germany Kovačević, Dejan 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 99 kg (218 lb) 20 – (1996-12-27)27 December 1996
Head coach

Germany Dirk Bauermann

Assistant coach(es)

Germany Stephen Arigbabu
Australia Liam Flynn

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Updated: 19 July 2017

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Leon Kratzer Krešimir Lončar
PF Osvaldas Olisevičius Ryan Anderson Dejan Kovačević
SF Vytenis Lipkevičius Osvaldas Olisevičius Felix Hoffmann
SG Maurice Stuckey D. J. Richardson Lukas Wank
PG Cliff Hammonds Abdul Gaddy

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have played at least two seasons for the club AND either:

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team.

Notable coaches

Second team

Würzburg's second team plays in the ProB, the German third division.

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

TG s.Oliver Würzburg roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name
PG 6 Germany Jakob Jessberger
SG 7 Germany Oliver Erb
PG 8 Germany Christian Hoffmann
G/F 9 Germany Sebastian Rauch
SG 10 Germany Oliver Erb
G/F 11 Germany Tim Leonhardt
C 12 Germany Christoph Hackenesch
G 14 United States Marcellus Barksdale
G/F 17 Germany Lukas Wank
PF 24 Germany Tobias Weigl
Head coach

Australia Liam Flynn

Assistant coach(es)

Germany Christian Graf

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Updated: 9 July 2017

Kit manufacturer

2016: KICKZ [3]

Fan culture

Friendships

For many years, the fan-base of Würzburg has been connected, in a friendly way, with the supporters of the Baskets Bonn. [4]

Rivalries

Within the Basketball Bundesliga, the city closest to Würzburg is Bamberg. Hence, between the Baskets Würzburg and the Baskets Bamberg, there has been an intense rivalry.[5] Traditionally, the rivalry has been dominated by Bamberg because of its superior finances.

References

  1. ↑ s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg - Welcome to Eurocup, eurocupbasketball.com Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Aus den s.Oliver Baskets wird s.Oliver Würzburg, s.Oliver Würzburg Retrieved 18 July 2016
  3. ↑ Jake Odum, easyCredit-bbl.de, Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Baskets: Doppelspieltag am vorletzten Wochenende der Hauptrunde, WÜRZBURG erleben, 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017 (in German)
  5. ↑ Vorschau: Brose Baskets (1) – s.Oliver Baskets (8), Simon Walter, Freddy Löblein (BASKETBALL.DE), 6 May 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017 (in German)
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