Basketball: The new national coach Alex Mumbru achieved his first win against Sweden

At least the Spaniard smiled when he said after his first win in a new role; he had lost the fun on Friday evening. His players had squandered a double-digit lead in the final minutes in front of the eyes of the delighted Swedish Crown Princess Victoria. Despite all the absent NBA and Euroleague players as well as the usual mini-preparation, the selection put together by Mumbru remained far below its potential. Tibor Pleiß, who had been reactivated after eight years, had developed a bit of a patina, world champion Johannes Thiemann was obviously getting tired of the strenuous journey from Japan, and Christian Sengfelder, after all part of the European Championship bronze team, also failed to make easy lay-ups. The novices all seemed overwhelmed.

Only Krämer and Osetkowski can recommend themselves for further tasks with good performances

Only Dylan Osetkowski showed an adequate performance, colleague David Krämer even an outstanding one. Both are listed in the Spanish elite league and together they scored 60 points, with Krämer’s 43 being the second highest score for a German national player; only Dirk Nowitzki managed four points more at the 2006 World Cup. It was also the players who put themselves in a lasting position for further tasks with further good performances in game two. At least colleagues like Thiemann (16 points) and Sengfelder (11 points) also managed to make amends, Osetkowski (13) and Krämer (11) scored double-digit points again.

And then there was Jack Kayil: ten points, three rebounds, four assists and two spectacular blocks against Sweden’s best Barra Njie. In contrast to his debut in Stockholm, when the point guard acted nervously and incorrectly, the U18 European champion demonstrated his great qualities in Heidelberg.

Kayil comes from the Alba Berlin talent factory and moved to Rasta Vechta a year ago, where he expected more playing time at his young age. In the summer he took the step to Serbia to Mega Basket, a club that is known for its player development and has already brought some talent to the NBA. “I took the step to grow up,” explained the 18-year-old, adding that the games in the Adriatic ABA League against Euroleague teams also helped him move forward: “I want to learn and always improve” with his Serbian club “A lot of emphasis is also placed on individual training”.

World champion Thiemann was also impressed by his new teammate’s performance “he is a huge talent”. Coach Mumbru said the youngster “had a complete performance in only his second international match. For an 18 year old he did great.” The reward is likely to be the prospect of being nominated again in February, then the final qualifying games in Montenegro and against Bulgaria.

Nothing more, especially since the Euroleague will be paused. Maodo Lo at Armani Milan and Nick Weiler-Babb at FC Bayern Munich are currently attracting attention with strong performances. And then there is a certain Dennis Schröder, who also shows one top performance after another overseas. The 31-year-old has already announced that he will play for the national team until he is 40. Despite the two defeats against Bulgaria and Sweden, there is probably no need to worry about qualifying in the group with Bulgaria, Sweden and Montenegro, in which Germany is second again after the win. Three of the four teams are going to the European Championships.

The team will have a completely different face there, Mumbru also knows that. He thanked all those involved in the effort; However, the outstanding performances of the national players in the Euroleague and NBA – where the Wagner brothers go from one record to the next – will not escape him. Players like Kayil, however, give the new national coach the good feeling that he doesn’t have to worry too much about the young talent and future qualification windows.