So far, Kresimir Loncar has not yet been presented in the office of the Basketball Bundesliga. Probably the prospects would not be particularly good: Würzburg’s sports director, it is out of this, would not get through if he had an application in the name of his club, from now on every Playing against Ulm week – and not just twice throughout the main round. In itself, however, that would not be a bad thing for the Würzburgers.
Almost a year ago, they threw Ulm out of the play-offs, rushed the German champion in the quarter-finals and landed the biggest coup in the recent club history. And on Monday, when the duel came again, the team of coach Sasa Filipovski won again.
“I would not say that Ulm is generally good. You also have a team other than last year,” explains Loncar, “but we played a perfect game.” How high the Würzburger 89:72 from Monday evening can be classified when you look at the previous two Ulm results: First the furious 117: 87 against Chemnitz and then this 109: 94 against FC Bayern – two triumphs that have left its way in the industry and now encourage Loncar to say: “Ulm is currently playing the best basketball in the Bbl. “
The fact that Würzburg not only fought down such a team on Monday, but also defeated sovereignly that there was no tension in the last minutes of the game, is also due to the end of the Champions League. Three weeks have passed since Würzburg said goodbye to the European stage. Now the team is rested, the players spend more time in the training center than at airports and in hotel rooms. And above all, in preparation for the next opponent, Filipovski can do the detailed work that Würzburg brought to the semi -finals of the playoffs last year.
“If we hadn’t played European this season, we would now be in the top four,” believes sports director Loncar
“This is the great quality of Sasa,” explains Loncar and even dares to pronounce a thesis: “If we hadn’t played European this season, we would now be in the top four,” believes Würzburg’s sports director. So the team is seventh and almost argues with half the league for the places that would bring the entry ticket for the playoffs or at least the play-ins at the end of the season. The race is so competitive that Loncar does not dare to predict. After all, the baskets meet in the remaining six games on Vechta, Alba Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Braunschweig – and not on Ulm, Ulm, Ulm and again Ulm, Ulm and Ulm.
With a view to the final sprint, Loncar now says: “Everything can happen.” For the playoffs, the team has to “win five games”, former national player Croatia calculates. Four victories are likely to meet the Play-Ins, Würzburg’s minimum goal. Basically, however, the Lower Franconia can confidently set the calculators aside, even if they occur in the last meters of the main round as it did against Ulm on Monday evening. “I think nobody likes to play against us anymore,” says Loncar and laughs.
Filipovski and his players now have time to bring the training center to the training center for an hour after hour after hour. And what this can lead to Würzburg showed on Monday evening against Ulm in a rather impressive way.