ratiopharm Ulm

ratiopharm ulm
Nickname Die Spatzen
(The Sparrows)
Leagues Basketball Bundesliga
EuroCup
Founded 2001 (2001)
Arena ratiopharm arena
Arena Capacity 6,200[1]
Location Ulm, Germany
Team colors Black, White, and Orange
              
Main sponsor Ratiopharm
Head coach Thorsten Leibenath
Website www.basketball-ulm.com
Uniforms
Home
Away

Ratiopharm Ulm, officially stylized as ratiopharm ulm, is a professional basketball club that is located in Ulm, Germany.[2][3] The club has two teams, one professional team, which plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, the major German professional league and one youth team, which plays in the so-called NBBL (Nachwuchs Basketball-Bundesliga). The home arena of the team is the ratiopharm Arena, an indoor sporting arena with a capacity of approximately 6,000 spectators.[4]

The mascot of the team is a rabbit, which resembles Bugs Bunny and is called "Spass" ("fun"). The main sponsor of the team is the pharmaceutical company Ratiopharm. The team colors are orange, white, and black.

History

Early years (2001–2006)

The club was founded in 2001 after the previous professional basketball team in Ulm, run by the sports-club SSV Ulm 1846, became insolvent and had to resign from the league. Dr. Thomas Stoll and Andreas Oettel, the current CEO of the Basketball Ulm/Alb-Donau GmbH, which is the owner of the club, bought the license of the former team and started a second division team with the name of Basketball Ulm GmbH.[5] After playing in the second division for five years, the team qualified for the Basketball Bundesliga in 2006.

First Bundesliga seasons (2006–2011)

In the 2006–07 season, led by Headcoach Mike Taylor and Assistant coach Rainer Bauer the team headed into their first season in the Basketball Bundesliga as the team with the smallest funds and the smallest arena in the league. With just two new players for the starting five, the team was seen by the media and many experts as the team most likely to be relegated to the second division again after the season. But due to a well-rehearsed team, with only a few players changed in the off-season, the team had some big upset wins and remained in the league with a 16-18 record. At the end of the season point guard Austen Rowland had the league's best assists per game rate and power forward Jeff Gibbs became the best rebounder in the league and was nominated as a starting-five player for the All-Star game.

Still a club with one of the smallest funds in the league, the team experienced some major changes in the pre-season of their second year in the Bundesliga because starting point guard Austen Rowland and shooting guard Jonathan Levy left the team while starting small forward Emeka Erege received a serious injury during an exhibition game. Nevertheless, the team was ranked twelfth in the league after 16 of 34 games with a 9-6 record.

In the 2008–09 season, with a young and talented team, ratiopharm Ulm had a very successful season. At the end of the 2008-09 season ulm was ranked on position five and entered the playoffs with a 21-13 record. But in the playoff the team was eliminated early, throughout a 3-0 loss against Telekom Baskets Bonn.

After a very good season in 2008-09, Ulm lost the leagues best rebounder and most efficient player Jeff Gibbs to Eisbären Bremerhaven. The 2009–10 season ended on rank thirteen, which means Ulm was far away from the playoffs and away from an relegation spot, too. In the 2010–11 season, Ulm ended on the 14th place.

Climbing the ranks (2011–present)

Per Günther, Ulm player since 2008, has been the leader of the team

In the 2011–12 season Ulm reached the Basketball Bundesliga Finals, after finishing second in the regular season. In the Playoffs Ulm had beaten Phantoms Braunschweig and S.Oliver Baskets and had a Playoff record of 6–0 coming into the Finals. In the Finals Ulm lost to Brose Baskets from Bamberg 3 to 0.

In the 2012–13 season Ulm entered a European competition for the first time, in the 2012–13 Eurocup, the team reached the quarterfinals. Ulm reached the BBL semifinals and lost in the German Cup Final as well that season.

In the 2016–17 season, the club had a historically successful season as the team started the Basketball Bundesliga with 27 consecutive wins. The club ended in the first place of the regular season with 30 wins and just 2 losses.[6]

Season by season

Season Tier League Pos. German Cup European competitions
2001–02 2 2. BBL 7th
2002–03 2 2. BBL 3rd –
2003–04 2 2. BBL 2nd –
2004–05 2 2. BBL 2nd –
2005–06 2 2. BBL 1st –
2006–07 1 Bundesliga 12th –
2007–08 1 Bundesliga 12th –
2008–09 1 Bundesliga 6th –
2009–10 1 Bundesliga 13th –
2010–11 1 Bundesliga 14th –
2011–12 1 Bundesliga 2nd Third position –
2012–13 1 Bundesliga 3rd Runner-up
2
Eurocup
QF
2013–14 1 Bundesliga 7th Runner-up
2
Eurocup
EF
2014–15 1 Bundesliga 4th Quarterfinalist
3
EuroChallenge
RS
2015–16 1 Bundesliga 2nd
2
Eurocup
L32
2016–17 1 Bundesliga 4th Quarterfinalist
2
EuroCup
T16

Players

Current roster

ratiopharm Ulm roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age
F/C 4 Germany Ohlbrecht, Tim 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 114 kg (251 lb) 28 – (1988-08-30)30 August 1988
PG 6 Germany Günther, Per 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 29 – (1988-02-05)5 February 1988
F 7 Germany Ferner, Joschka 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 21 – (1996-01-05)5 January 1996
PG 9 Germany Tadda, Karsten 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 28 – (1988-11-02)2 November 1988
SF 10 Germany Omuvwie, Marvin 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 20 – (1997-07-10)10 July 1997
F 11 Germany Pape, Till 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 19 – (1997-12-10)10 December 1997
F 12 Germany Rosenbohm, Lukas 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 20 – (1997-05-25)25 May 1997
F/C 13 Germany Benke, Bernhard 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 20 – (1997-05-25)25 May 1997
G 15 United States Hobbs, Braydon 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 28 – (1989-05-17)17 May 1989
F 17 United States Butler, Da'Sean 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 29 – (1988-01-25)25 January 1988
SG 19 United States Babb, Chris 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 27 – (1990-02-14)14 February 1990
F 21 United States Rubit, Augustine 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 28 – (1989-08-14)14 August 1989
C 22 Germany Rohwer, Björn 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 22 – (1995-08-22)22 August 1995
G/F 24 United States Braun, Taylor 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 26 – (1991-07-06)6 July 1991
SG 33 Hungary Pongo, Marcell 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 20 – (1997-03-03)3 March 1997
SG 44 Germany Krämer, David 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 20 – (1997-01-14)14 January 1997
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • United States Pete Strobl
  • Spain Jesús Ramírez
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Updated: 28 December 2016

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

Award winners

Notable players

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

Head coaches

2003–2011 United States Mike Taylor
2011–present Germany Thorsten Leibenath

References

  1. ↑ SWP.de (in German)
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Basketball Bundesliga homepage (in German).
  5. ↑ Basketball Ulm history
  6. ↑ Gameplan ratiophram ulm
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