Actually, the alarm bells should be ringing among those responsible at Ratiopharm Ulm after the 82:84 defeat in Hamburg on Sunday. It’s not like the Ulm team played badly against the basement of the Basketball Bundesliga. At least not the ones who played. That was basically six men – too few in the long run to survive in two competitions.
Chris Ledlum, Malik Osborne, Justin Simon, Christian Sengfelder, Alec Anigbata and Tobias Jensen should judge Hamburg. The young Dane was once again the marathon man with more than 37 minutes of playing time and the enormous strain is noticeable on him, especially since Jensen also has to take over the build-up of the game over long stretches. Against Hamburg, only one of his eight throws from the field was possible. But what should coach Ty Harrelson do?
When will the injured Weidemann, Klepeisz and Smith return?
There’s not much left behind the mentioned sextet. Not even from Mohamed Diakite and Diego Garavaglia, who occupy foreign places despite their limited Bundesliga suitability at best. In any case, Anigbata, who was brought up from Pro B, is much more important and valuable for the Ulm game than two of the supposedly greatest European talents. Whether and when Nelson Weidemann, Tommy Klepeisz and Mark Smith, some of whom are permanently injured, will return? The secrecy surrounding these topics has a tradition at Ratiopharm Ulm.
On Wednesday Ratiopharm Ulm will play both Lions in London
In addition, the pressure does not let up. The tight program continues on Wednesday (8.30 p.m.) with the Eurocup game against the London Lions. The following applies: it is forbidden to lose. Ulm is only in seventh place in the preliminary group B table and has to move up one place in order to make it to the round of 16. In other words: From the last four games, the Ulm team has to get one more win than the team from Chemnitz placed in front of them. London will almost certainly say goodbye to international competition after the preliminary round. However, it won’t be a sure-fire success in the British capital – as the extremely narrow 87:86 victory in Ulm in the first leg proves.
