BBL: Korner in an interview:”I look at the players’ social media profiles.”

medi Bayreuth surprisingly won the last 16 in the Basketball Champions League against Besiktas Istanbul 81:76. In addition to the winner of the German duel between Ludwigsburg and Oldenburg (Tue., 8pm live on DAZN), Bayreuth could enter the quarter-finals as a second BBL team on Tuesday at 6pm live on DAZN. Head coach Raoul Korner talks about his team’s chances and the future of the club.

SPOX: Mr. Korner, after the clear defeat in the top match against Alba Berlin, the first leg of the first leg in the Champions League round of sixteen against Besiktas Istanbul was anything but good. How did you get your team back on track?

Raoul Korner: None of us were satisfied with the performance. We have missed many of our values. The day after that we cancelled the day off and made a long video session. After a very open debate, we all agreed that we must not drift into this track now. We’ve all messed up, and I’m not taking it easy with the criticism.

SPOX: Such self-reflection requires strong characters in the team. How much do you pay attention to these characteristics when hiring new players?

Korner: I think I’m known for putting as much emphasis on a player’s character as on his playing skills.

SPOX: What does this look like in practice?

Korner: I tap all the sources. In the age of the Internet, that’s easy. For example, I also look at the social media accounts to get an impression of how a player ticks. Of course, it is a personal conversation, which is also an important point. But I also have a large network of contacts to help me find out more about players and assess them better.

SPOX: Character will once again be in demand in the second leg in Istanbul. How do you plan to approach the game to make it through to the quarter-finals?

Korner: The most important thing is to play for victory. But it will be a mammoth task. Besiktas has a lot of experience and class. But if I trust someone to win there, it’s my team. I believe that we are good for a surprise and have the mental strength to survive there.

SPOX: The fact that you qualified for the Champions League last season was a big surprise. Shortly after you took office, you said that your goal was to constantly “overperform”. How close are you to the limit these days?

Korner: You never really want to accept your own limit. If you are shown the boundaries, it is very unpleasant – we would be back to the game against Berlin. I think we’re getting a lot out of our options. We have already put together a very strong team as an organisation, but we are not yet running at 100 percent. Against Frankfurt in the cup qualification, you have seen what can happen if everything and everyone works. As a trainer you are always looking for the perfect game. We’re getting a lot out of it, but we still have potential.

SPOX: Other clubs have considerably more financial resources than Bayreuth. What is currently being done better in Bayreuth than in the competition?

Korner: It’s always difficult to say. I think we’ve managed to establish an identity. We have succeeded in finding players who embody this identity and use this community. If a team works, a lot is possible. The total must be more than the sum of the individual parts, then you can speak of overperfomance. As I said, we are doing quite well. It’s about cohesion and hard work.

SPOX: To what extent does the infrastructure play a role that has attracted even more attention among you?

Korner: It’s all intertwined. It is a puzzle to be put together. The team is a very important part of it, but there are also the peripheral parts, including the infrastructure. For example, we have a physiotherapist and an athletics trainer in full-time. It wasn’t like that before my time. That took a lot of persuasion, but if you want to get back into the playoffs after 20 years like we did last season, you have to change something. But I was ultimately supported in everything I wanted. That is another reason for success. Everyone in the area is pulling out.

SPOX: Is that different from your former Braunschweig club?

Korner: To say that the people in Braunschweig don’t do a good job is far from me. What I lacked was the perspective and ambition to grow and think beyond the status quo. They were satisfied with where they stood, but there were no ambitions to want more. That’s the kind of ambition I need. This is more pronounced in Bayreuth.

SPOX: Thanks to these ambitions, can you attract players to Bayreuth?

Korner: The arguments are manifold. This claim with the motto “Heroes of Tomorrow”, which we have in Bayreuth, is meanwhile filled with life. Bayreuth is a good place for a player to develop and help the club and the team at the same time. If you succeed in creating this win-win situation and then you also get one or the other experienced person into your ranks, then the mix fits.

Page 1: Korner on the Champions League backlash, its working methods and ambitions

Page 2: Korner about his career, his future and the Dirk Nowitzki