The German Beko Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is now one month into their regular season and the 18-team league is littered with American talent and stars from neighbouring European countries, making the BBL about as entertaining as any other foreign league outside of the NBA. The league features a handful of teams that will find themselves in contention for the BBL championship, as well as fighting for titles in the Euroleague and Eurocup.

Bayern Munich is the team with perhaps the most interesting story leading up and into their 2011-12 campaign, which is incidentally their first season back in Germany’s top basketball division since 1989. The club, attached to FC Bayern Munich, one of Europe’s soccer powerhouses, poured substantial amounts of money into their basketball program, which has included bringing in German national coach Dirk Bauermann and a host of expensive players. The club moved this season into the Audi Dome, a brand new arena dedicated to basketball, and have filled their roster with a number of players from the German national side. Bayern spent the offseason attempting unsuccessfully to court the likes of NBA and German national team stars Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman. They instead found some quality talent from the States to fill not only rotation spots but starters positions as well.

After a shocking road loss in overtime to open the season, Bayern have won their last four, including last weekend’s 100-81 demolition of Phoenix Hagen. Leading by approximately 30 points throughout the entire game, it was the first contest Bayern had really dominated in 2011 and the win propelled them to second in the league standings.

Bayern’s best player, Je’Kel Foster was brilliant and watching him this season, I often wonder why the NBA hasn’t given him a look. A tremendous athlete, Foster can uses his dribble to get into the paint with ease, his athleticism allows him to finish against bigger opponents and his court vision creates flashy passes and easy looks for team mates. Foster is a brilliant shooter, from just about any position and even when contested, plays defence and can post up smaller guards. The 28-year old-guard out of Ohio State contributed 23 points and four assists in only 20 minutes against Hagen and is having a nice season, averaging over 17 per game. Foster is an absolute star and a crowd favorite just five games into his Bayern Munich career.

Just as impressive was former Pitt star Chevon Troutman. Playing on Saturday night in his first game for the season after being snatched up from Italian side Sidigas AV, Troutman absolutely dominated in limited minutes. Undersized for a center (6’8”), Troutman is active, strong and skilled. He was able to use his mass and athleticism to blow by late defenders and bully his way to baskets inside the paint. Despite playing only 18 minutes, Troutman shot 10-11 from the floor to the tune of 23 points.

Playing for Germany, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman came up short in their quest for a position at the London 2012 Olympic Games during this summer’s Eurobasket tournament and although their play was up and down through the tournament a large part of their failure stemmed from a lack of support from the team’s role players. Bayern features four guys in their regular rotation that played alongside the NBA stars: Steffen Hamaan, Robin Benzing, Philipp Schwethelm and Jan Jagla. Poor shooting and out of control drives to the basket were common for Hamaan at Eurobasket but he has played better since, shooting with more confidence and making better decisions. Benzing does the little things; knocking down open threes, drawing fouls on post ups and running the floor. His length and athleticism make him a valuable player at this level. Jagla is essentially a very poor man’s Dirk Nowitzki. His play made him an afterthought for the national team but can come in and stretch the floor. While all three guys aren’t really skilled enough to play consistently at an international level they make Bayern a strong and deeper team.

One disappointment has been the acquisition of Ben Hansbrough, brother of Tyler Hansbrough. The 2010-11 Big East Player of the Year has only been able to average six points and three assists per contest playing limited minutes. Still only very young, Hansbrough has plenty of ability but Bayern fans are hoping he’ll be able to produce performances better than the cheeky five points and two assists he collected on Saturday.

In a short time Bayern Munich has rebuilt the foundation of their basketball organization and is poised to have a massive season in 2011-12. They play their first Eurocup game (Europe’s second tier basketball tournament) on the 15^th of November and will be hoping for continued success.