2009-10 Team Profile: Alba Berlin
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Alba Berlin charges into the Eurocup regular season looking to ease the pain of barely missing another Euroleague appearance after falling short in the qualifying round. The German Cup holder will be a force to reckoned with in the Eurocup as they carry with them the huge added confidence from last season’s great Euroleague run. Alba's climb to greatness goes back to 1995, when it became the first German team to win a European trophy, in this case the Korac Cup. Sasa Obradovic, Teo Alibegovic and head coach Svetislav Pesic led Alba to that first crown. That success ignited a run of seven straight German League titles and earned the club a regular spot in the Euroleague, with players like Wendell Alexis, Henrik Rodl and Marco Pesic playing major roles in the dynasty.
Twice during a four-year span Alba even reached the Euroleague quarterfinals only to lose to the competition's eventual runner-up. Alba would continue to be a dangerous opponent in years to come, though it never found the recipe to get through to the Top 16. In 2003-04, Alba showed that it could compete with some of the biggest teams in Europe on many nights, beating powerful Tau Ceramica and Efes Pilsen in Berlin, but its Euroleague season ended bitterly, with five losses in the final six games and a seventh-place finish in its regular season group. Alba's amazing streak of German League titles came to an end in 2004 when it was bounced in the semifinals by GHP Bamberg. Alba then began a run of four successive seasons in the ULEB Cup, though it narrowly missed the elimination rounds, losing out in a tiebreaker in both 2007 and 2008. Alba took part in one of that competition's most exciting games ever, a five-overtime 141-127 win over KK Bosna in December 2007. Back in Germany, Alba finished the regular season atop the standings in 2006 and 2007 and won the German Cup title in 2006, downing Bamberg in the final. It wasn't until 2008, however, when the dynamic backcourt of Julius Jenkins and Bobby Brown came together to help the Berliners reclaim the German League title and secure a spot in the Euroleague. The Euroleague season began with three straight home wins and a key road victory late in the regular season that sent Berlin to the Top 16 for the first time. And even though the run ended there, Berlin was still able to witness the Final Four, which played out on its home court. Alba also claimed the 2009 German Cup by beating Telekom Bonn in the final, though that team exacted revenge by eliminating Berlin from the playoffs in the semifinals. Now Berlin is set on demonstrating they are one of the top-quality teams not only in Germany but on the entire continent by challenging for this season’s Eurocup.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Eurocupbasketball.com
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