After 13 years in the first division, the basketball team Medi Bayreuth will probably have to make their way to the second division. After a messed up season, a fresh start is needed – in terms of both sport and organization.
Due to the victory of the Basketball Löwen Braunschweig against the Fraport Skyliners on Tuesday evening, Medi Bayreuth’s relegation to the second-class ProA is practically unavoidable. In the remaining four games of the season, Upper Franconia can only theoretically reach the 16th place in the table that is necessary to save them.
Medi would have to win all the games himself. At the same time, the Hakro Merlins Crailsheim should no longer score and the Fraport Skyliners shouldn’t have more than ten wins after 34 match days. Only then would medi Bayreuth win the direct comparison that applies in the event of a tie and leave both teams behind. In view of the difficult remaining program – including the home game against champions and Euroleague participants Alba Berlin – practically an impossibility.
It’s the end of a season in which things didn’t just go haywire for the people of Wagnerstadt.
Only a few newcomers hit
Only six wins in 30 games speak for themselves. Lars Masell, who was inexperienced as a head coach and who took over as coach from the outgoing Raoul Korner at the beginning of the season, had – also due to a low budget – put together a team that did not meet higher quality standards. Only guards Brandon Childress and Ahmed Hill and late signing Otis Livingston lived up to the expectations of the new signings on the foreigners spots.
Everyone else always had a good game, but then there were days when nothing worked out. Neither the Lithuanian shooting guard Ignas Sargiunas nor the two Canadian internationals Jackson Rowe (forward) and Kalif Young played consistently well in the big positions.
German spots at Medi Bayreuth too weak
And the players with a German passport also fell short of expectations. The gap after the departure of center Andreas Seiferth could never be closed. If Nat Diallo and Osaro Rich can be attested to at least selectively decent performances, all the others fell well short of expectations.
This also applies to the only two professionals who were in the squad before this season: Kai Bruhnke and Bastian Doreth. The captain, who will be 34 in June, was no longer able to repeat his impeccable performances from previous years. In the decisive phases of the game, the face of the club was almost never on the floor. It stayed that way Mladen Drijencic, who took over the completely insecure team in early Februarybut could no longer initiate the turning point.
A lot of unrest in the club – difficult search for sponsors
The sporting development of the traditional club is one thing. The structural problems in the club are another. There was a lot of unrest behind the scenes at the start of the season after failing to come up with a new name sponsor. The Medi company had announced in good time that it would no longer be available and would be reducing its involvement. Due to a lack of alternatives, the lettering of the manufacturer of health products stayed on the shirt for a year longer.
In the meantime, managing director Johannes Feuerpfeil has announced his departure at the end of the season. Also Sole shareholder Carl Steiner announced his withdrawal. Steiner sold his shares for a symbolic euro, meanwhile 18 new shareholders have been found who were presented to the public for the first time on Tuesday evening. However, it is still unclear which path is to be taken in the future.
Bastian Doreth: “Developing a new identity”
Bastian Doreth told BR24Sport that you now have to “analyze everything that went wrong not only this year but also in the years before” and maybe “develop a new identity”. “I think that a location with a long tradition like Bayreuth shouldn’t die, and everyone involved has to give their all for that.”
Very quickly, but at the latest from May 7th, when Medi Bayreuth’s time in the Bundesliga comes to an end in the derby against Upper Franconian rival Brose Bamberg of all things, further course must be set for the future. Only then can Bayreuth basketball fans hope that this season will not be the last Bundesliga chapter in Bayreuth. Warning examples are Hagen, Gießen, Trier or Leverkusen – all traditional locations that have not yet made it back into the BBL.
That is the European perspective at BR24.
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Source: BR24Sport
04/25/2023 – 10:55 p.m
