Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul 2008-09, team profile
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 Back-to-back Turkish League champion Fenerbahce Ulker can be summed in a paradox: one of the oldest clubs in European sports is shining anew with some of the youngest talents in European basketball. Fenerbahce, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, is anything but old school. Fener has made some of the most loyal and die-hard fans in the world happy. Fenerbahce SK was founded in 1907 and its basketball section reached great success when the sport established itself in Turkey. Fenerbahce won national titles in 1957, 1959 and 1965, just before the Turkish League was founded in 1966, and made it to the Euroleague in 1960 and 1966. Its fans had to wait until 1991 for another title, when Levent Topsakal, Larry Richard and head coach Cetin Yilmaz led Fenerbahce to the Turkish League title over Tofas Bursa. Fener returned to the Euroleague in 1992, but lost in the preliminary round. Fenerbahce was back in the Turkish League finals in 1992, 1993 and 1995, but could not find a way to get the elusive trophy for a while. A third-place finish in the 1997-98 season allowed the club to return to the Euroleague, and with players like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Marko Milic, Ibrahim Kutluay and the late Conrad McRae. Fenerbahce advanced to the eighthfinal playoffs, losing there to mighty Real Madrid. The club made it to the Korac Cup quarterfinals in 1996 and 2001, as well as finishing fourth 2005 FIBA Europe League, but it wasn't until summer 2006 that the team became a European powerhouse. Fenerbahce merged with Ulker, one of the winningest clubs in recent Turkish basketball history and a perennial Euroleague powerhouse since 1997. Ulker had been founded in 1975 but its basketball department was created in 1993 by buying a Turkish League spot from Nasasspor. It won Turkish League titles in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2006 with greats including Harun Erdenay, Kutluay, Michael Andersen, Orhun Ene, Kevin Rankin and more recently, Mirsad Turkcan and Serkan Erdogan.
2007-08 RESULTS | Euroleague | R. Season | 6-8 | Top 16 | 3-3 | Quarters | 0-2 |
| Turkish League | R. Season | 21-9 | Playoffs | Champion | Cup | Semis |
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Ulker made the Top 16 for five consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2006, beating all the best European teams in the process and showing it was an important team in the competition. Ulker had its best finish when surviving a tough Top 16 group to make the 2005 Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs, where it lost against CSKA Moscow. Ulker also won five Turkish President's Cup and three Turkish Cup titles between 2001 and 2005. Things got serious again in the 2005-06 season, as Ulker conquered its fourth Turkish League title before merging with Fenerbahce. In the first season of the new Fenerbahce Ulker, the team, led Willie Solomon, won the Turkish title. Last season, Solomon and Turkcan were joined by a group of rising stars as Fener reached the Euroleague quarterfinals and won another Turkish crown. And with the core of that team back, the sky is the limit for Fenerbahce Ulker in 2008-09.
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Euroleague.net
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