Started strong. Then fell into a small hole, also because his knee was a bit damaged. Most recently the strongest, most constant and most accurate player. This is how William Buford’s time since his summer engagement with Bundesliga basketball team s.Oliver Würzburg could be summarized in telegram style. And that’s how his trainer Denis Wucherer describes it, who ?? even if, as is so often the case, he can certainly still see some room for improvement in this case? is quite satisfied with the ideas of his currently most internationally experienced player, whom he sent to the field for the jump ball in all nine games of this round (seven in the league, two in the cup competition).
“I don’t talk that much.”
William Buford, basketball professional at s.Oliver Würzburg–
And that will certainly not be any different on Sunday (8.30 p.m.) against the bottom of the table, Skyliners Frankfurt, who only managed to win seven games (but the one in Ulm). Whereby usurer shows his veteran, as he calls Buford, an astonishing basic trust and also allows him certain freedom: “He knows his body, and when it pinched his knee a few weeks ago, of course, we adjusted his training load,” he says Trainer. In other words: Buford didn’t have to take part in every team training session, he could more or less dose his exercises himself, the task was “only”: You have to be able to play then.
And he did that in all games so far. In the Bundesliga he scores an average of 11.3 points per match in his 25 minutes on the floor (only Cameron Hunt is two minutes longer) and grabs five rebounds. In the two cup games against the MBC and most recently in the quarter-finals in Crailsheim, his statistics were even better: he played an average of almost three quarters, made 17.5 points, got 7.5 rebounds and gave 4.5 assists.
But it seems like the 31-year-old American from Toledo, Ohio, is pretty valuable to the baskets, and not just because of his stats. “He wants the ball when it matters,” said his coach. Like on Sunday in Crailsheim, when the Baskets sniffed at the surprise shortly before the end: There were only a few seconds to play, the Würzburg were four points behind when Buford grabbed the ball and wanted to somehow make the almost impossible possible. In zeal, he fabricated a bad pass, which Crailsheim used to make a decision in the dark during the Fastbreak. It almost seemed like a kind of a question of honor that with the sound of the final siren and a difficult three-point, he was still doing some cosmetic results for 79:82.
If you have a little chat after a workout with the power pack, where 98 kilos are distributed over a height of 1.96 meters, and you get an idea of how self-critical William Buford is obviously, you can assume that this bad passport is at least for him still wormed a lot on Monday night. And if you talk to him about his time and achievements so far in Würzburg, a “great city”, as he thinks, it quickly becomes clear: Buford obviously likes to speak plain language. He calls his appearances in the two or three weeks in which his knee prevented him from going full throttle “really bad”, really bad. And he doesn’t even want to use the injury as an excuse.
Buford wants to be a leader, but also admits, “I don’t talk that much.” But when he says something, the colleagues also listen to him. He says. Why not? He knows the Bundesliga. And he knows Europe. After completing his college days, William Buford played twice a year in Germany (in Tübingen, in Göttingen), also in France, Greece, Italy and most recently with the former Turkish Euroleague club Darüssafaka Istanbul. And? What are the differences between top European clubs and a location like Würzburg? Buford laughs: “Basketball is always basketball!” Always the same with the ball! Always? Buford says he likes this system in Würzburg, this more offensive game.
The rules for the home game against Frankfurt on Sunday
Due to the current Corona situation and the decisions of the Bavarian state government not only apply to the game against Frankfurt for the first time the 2G regulation (i.e. access only for vaccinated or convalescent with proof), but also an FFP2 mask requirement in the entire s.Oliver Arena. The public order office of the city of Würzburg has also temporarily banned the sale of food and alcoholic beverages (as of Friday evening).
Source: s.Oliver Würzburg
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