Germany - Je'Kel Foster And Bayern Open Regular Season Play With Impressive Start

(Image - Je'Kel Foster, wearing #13 for 2011/2012, is a starting guard for one of Germany's high profile basketball teams, Bayern Munich)

Bayern Munich - Five rounds of games have now been completed in the 2011/2011 German League Regular Season. The Bundesliga entrance of FC Bayern Munich garnered much pre-season hype, and the Bavarian club has not disappointed with a 4-1 record up to this point.

Just a quick rewind for those who may be catching up, this is Bayern's first season in Germany's top division (BBL) since back in 1989 (won 2nd division title last season which earned a promotion to the top league). The name Bayern Munich is prominent in European soccer and the club has utilized a nice budget to create a formidable basketball team for the 2011/2012 season. It is pretty amazing to watch this collection of names for fans of German League Basketball. Bayern's head coach, Dirk Bauermann, is the most recognizable coach in Germany. Bauermann (pictured left with Dirk Nowitzki) has been the country's head man in FIBA international competitions (Olympics, World Championships, European Championships) since 2003 and has also won two Bundesliga championships with Brose Baskets in Bamberg.

So we have the top coach of Germany who has coached Dirk Nowitzki for several years and won league championships. Well, we might as well add some of the players from his German Nationals team as well right? That's exactly what Bayern did during the off-season. They acquired Steffen Hamann (veteran of German & International ball, played for Bauermann & with Nowizski for years on the National Team), Jan Jagla (Big Ten fans may remember that Jagla played at Penn State before his pro days. He brings high level European experience for Munich at forward.), Demond Green (G), and Robin Benzing (F).

The Imports - Buckeye star Je'Kel Foster starts alongside Hamann at shooting guard, he is usually then relieved by fellow American Jonathan Wallace of Georgetown (Pictured left with Coach Bauermann & Je'Kel. Wallace & Foster won a German Championship with Oldenburg in 2009). Rookie Ben Hansbrough, last year's Big East player of the year, rounds out the guard lineup for Munich. Sherrod Ford was supposed to be the clubs main post player, but he left the squad prior to the season which opened the door for talented big Chevon 'Chevy' Troutman to join the club in mid-October.

German League 2011 - Something funny happens when you assemble a talented team with a top coach, hook them up with brand new jerseys and give them a sweet new arena to play in..the other teams in the league want to beat you very bad! Munich found that out in the season opener at Telekom Baskets Bonn on October 3rd. Bonn is a German League Contender in their own right, and they were able to feed off the loud home crowd to narrowly defeat Bayern in Overtime 80-76 (Foster: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists).

Foster & Bayern Go On Run - Bayern wasn't too discouraged following the loss in game one. They knew it would take a few games to develop chemistry with all the new players. The club was also without Sherrod Ford who departed for the States for States before the season...so falling short versus a pretty good Bonn team was not the worst of occurrences. Game two was Bayern's very first home game in their new 'Audi-Dome' arena. Munich would play in the closest game of the week for the second time in a row. The opposing NY Phantoms of Braunschweig, Germany almost spoiled the home opener, but like Bonn did to them, Bayern answered all of Braunscheweig's runs to come away with a 90-87 victory (Foster: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals!).

Munich continued their solid play by ripping off two more hard fought wins against Tubingen (Game 3 - 86-77) and Goettingen (Game 4 - 77-73 , Foster led Munich win 19 points!)

Big Addition - Former Pittsburgh Panther, Chevy Troutman, recently made his debut with Bayern in Week 5. Troutman comes to Germany from Air Avellino in Italy where he was a low-post force in recent years, he brings even more balance to Munich and figures to be a key piece. Bayern promptly dismantled Phoenix Hagen (100-81) on October 22, Chevy Troutman scored 23 points (10-11 from the field), and Je'Kel Foster was by his side with 23 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals! With Troutman, Foster, Jagla and several others on a deep roster, Munich (4-1) is certainly equipped to contend in Germany.

(Clips of Bayern's very tough first home win vs Braunschweig)