Cholet Basket

Cholet Basket
Leagues	French League EuroChallenge
Founded	1975
History	1975–present
Arena	La Meilleraie (capacity: 5,191)
Location	Cholet, France
Team colors	Red and white
President	Patrick Chiron
Vice-president(s)	Alain Lafat
Head coach	Philippe Hervé
Championships	1 French Championship 2010 2 French Cups 1998, 1999 1 La Semaine des As Cup 2008
Website	cholet-basket.com
Uniforms
Home Away

Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie.

Logo of the club until 2012

History

Establishment

The team debuted in the 1st division in the 1987–88 season and after managing to get to the premier league in only 12 years. The team were able to sustain themselves in the league, and were consistently in the top 10 teams having a highly successful youth system. This youth system has allowed the club to produce professional players season after season. After winning the National Cup in 1999, Cholet got automatically qualified for its first participation to the Euroleague (3 victories – 13 defeats). During the 2004–05 season 10 of the 12 players in the first team derived from the youth system. Some of the most illustrious players who had their debut in the team are Antoine Rigaudeau, Jim Bilba and Mickaël Gelabale.

During the 2008–2009 season, Cholet was defeated by Virtus Bologna in the EuroChallenge's Final (75–77).

In 2010, Cholet finished 1st of the 2009–2010 Pro A League regular season and won the championship after defeating Le Mans in the Play-Offs Final (81–65). Thanks to its national champion title, Cholet is automatically qualified for the 2010–2011 Euroleague season. Cholet was eliminated during the first round (4 victories – 6 defeats) of the 2010–2011 Euroleague after defeating prestigious (and at the time unbeaten) Fenerbahçe Ülker (82–78).

In 2011, Cholet, defending its title finished 1st again of the 2011-12 Pro A League regular season and was only defeated during the finals by SLUC Nancy (74-76).

Youth Academy

Cholet Basket is intensively focusing on its Youth Academy to provide players to its professional squad. During the 2004–05 season, 10 of the 12 players of the Pro squad have progressed through the club Youth Academy. It is also one of the only six European clubs to have provided two players to the same NBA draft in 2009, with Rodrigues Beaubois and Nando De Colo beside Real Madrid (2005), Joventut Badalona (2009), Fenerbahçe Ülker (2008), KK Partizan (2002) and Pau-Ortez (2003).

Notable Players that have progressed through the Cholet Youth Academy (Espoirs)

Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba

David Gautier Aymeric Jeanneau Cédric Ferchaud

Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Rudy Gobert

Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Kévin Séraphin

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Cholet Basket roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 3 Hughes, Trevon 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 88 kg (194 lb) – (1987-04-04)4 April 1987 SG 5 Wood, DaShaun 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 76 kg (168 lb) – (1985-09-29)29 September 1985 SF 6 Jomby, Rudy 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 95 kg (209 lb) – (1988-05-21)21 May 1988 G 8 Rousselle, Jonathan 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 78 kg (172 lb) – (1990-02-07)7 February 1990 C 12 Smock, Ywen 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 107 kg (236 lb) – (1996-09-29)29 September 1996 F 15 Brun, Stephen 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 102 kg (225 lb) – (1980-07-14)14 July 1980 PF 17 Trapani, Joe 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 103 kg (227 lb) – (1988-07-01)1 July 1988 C 18 de Jong, Nicolas 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 114 kg (251 lb) – (1988-04-15)15 April 1988 G 23 Moendadze, Kadri 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 95 kg (209 lb) – (1994-01-23)23 January 1994 PF 31 Holloway, Murphy 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 109 kg (240 lb) – (1990-04-24)24 April 1990 SG 4 Mottram, Bryce 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 92 kg (203 lb) – (1996-05-08)8 May 1996	Head coach Philippe Hervé Assistant coach(es) Jim Bilba Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2015-10-10

Note: Jerseys #4 and #10, respectively worn by Antoine Rigaudeau and Jim Bilba when in Cholet, are both withdrawn.

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Postseason	French Cup	Leaders Cup	European competitions
2006–07	1	Pro A	7	Quarterfinalist		Champion	–
2007–08	1	Pro A	8	Quarterfinalist	Runner-up	Champion	3 FIBA EuroCup Group Stage
2008–09	1	Pro A	9	–	Round of 16	–	3 EuroChallenge runner-up
2009–10	1	Pro A	1	Champion	Round of 32	Quarterfinalist	2 Eurocup Regular Season
2010–11	1	Pro A	2	Runner-up	Round of 16	Quarterfinalist	1 Euroleague Regular Season
2011–12	1	Pro A	4	Semifinalist	Semifinalist	Quarterfinalist	2 Eurocup Regular Season
2012–13	1	Pro A	10	–	Round of 16	–	2 Eurocup Regular Season
2013–14	1	Pro A	13	–	Round of 16	–	3 EuroChallenge Last 16

Achievements

• French Championship Pro A: 2010
• La Semaine des As Cup: 2008
• French Cup: 1998, 1999
• Match des Champions (French Pro A Champion vs French Cup winner): 2010
• Finalist of Pro A: 1988, 2011
• French Cup Finalist: 2005, 2008
• Finalist of the Tournoi des As Cup: 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993.
• Champion of Division 2 (now Pro B): 1986

Notable players

France fr:Valéry Demory Bruno Coqueran Stéphane Ostrowski Patrick Cham Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba David Albert fr:David Gautier fr:Éric Micoud Aymeric Jeanneau Fabien Dubos fr:Cédric Ferchaud fr:Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Cyril Akpomedah Steed Tchicamboud Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Fabien Causeur Rudy Gobert

United States fr:Jimmal Ball Scooter Barry fr:Paul Fortier fr:DeRon Hayes Mike Jones Micheal Ray Richardson James Blackwell fr:Graylin Warner K'Zell Wesson Terrell Lyday Lamayn Wilson Taj Gray John Linehan Antywane Robinson Randal Falker fr:Tony Stanley Chandler Parsons Michael Wright

Other countries Samuel Mejia John Amaechi Tony Dorsey Artūras Karnišovas Arvydas Eitutavičius / Moon Tae-jong

Head coaches

• 1970s: Dragoş Nosievici
• 1987–89: Jean Galle
• 1989–91: Jean-Paul Rebatet
• 1991–95: Laurent Buffard
• 1995–96: Alain Thinet (7 games) then Eric Girard (1 game) then Jean Galle
• 1996–2001: Eric Girard
• 2001–02: Savo Vucević
• 2002–03: Jean-François Martin
• 2003–04: Erman Kunter
• 2004–06: Ruddy Nelhomme
• 2006–10: Erman Kunter
• 2010–12: Erman Kunter
• 2012–14: Jean-Manuel Sousa
• 2014–Present: Laurent Buffard

External links

• Cholet Basket Official Website (French)
• LNB Club Profile (French)
• Euroleague Club Profile (English)