In the hall and in the "BayWa Pavillon", the media center for the coming weekend, preparations are already in full swing - for the TOP FOUR for the German Cup in the Audi Dome. Here is some of the most important information on the first title decision of the season:
Schedule:
In the first semi-final this Saturday, the Bayern basketball team will face Ulm, the seventh-place team in the BBL standings, with the game tipping off at 16:00. On paper, the hosts are the road team at the Audi Dome, according to the official schedule. Starting at 19:30, the second finalist will then be determined between BG Goettingen and defending champion Alba Berlin. The final will tip off at 15:00 on Sunday.
The semifinal opponent
Ulm qualified early for the playoffs on Tuesday night with an away win in Bayreuth (99-93). The top scorer was winger Cameron Clark with 20 points - he was re-signed just a few weeks ago. The best scorer so far this season has been center Dylan Osetkowski (14.1 ppg, 6 rpg) ahead of national team player Andreas Obst (13.9 ppg) and US playmaker Troy Caupain (12.3 ppg, 4.1 apg). Ratiopharm coach Jaka Lakovic's team has strengths from distance (second-best three-point percentage at 41.6%) and is generally offensive-oriented; Bayern should have advantages in rebounding (34.7 to 32 rpg).
Despite the close result, the Munich team won the BBL game in Ulm at the beginning of February safely 81-77; the top scorer then was Vladimir Lucic with 17 points. At the Final10 tournament in June 2020, the reshaped Ulm team, then with Osetkowski and Klepeisz new to the squad, managed to unpleasantly surprise the hosts at the Audi Dome (95-85).
The trophy
The German Basketball Cup has been played since 1967, and the second champion ever was FC Bayern München. 50 years later, in 2018, the FCBB celebrated its second cup success. Since 2010, the trophy has been known as the BBL Cup, and the current name is the MagentaSport BBL Cup. Record winners of the national cup are Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Alba Berlin with ten finals each.
The BBL Cup on TV
The three cup games can be seen on MagentaSport's platforms as a free TV offer - free of charge for everyone, without a subscription. Detailed reports from the final will also be shown by ARD-Sportschau, ZDF-Sportreportage and Bayerisches Fernsehen, among others.
The scheduling madness
Should the FCBB reach the final on Sunday as hoped, the success would at the same time be a disadvantage: because already on Tuesday evening, 20:45 the eagerly awaited EuroLeague playoff series begins for them at Olimpia Milan, and on Monday the Munich team travels to Italy. It's "not difficult" to coherently distribute the energy of his players among the many big tasks, says FCBB coach Andrea Trinchieri, appropriately fatalistic - "it's impossible."
Schedule:
Saturday, April 17, 16:00.: Ratiopharm Ulm - FCBB
19:30.: BG Göttingen - Alba Berlin
Sunday, April 18, 15:00.: Final
TO THE SCHEDULE