ratiopharm Ulm

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 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]

ratiopharm Ulm
NicknameDie Spatzen
(The Sparrows)
LeaguesBasketball Bundesliga
EuroCup
Founded2001 (2001)
ArenaRatiopharm Arena
Capacity6,000 (BBL)/5,100 (EuroCup)[1]
LocationUlm, Germany
Team colorsBlack, White, and Orange
              
Main sponsorRatiopharm
Head coachJaka Lakovič
OwnershipBasketball Ulm/Alb-Donau GmbH
Affiliation(s)OrangeAcademy
Websitewww.basketball-ulm.com

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)
Inside view of the Ratiopharm Arena, the club's home arena since 2011

In the 2006–07 season, led by Head coach 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 league's 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 a 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 0–3 to Brose Baskets.

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 semi-finals and lost in the German Cup Final, 67–85 against Alba Berlin, 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] but could not achieve the title as it lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs by EWE Baskets Oldenburg.

In June 2019, Jaka Lakovič signed a three-year contract as head coach of Ulm.[7] His appointment meant the end of the Thorsten Leibenath era, who coached the club for eight seasons. Leibenath stepped down as head coach and started working as sporting director of the club.[8]

Players

Current roster
ratiopharm Ulm roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.
PG 6 Günther, Per 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 32 – (1988-02-05)5 February 1988
PG 8 Ensminger, Zachary 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 19 – (2001-04-30)30 April 2001
PG 9 Stoll, Marius 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 21 – (1999-07-09)9 July 1999
SF 10 Philipps, Christoph 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 22 – (1998-08-15)15 August 1998
F/C 13 Bretzel, Nicolas 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) 118 kg (260 lb) 21 – (1999-05-29)29 May 1999
C 15 Fazekas, Mate 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 117 kg (258 lb) 20 – (2000-01-19)19 January 2000
SG 17 Obst, Andreas 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 24 – (1996-07-13)13 July 1996
SG 20 Goodwin, Archie 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 25 – (1994-08-17)17 August 1994
C 21 Osetkowski, Dylan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 115 kg (254 lb) 24 – (1996-08-08)8 August 1996
PG 22 Klepeisz, Thomas 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 29 – (1991-08-04)4 August 1991
SF 27 Krimmer, Moritz 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 19 – (2000-08-27)27 August 2000
C 29 Diallo, Nat 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 106 kg (234 lb) 20 – (2000-02-03)3 February 2000
PF 30 Ugrai, Maximilian 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 25 – (1995-07-28)28 July 1995
SF 33 Heckmann, Patrick 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 28 – (1992-02-27)27 February 1992
SG 36 Krause, Kristofer 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 20 – (2000-03-06)6 March 2000
PG 77 Lanmüller, Timo 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 19 – (2001-03-17)17 March 2001
PG Caupain, Troy 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 24 – (1995-11-29)29 November 1995
F Wilkins, Isaiah 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 24 – (1995-09-23)23 September 1995
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured
Updated: July 31, 2020

Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Gavin Schilling Dylan Osetkowski
PF Derek Willis Christoph Philipps Maximilian Ugrai
SF Archie Goodwin Patrick Heckmann
SG Tyler Harvey Andreas Obst
PG Thomas Klepeisz Per Günther

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 EurocupQF6–8
2013–14 1 Bundesliga 7th Runner-up 2 EurocupEF11–7
2014–15 1 Bundesliga 4th Quarter-finalist 3 EuroChallengeRS3–3
2015–16 1 Bundesliga 2nd 2 EurocupL325–11
2016–17 1 Bundesliga 4th Quarter-finalist 2 EuroCupT164–10
2017–18 1 Bundesliga 10th Third position 2 EuroCupRS2–8
2018–19 1 Bundesliga 6th Round of 16 2 EuroCupT168–8
2019–20 1 Bundesliga 3rd Semifinals 2 EuroCup

Honors and Awards
  • Stechert Cup
Winners: 2011

Team

Award winners
BBL Most Valuable Player
BBL Coach of the Year
BBL Best Young Player
BBL Best Offensive Player

Notable players

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

Head coaches
2001 Tom Ludwig
2003–2011 Mike Taylor
2011–2019 Thorsten Leibenath
2019–present Jaka Lakovič
gollark: Oh, they hacked into all bots to track you across servers.
gollark: I suspect they were affected by a metacognitohazard causing nonbelief in cognitohazards.
gollark: Yes. These facts are uncited and not deifically verified.
gollark: ++magic reload_ext irc_link
gollark: ++tel link apionet `#w`

References
  1. ratiopharmulm.com (in German)
  4. Basketball Bundesliga homepage (in German).
  5. Basketball Ulm history
  6. Gameplan ratiophram ulm
  7. "Jaka Lakovic neuer Trainer in Ulm". easycredit-bbl.de. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  8. "Basketball: Ratiopharm Ulm: Thorsten Leibenath künftig nicht mehr Chef-Trainer". swp.de. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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