Cholet Basket

Cholet
Cholet
Leagues	Pro A; FIBA Europe Cup
Founded	1975; 49 years ago
History	Cholet Basket; (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	Laurent Vila
Championships	1 French Championship; 2 French Cups; 1 La Semaine des As Cup
Retired numbers	2 (4, 10)
Website	cholet-basket.com
Home	Away

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).

Logos

Evolution of the Logo
–2012	2012–2019	2019–present

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.	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure
4		Antoine Rigaudeau	PG	1987–1995
10		Jim Bilba	PF	1988–1992, 2002–2007

Current roster

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

Cholet Basket roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Age
F	0	Wheeler, Aaron	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	26 – (1998-09-24)24 September 1998
PF	2	Melvin, Cleveland	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	33 – (1991-06-25)25 June 1991
G	3	Smith, Stef	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	25 – (1999-06-27)27 June 1999
PG	7	De Sousa, Nathan	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	21 – (2003-02-21)21 February 2003
C	8	McNeace, Jamuni	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	28 – (1996-03-25)25 March 1996
G	11	Ayayi, Gérald	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	23 – (2001-08-24)24 August 2001
PF	12	Diawara, Mohamed	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	19 – (2005-04-29)29 April 2005
F	25	Ndow, Chris-Ebou	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	30 – (1993-12-10)10 December 1993
C	32	Vautier, Bastien	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)	26 – (1998-11-15)15 November 1998
PG	44	Campbell, T. J.	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)	36 – (1988-01-23)23 January 1988

Head coach

Fabrice Lefrançois

Assistant coach(es)

Benjamin Villeger
Gaëtan Cherbonnier
Gaëtan Douet

Legend

(C) Team captain
Injured

Roster

Updated: November 8, 2024

FIBA Hall of Famers

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

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	French Cup	Leaders Cup	European competitions
2006–07	1	Pro A	7th
2007–08	1	Pro A	8th	Runner-up	Champion	3 FIBA EuroCup	GS
2008–09	1	Pro A	9th	Round of 16		2 Eurocup	Q
2008–09	1	Pro A	9th	Round of 16		3 EuroChallenge	RU
2009–10	1	Pro A	1st	Round of 32	Quarterfinalist	2 Eurocup	RS
2010–11	1	Pro A	2nd	Round of 16	Quarterfinalist	1 Euroleague	RS
2011–12	1	Pro A	4th	Semifinalist	Quarterfinalist	1 Euroleague	QR1
2011–12	1	Pro A	4th	Semifinalist	Quarterfinalist	2 Eurocup	RS
2012–13	1	Pro A	10th	Round of 16		2 Eurocup	RS
2013–14	1	Pro A	13th	Round of 16		3 EuroChallenge	L16
2014–15	1	Pro A	14th	Round of 16
2015–16	1	Pro A	13th	Round of 32
2016–17	1	Pro A	11th	Round of 16
2017–18	1	Pro A	15th
2018–19	1	Pro A	15th
2019–20	1	Pro A	6th*
2020–21	1	Pro A	14th			3 Champions League	RS
2021–22	1	Pro A	8th
2022–23	1	Pro A	7th			4 Europe Cup	RU
2023–24	1	Pro A	7th	Round of 16		3 Champions League	R16

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

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

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.