Ilysiakos B.C. (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Ηλυσιακός Κ.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that is located in the Ilisia neighborhood of

Zografou Zografou ( el, Ζωγράφου) is a suburb of approximately 71,000 in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It was named after the Greek politician Ioannis Zografos. To the east of Zografou lies mount Hymettus. The area, being ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The club's name is said to be a reference to

Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...

, which is why the club's name and logo beings with a

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

Η, instead of an Ι, even though the name of Ilissia, where the club is based, begins with an Ι in Greek. However, when the name is translated into the

English alphabet The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, '' alpha'' and '' beta''. ...

, the H becomes an I.Basketball.ilisiakos.gr Με «Η» και με δάφνες.
The club is known for being based mostly on Greek players and Greek coaches, and for developing young players.

History

The parent athletic sports club, Ilysiakos Athlitikos Omilos (

: Ηλυσιακός Αθλητικός Όμιλος), was founded in 1927. The basketball team of Ilysiakos was established in 1968. In the 1986–87 season, Ilysiakos participated for the first time in the top

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

, and stayed there for two straight seasons. Following the 1987–88 season, the team got

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the Greek 2nd Division. From 1988 to 2003, the club was competing in the Greek second and third divisions. However, the club had its biggest success with its participation in the final four of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

in 1995, where the team finished in 4th place. In the year 2003, the club got promoted to the first division again, but was once again relegated to the second division after the 2003–04 season. The club's second return to the first division, in the 2009–10 season, was much more successful, as Ilysiakos played in the top division for 5 consecutive seasons. During that time, players like

Vonteego Cummings Vonteego Marfeek Cummings (born February 29, 1976) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Atenienses de Manatí of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) in Puerto Rico. A combo guard, he played in the National Basketb ...

Brent Petway Brenton LaJames "Brent" Petway (born May 12, 1985) is an American esports player of Panathinaikos eSports and a retired professional basketball player. Because of his leaping and dunking ability, he has been given the nickname "Air Georgia". Thi ...

Terrell Stoglin Terrell DeVon Stoglin (born November 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for AS Douanes of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He served as the starting shooting guard for the University of Maryland, where he played college ...

, and

Aloysius Anagonye Aloysius Anagonye (born February 10, 1981) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for ALM Évreux Basket of the LNB Pro B. Professional career Anagonye played for Italian Serie A sides Villaggio Solidago Livorno (2004–2005) and ...

played with the club. In this same era of the club,

Nikos Chatzis Nikolaos "Nikos" Chatzis (alternative spelling: Hatzis) ( el, Νίκος Χατζής; born 3 June 1976) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. At a height of 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) tall, he played at the shooting guard posit ...

, who was a member of the senior men's Greek national team, and won several titles in his playing career: 2 Greek Cups (2000, 2001), the

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

(

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

), and the Greek League championship (2002), became the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the team. In this same time,

Panagiotis Kafkis Panagiotis Kafkis (alternate spelling: Panayiotis) (Greek: Παναγιώτης Καυκής; born May 8, 1980 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player and coach. During his playing career, at a height of 1.97 m (6&nbs ...

and

Georgios Apostolidis Georgios Apostolidis (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (Greek: Γιώργος Αποστολίδης; born June 22, 1984) is a Greek professional basketball player. He is 2.00 m (6 ft 6 in) tall. He can play at the point guard, shooting guard, ...

, who also represented Greece, were also members of the team.

Arena

Ilysaiakos plays its home games at the 1,700 seat Antonis Fotsis Indoor Hall. The arena is named in honor of Ilysiakos player

Antonis Fotsis Antonis Fotsis (alternate spelling: Antonios, Greek: Αντώνης Φώτσης; born April 1 or 2, 1981) is a Greek professional basketball player for Ilysiakos. He was also the captain of the Greece men's national basketball team. He is a ...

Club titles and honors

*2× Greek 2nd Division Champion: (1985, 1986) * Greek 4th Division Champion: (2001) * Greek 3rd Division Champion: (2002)

Roster

Notable players

Tasos Antonakis Anastasios "Tasos" Antonakis (alternate spelling: Tassos) ( el, Αναστάσιος "Τάσος" Αντωνάκης; born February 9, 1992, in Athens, Greece) is a Greek professional basketball player who last played for Apollon Patras of the G ...

* Ioannis Athanasoulas *

Ioannis Athinaiou Ioannis Athinaiou (alternate spellings: Giannis, Yiannis, Yannis, Athineou, Athinaioy) ( el, Ιωάννης Αθηναίου; born May 27, 1988) is a Greek professional basketball player and the captain (sports), team captain for ASK Karditsas B.C ...

* Marios Batis *

Georgios Bogris Georgios Bogris (alternate spelling: Giorgos , Greek: Γιώργος Μπόγρης; born 19 February 1989) is a Greek professional basketball player and the team captain for Apollon Patras of the Greek Basket League. He is 2.10 m (6 ft 10 ...

Kostas Charissis Konstantinos "Kostas" Charissis (alternate spellings: Constantinos, Costas, Charisis, Harissis, Harisis) ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Χαρίσης; born November 12, 1979) is a Greek professional basketball player. He is a 2.12 ...

Periklis Dorkofikis Periklis Dorkofikis ( el, Περικλής Δορκοφίκης; born August 30, 1980) is a Greek former professional basketball player. At a height of 2.07 m (6'9 ") tall, he played at the power forward and center positions. Professional career ...

* Petros Fikaris *

Andreas Glyniadakis Andreas Glyniadakis (alternate spelling: Gliniadakis) (Greek language, Greek: Ανδρέας Γλυνιαδάκης; born 26 August 1981) is a Greek former professional basketball player. He played center (basketball), center at a height of tall ...

Vassilis Goumas Vassilis Goumas (alternate spellings: Vasilis, Vasillos, Gkoumas) (Greek: Βασίλης Γκούμας; born 15 November 1946) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. During his playing career, he was nicknamed "The Emperor". Early ca ...

* Stelios Ioannou *

Andreas Kanonidis Andreas Kanonidis (Greek: Ανδρέας Κανονίδης; born July 26, 1991) is a Greek professional basketball player for Amyntas of the Greek A2 League. He is 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) tall and he can play at both the small forward and power ...

Sakis Karidas Athanasios "Sakis" Karidas (alternate spelling: Karydas) (Greek: Αθανάσιος "Σάκης" Καρύδας; born November 4, 1979) is a Greek former professional basketball player. At a height of 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) tall, he ;played at t ...

Leonidas Kaselakis Leonidas Kaselakis (Greek: Λεωνίδας Κασελάκης; born June 1, 1990) is a Greek professional basketball player and the team captain for Peristeri of the Greek Basket League. He is a 2.02 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, 109 kg (240&nb ...

* Georgios Kastrinakis * Dimitrios Kokolakis *

Dimitrios Kompodietas Dimitrios "Dimitris" Kompodietas (alternate spelling: Kobodietas) ( el, Δημήτρης Κομποδιέτας; born April 26, 1985) is a Greek professional basketball player for Palaio Faliro B.C. of the Greek B Basket League. He is a 1.96 m (6 ...

Alexis Kyritsis Alexandros "Alexis" Kyritsis (alternate spelling: Kiritsis) ( el, Αλέξανδρος "Αλέξης" Κυρίτσης; born May 18, 1982) is a Greek professional basketball player. He is 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) tall. He is a talented offensive c ...

Nikos Liakopoulos Nikolaos "Nikos" Liakopoulos ( el, Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Λιακόπουλος; born March 16, 1983 in Greece) is a Greek professional basketball player for KAO Korinthou of the Greek 3rd division. He is a 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) tall ...

Marios Matalon Marios Matalon (Greek: Μάριος Ματαλών; born February 16, 1989) is a Greek professional basketball player for ASK Karditsas of the Greek A2 Basket League. Matalon, who was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, is a 1.86 m (6' 1") tall poin ...

* Charis Papageorgiou *

Nikos Papanikolopoulos Nikolaos "Nikos" Papanikolopoulos (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Παπανικολόπουλος; born April 21, 1979) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and current basketball coach. During his playing career, at a height ...

* Andreas Papantoniou * Nondas Papantoniou * Michael Paragyios * Stratos Perperoglou * Alekos Petroulas *

Leonidas Skoutaris Leonidas Skoutaris ( el, Λεωνίδας Σκούταρης; born 28 August 1976 in Athens, Greece), is a retired Greek professional basketball player. College career Skoutaris played college basketball at Cleveland State, with the Cleveland Sta ...

Ioannis Sioutis Ioannis Sioutis (alternate spelling: Giannis) ( el, Γιάννης Σιούτης; born July 27, 1973) is a Greek retired professional basketball player and current assistant coach for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champi ...

* Dimitrios Tsarouchas * Kyriakos Vidas * Anatoly Zourpenko *

Brett Eppehimer Brett Eppehimer (born May 28, 1976, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania) is an American-Italian former NCAA Division I and professional basketball player. College career Eppehimer attended Lehigh University (1995–1999), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where ...

Conor Grace Conor Thomas Grace (born 31 January 1982) is an Irish former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Irish national team. Grace played rugby in high school, as well as soccer, tennis and track, in addition to basketball. At ...

* Kyle Johnson * Grega Mali * Darius Maskoliūnas *

Harding Nana Harding Ngueyep Nana (born January 17, 1981) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player currently playing as a power forward for Swiss Central of the Swiss Basketball League. He is also a member of the Cameroon national basketball team. ...

* Riste Stefanov * Miroslav Todić *

* Jimmy Baxter *

Brian Butch Brian Butch (born December 22, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently working as a radio color commentator for the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He was a center on the 2003 McDonald's All-American baske ...

Warren Carter Warren Carter is an exegete specializing in the Gospel of Matthew, as well as the Greek New Testament in general. Born in New Zealand and now living in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Carter's education consists of a Ph.D. (New Testament), from Princeton Theologi ...

Willie Deane Willie Deane (born February 23, 1980) is an American-Bulgarian former professional basketball player. Deane has won three Bulgarian championships, one Bulgarian Cup, a French championship, a French Super Cup and an Italian championship. College ...

Tyrone Grant Tyrone Jeremy Grant (born January 24, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player of Barbadian descent. At a height of 2.02 m (6'7 ") tall, he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He was en explosive scorer and go ...

Othello Hunter Tegba Othello Hunter (born May 28, 1986) is an American-Liberian professional basketball player for Bayern Munich of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at , he plays at the power forward and center positions. Hunter pla ...

Art Long Arthur Donnell Long (born October 1, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player from Rochester, New York. A 6'9", 250 pound power forward out of the East High School and University of Cincinnati who also attended Independence Comm ...

* Dominique Morrison *

Head coaches

References

External links

Ilysiakos B.C. - Official Website

Eurobasket.com Team Page
{{C Ethniki HEBA Basketball teams established in 1968 Basketball teams in Greece