Cholet Basket

Cholet Basket
Leagues	Pro A
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	Erman Kunter
Championships	1 French League 2010 2 French Cups 1998, 1999 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 Pro A League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie.

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 derrived 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, 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

Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Kévin Séraphin

Current roster

Cholet Basket rosterSG		5	France !	Causeur, Fabien	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	90 kg (198 lb)	&1000000000000002400000024
3.0 !SF	6	France !	Fofana, Vafessa (R)	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	&1000000000000001900000019
4.5 !PF	7	France !	Vebobe, Luc-Arthur	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	91 kg (201 lb)	&1000000000000003100000031
4.5 !PF	9	USA !	Dozier, Robert	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	102 kg (225 lb)	&1000000000000002600000026
2.0 !SG	11	USA !	Hite, Robert	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	&1000000000000002700000027
1.0 !PG	12	USA !	Battle, Talor	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	77 kg (170 lb)	&1000000000000002300000023
6.0 !C	13	France !	Duport, Romain	2.17 m (7 ft 1 in)	115 kg (254 lb)	&1000000000000002400000024
6.0 !C	14	USA !	Falker, Randal (C)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	104 kg (229 lb)	&1000000000000002600000026
6.0 !C	15	France !	Gobert, Rudy (R)	2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)	96 kg (212 lb)	&1000000000000001900000019
1.0 !PG	16	France !	Ona Embo, Carl	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	&1000000000000002200000022
3.0 !SF	17	France !	Gradit, William	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	96 kg (212 lb)	&1000000000000002900000029
4.5 !PF	19	USA !	Nichols, Demetris	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	98 kg (216 lb)	&1000000000000002700000027
4.5 !PF	20	Ireland !	McGrath, Donnie	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	&1000000000000002700000027
2.0 !SG	21	USA !	Nelson, DeMarcus	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	91 kg (201 lb)	&1000000000000002600000026

Head coach

• Erman Kunter

Assistant coach(es)

• Jim Bilba
• Jérôme Navier

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Legend

• (C) Team captain
• (*) Playing only in Euroleague

• Injured

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Roster
Updated: 2011-11-12

Note: Jerseys #4 and #10, respectively worn by Antoine Rigaudeau and Jim Bilba when in Cholet, are both withdrawn.

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
• French Cup Finalist : 2005, 2008
• Finalist of Pro A : 1988
• Finalist of the Tournoi des As : 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993.
• Champion of Division 2 (now Pro B) : 1986

Notable players

France Valéry Demory Bruno Coqueran Stéphane Ostrowski Patrick Cham Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba David Gautier Éric Micoud Aymeric Jeanneau

Fabien Dubos Cédric Ferchaud Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Cyril Akpomedah Steed Tchicamboud Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Fabien Causeur

United States Mike Jones Micheal Ray Richardson James Blackwell Graylin Warner K'Zell Wesson Terrell Lyday Lamayn Wilson Taj Gray John Linehan Antywane Robinson Randal Falker

Other countries Artūras Karnišovas John Amaechi Paul Fortier DeRon Hayes Scooter Barry Tony Dorsey Tony Stanley Jimmal Ball Samuel Mejia

Head coaches

• 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– present: Erman Kunter

External links

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