AEK Athens BC
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| AEK BC | |
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| Founded | 1924 |
| Arena | Athens Olympic Sports Complex |
| Team Colors | Yellow and Black |
| League | A1 ESAKE (HEBA) |
| Chairman |  Ioannis Granitsas |
| Head Coach | Vaggelis Alexandris |
| Assistand Coach | Dimitris Priftis |
AEK Athens BC is a Greek basketball club. Its official name is Athletic Union of Constantinople (Greek: Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), (Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos).
The emblem of AEK Athens Basketball Club is a black double-headed eagle on a yellow background. This symbol was initially used by the Byzantine Empire, and is still in use by the Greek Orthodox Church today. AEK BC's colours also stem from its historic roots in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) with the yellow and black being the colours of the Orthodox Church.
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[edit] History
AEK Athens Basketball is the most successful among AEK's athletic departments. The obvious reason is that AEK's basketball team was the first ever Greek team to win an international trophy in any team sports. AEK formed it's basketball team in the very first year of her's existence, in 1924. As a matter of fact, AEK won the first ever championship played in Greece and was organized by YMCA, always in 1924 - it was unofficial as it was not organised by the Greek Basketball Federation. AEK is one of only three Greek clubs (the other two are Panathinaikos, Aris Thessaloniki) that have played every year of the 1st Greek Basketball Devision, since 1963/64, which was later, in 1986/87 renamed to (A1. AEK is also the only Greek team that never lost a playoff series with a home court advantage.
AEK was the first ever Greek team to participate in a European Championships (now Euroleague) Final Four, back in 1966. The Final Four was held in Bologna. Two years later, AEK was the first ever Greek team, not only to reach a European Cup Final, but to win a European title. That happened back in 1968 (April 4) when AEK won Slavia Prague by 89-82 in front of 80,000 spectators (Guiness record in basketball attendance). In 1970, AEK reached the Cup Winners' Cup Semifinals (was eliminated by Vichy Basket, Fra), in the last year of the first 'Golden Era' of her's history. And that's because AEK dominated Greek Basketball in the '60s, by winning the championships of 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 (4 consecutive wins), 1968, 1970.
In the next decades AEK lost its glam, and managed to win only one trophy: the Greek Cup in 1981. In the mid '80s AEK faced the danger of relegation but it managed to survive in A1.
AEK made a come back in the late '90s, when the team played in six consecutive Greek Cup Final Fours (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), four consecutive Greek Cup Finals (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) and won the Greek Cup in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 AEK won the Greek Championship after 32 years, being the only Greek team to win the title after losing the first two games of the playoff series. (AEK lost the first two games to Olympiakos, but managed to win the series and the title with 3-2). AEK also reached the Greek Playoff Finals in 1997, 2003 and 2005.
In the same era AEK became again a big European Basketball Club. The team as a cinderella reached the European Championships' Final Four in Barcelona (1998), beat Benetton Treviso by 67-66 and lost to Virtus Bologna in the final by 44-58. In 2000 April 11, AEK won her's second international trophy, the Saporta Cup, by winning Virtus Bologna with 83-76. The next year, 2001, AEK reached Euroleague's Semi Finals, and lost to Saski Baskonia TAU Ceramica by 0-3.
[edit] Titles Won (13)
- 2 Cup Winners' Cup/Saporta Cup (1968, 2000)
- 8 Greek Championships (1958, 1963, 1964,
1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 2002)
- 3 Greek Cups (1981, 2000, 2001)
[edit] International achievements
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Champions Cup | |||
| 1964-65 | Quarter Finals | eliminated by OKK Beograd, 85-78 in Athens, 84-101 in Belgrade. | |
| 1965-66 | Final-four | 4th place in Bologna. Lost 73-103 by Slavia Prague and 62-85 by CSKA Moscow. | |
| Euroleague | |||
| 1997-98 | Final-four | Won Benetton Treviso by 67-66 in SF, lost in the final by Kinder Virtus Bologna, 44-58 in Barcelona. | |
| 2000-01 | Semi Finals | eliminated by TAU Ceramica, 67-70, 65-90 in Athens, 62-76 in Vitoria. | |
| 2001-02 | Top-16 | 2nd group phase with Panathinaikos, Olympiakos, Olimpija Ljubljana. | |
| 2004-05 | Top-16 | 2nd group phase with Efes Pilsen, Benetton Treviso, Prokom Trefl Sopot. | |
| Cup Winners Cup | |||
| 1967-68 | Winner | won Slavia Prague, 89-82 in Athens. | |
| 1969-70 | Semi Final | eliminated by Vichy Basket, 60-78 in Vichy, 74-65 in Athens. | |
| 1971-72 | Quarter Finals | QF group stage with KK Crvena Zvezda, Olimpia Milano. | |
| 1988-89 | Quarter Finals | QF group stage with Zalgiris Kaunas, Cibona Zagreb, Bayreuth Basket. | |
| Saporta Cup | |||
| 1999-00 | Winner | won Kinder Virtus Bologna, 83-76 in Lausanne. | |
| Korac Cup | |||
| 1973-74 | Quarter Finals | QF group stage with KK Split, APU Udine. | |
| 1977-78 | Quarter Finals | QF group stage with KK Partizan, Niza Basket, Athletic Genova. | |
[edit] Former basketball players
Giorgos Moschos, Giorgos Amerikanos, Giorgos Trontzos, Christos Zoupas, Aias Larentzakis, Stelios Vasileiades, Minas Gekos, Vassilis Goumas, Apostolos Kontos, Konstantinos Patavoukas, Vassilis Lanes, Nasos Galakteros, Michalis Kakiouzis, Nikolaos Hatzis, Aggelos Koronios, Vassilis Kikilias, Andreas Glyniadakis, Dimosthenis Dikoudis, Nikos Zisis
Arijan Komazec, Davor Kus, Sandro Nicevic
Claudio Coldebella, Roberto Chiacig
Branislav Prelevic, Milan Gurovic
Kurt Rambis, Danny Vranes, Rolando Blackman, Marcus Liberty, Victor Alexander, Ricky Pierce, Willie Anderson, John Arlauckas, Ruben Patterson, Lloyd Daniels, Anthony Bowie, Dan O'Sullivan, Chris Carr, JR Holden, Toby Bailey, Lionel Chalmers, Taylor Coppenrath
[edit] Former basketball coaches
Missas Pantazopoulos, Nikolaos Milas, Faidon Mathaiou, Kostantinos Mourouzis, Vaggelis Nikitopoulos, Steve Yantzoglou, Michalis Kyritsis, Giannis Ioannidis, Kostas Politis
Dusan Ivkovic, Dragan Sakota
Richard Dukeshire
[edit] Current basketball squad
As of October 2006
| Number | Player | Position | Height (m) |
| 4 | Yannis Gagaloudis |
PG | 1.91 |
| 5 | Sotiris Nikolaides |
PG | 1.85 |
| 6 | Prodromos Nikolaides (C) |
SG | 2.00 |
| 7 | Christos Tapoutos |
SF | 2.01 |
| 8 | Kostas Maglos |
C | 2.08 |
| 9 | Spiros Maggounis |
SG | 2.00 |
| 10 | Nestoras Kommatos |
SF | 2.04 |
| 11 | Nikos Vetoulas |
PG | 1.93 |
| 12 | Nikos Papanikolaou |
PF | 2.06 |
| 13 | Yannis Athanassoulas |
SF | 2.02 |
| 14 |  Jasmin Perkovic |
PF | 2.04 |
| 15 |  Brent Scott |
C | 2.06 |
| 17 | Antonis Michaloglou |
SF | 2.03 |
| 18 | Marios Sakellarakis |
SG | 1.94 |
| 19 | Pantelis Kakavas |
PG | 1.81 |
