After coming within a basket of beating Bourges in a thrilling championship play-off series and winning a historic EuroCup title against Belgian champions Castors Braine, Villeneuve d'Ascq will surely look back on their 2014/15 campaign with a tremendous sense of pride, but basketball stands still for no-one and the club are now looking forward to a new season, which will see their first participation in EuroLeague since 2009/10, when they were knocked out in the opening round of the elite competition.
At the traditional end of season gala, which took place on 11th June, club president Carmelo Scarna announced a budget of 2 million euros for the forthcoming season, up from 1.8 million last year. In spite of losing captain Ann Wauters, who chose to move to Australia after one season in the North of France, and not renewing the contracts of Katarina Ristic and Lorraine Lokoka, the club has maintained a core of 7 players from the previous season - (Virginie Bremont, Jo Gomis, Megan Mahoney, Geraldine Robert, Laetitia Kamba, Fatimatou Sacko and Marielle Amant) and added 4 new faces who just might provide them with the blend of experience and youthful promise that may even see them improve on last year's honours.
Emilija Podrug, the 35 year old Croatian forward, already has several years experience in France and last seaon averaged 11.8 pts and 7.7 rebounds in the French league and an even more impressive 15 pts and 6.5 rebounds in EuroCup matches for Nantes. Winger Stella Kaltsidou, aged 32 and fresh from a heroic campaign with the Greek national team, also has a number of years' experience in France and most recently helped Tarbes (now unfortunately demoted due to financial problems) to a victory in the Challenge Round (for clubs placed 4-8). She averaged 11.2 pts, 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 11 matches for the south-west team. Moving on to the youngsters, Camille Aubert arrives at the club from Angers to act as Virginie Bremont's back-up at point-guard (age 26, 6.8 pts, 3.9 assists, 3.1 rebounds last year) and finally, Aby Gaye will be the youngest player at the club, aged only 20 and currently playing in the U20 European Championships with the French national team. A towering presence in the paint (1.95 m) the young centre compiled stats of 7.8 pts and 4.6 rebounds for Toulouse last season.
The French league season will commence on the weekend of the 26th/27th September with the traditional Open in Paris, reuniting all 14 clubs in the top flight, and where coach Fred Dusart will be hoping his team can improve on their shaky start at last year's edition, losing to Basket Landes. A mere 10 days later, Villeneuve will be able to test themselves against European competition in the inaugural SuperCup, where they will be joined by fellow EuroCup finalists Braine (who will host the mini-tournament) and EuroLeague finalists Ekaterinburg and Prague. They will then open their EuroLeague campaign the following week (14th October). Their pool features the two Turkish giants - Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, Russian team Kursk (who've just recruited French international Endy Miyem), Kosice, Sopron, Schio and the winner of the Brno/Salamanca play-off game. A tough challenge for the French team, to be sure, but if they can renew the warrior spirit they showed over the course of the season just past, a place in the top 4 and a spot in the quarter-finals might not be beyond their grasp. Failing that, a 5th/6th place finish will see them win a consolation place in the EuroCup competition and a chance to win the trophy again! All to play for then...