# Cholet Basket

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)

| Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba David Gautier Aymeric Jeanneau Charles Kahudi | Cédric Ferchaud Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Rudy Gobert | Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Kévin Séraphin Killian Hayes |

## 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.

### FIBA Hall of Famers

Cholet Basket Hall of Famers :
| Players ||||||
| No. | Nat. | Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
| 4 | | Antoine Rigaudeau | G | 1987–95 | 2015 |

## Season by season

| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | French Cup | Leaders Cup | European competitions | 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.
| 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 Killian Hayes Charles Kahudi | United States fr:Jimmal Ball Scooter Barry Corey Crowder 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 London Perrantes Antywane Robinson Randal Falker fr:Tony Stanley Chandler Parsons Michael Wright | Other countries Junior Etou 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
* 2014–15: Laurent Buffard
* 2015–16: Jérôme Navier
* 2016–18: Philippe Hervé
* 2018: Régis Boissié
* 2018–21: Erman Kunter
* 2021–24: Laurent Vila
* 2024–present: Fabrice Lefrançois