Cholet Basket Explained

Cholet
Leagues:Pro A
History:Cholet Basket
(1975–present)
Arena:La Meilleraie
Capacity:5,191
Location:Cholet, France
Colors:Red and white
President:Patrick Chiron
Vice-Presidents:Alain Lafat
Coach:Laurent Vila
Championships:1 French Championship
2 French Cups
1 La Semaine des As Cup
Retired Numbers:2 (4, 10)
Website:cholet-basket.com
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Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the LNB Pro A. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1998 and 1999, Cholet won the French Cup.

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)

Players

Retired numbers

Cholet Basket retired numbers
No.PlayerPositionTenure
4 1987–1995
10 1988–1992, 2002–2007

FIBA Hall of Famers

Cholet Basket Hall of Famers
Players
No. Nat. Name Position Tenure Inducted
4 1987–95 2015[1]

Season by season

SeasonTierLeagueFrench CupLeaders CupEuropean competitions
2006–071Pro A7th
2007–081Pro A8thRunner-upChampion
2008–091Pro A9thRound of 16
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2009–101Pro A1stRound of 32Quarterfinalist
2010–111Pro A2ndRound of 16Quarterfinalist
2011–121Pro A4thSemifinalistQuarterfinalist
2012–131Pro A10thRound of 16
2013–141Pro A13thRound of 16
2014–151Pro A14thRound of 16
2015–161Pro A13thRound of 32
2016–171Pro A11thRound of 16
2017–181Pro A15th
2018–191Pro A15th
2019–201Pro A6th*
2020–211Pro A14th3 Champions League
2021–221Pro A8th
2022–231Pro A7th4 Europe Cupbgcolor=silver align=center
2023–241Pro A7thRound of 163 Champions League

Achievements

Notable players

France
Other countries

Head coaches

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FIBA.basketball. FIBA.basketball. 20 August 2019.