Boys basketballSHAPE at Kaiserslautern Friday and Saturday The Spartans and Raiders have battled all season to stay in the midst of the race for favorable Division I postseason seeding. This weekend, they turn their attention to each other. SHAPE’s 4-2 Division I record and Kaiserslautern’s 3-3 divisional mark place them alongside surging Wiesbaden and rebuilding Stuttgart in between the division’s two extremes. Occupying those opposite poles are undefeated Ramstein and Naples and winless Lakenheath, Vicenza and Vilseck. With that in mind, this weekend’s doubleheader at Kaiserslautern is a chance for the Spartans or Raiders to differentiate themselves from the pack. Each has flashed the potential of a breakout contender. SHAPE started out at 8-0 overall, including convincing sweeps of Wiesbaden and Lakenheath, before their streak fell against defending champion Ramstein last weekend. But even those respectable losses to the Royals left the Spartans looking like a legitimate contender in next month’s tournament. Kaiserslautern has struggled to put together any kind of momentum this season. The Raiders shrugged off a double-digit loss to Ramstein and an overtime defeat to Wiesbaden with a solid sweep of Vilseck. But that streak stalled last weekend in a split with Stuttgart, leaving the Raiders hoping to clear the .500 bar at the expense of SHAPE.

Girls basketballLakenheath at Ramstein Friday and Saturday DODDS-Europe’s three remaining undefeated Division I girls basketball teams will be challenged this weekend. While Vicenza plays host to a four-team large-school gathering in Italy, the Lancers and Royals will go head-to-head in Germany. The visiting Lancers are 6-0 in DODDS-Europe play, but it’s hard to gauge exactly where they stand among the division’s elite thanks to their relatively weak regional schedule. Four of Lakenheath’s wins are against lower-division opponents in AFNORTH and Brussels; the other two came against SHAPE, which is 1-5 in Division I play. Ramstein’s 7-0 record, meanwhile, holds no such caveats. All of the Royals’ wins have come against Division I opponents, and all by double-digit margins.

WrestlingHohenfels, Vilseck, Wiesbaden, Kaiserslautern, Ramstein at Stuttgart Saturday Weather scuttled last weekend’s anticipated rematch between Ramstein and Stuttgart. They’ll try again this Saturday, with three more strong Division I programs tossed into the fray. Ramstein stunned the reigning champion Panthers back on Jan. 16, piling up 217.5 points to relegate Stuttgart to the unfamiliar position of second place. The deep Royals, after being unable to travel to Vilseck for last weekend’s scheduled meet, will look to repeat that performance this weekend. In Ramstein’s absence, Stuttgart returned to its dominant ways at Vilseck. The Panthers outscored the runner-up Falcons by a staggering 122 team points while overwhelming the small-school likes of Hohenfels, Rota and Munich International. With the rested Royals headlining a dangerous field of Division I challengers, things won’t be so easy for the Panthers this weekend.