Bakken Bears

Bakken Bears
Leagues	Basketligaen FIBA Europe Cup
Founded	1954; 68 years ago (1954)
History	Aarhus Basketball Forening 1954–1962 Skovbakken Basketball 1962–1999 Bakken Bears 1999–present
Arena	Vejlby-Risskov Hallen
Capacity	2,050
Location	Aarhus, Denmark
Team colors	Navy, Silver, White
President	Claus Hommelhoff
Team manager	Michael Piloz
Head coach	Steffen Wich
Affiliation(s)	Bears Academy
Championships	19 Danish Leagues 12 Danish Cups
Website	bakkenbears.com
Home Away

Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club currently play in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark.

Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 19 times so far and holds the record for the most championships. Along with their domestic play, the club is a regular in European competitions.

History[]

Bears' alternate logo

Bakken Bears was formed in 1953 under the name of Aarhus Basketball Forening, or simply ABF. From 1962, the club was known as Skovbakken Basketball. Bears has been in the top Danish league almost every year since then and won its first title in 1958. Since then, the club has won a number of domestic titles and is now the most winning sports team in the history of the city of Aarhus.

In the years 2005 to 2009, Bakken Bears was a part of Aarhus Elite A/S, an elite sports organization in Aarhus that includes ia. AGF Football (soccer). In the last months of 2009 a group of local businessmen, sponsors and fans bought the team.

When Bakken Bears hosted Team FOG Næstved in Game 1 of the league semifinals in March 2009, 4,816 spectators watched the game in , which set an all-time attendance record for basketball in Denmark.

In the summer of 2018, the Bears' development team EBAA entered the Basketligaen as well.

On 27 March 2018, Bakken Bears qualified for the first time ever for a semifinal of a European competition, by eliminating ESSM Le Portel in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Europe Cup.^[1]

Players[]

Current roster[]

Bakken Bears roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age F 2 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 21 – (2000-11-20)20 November 2000 G 3 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 21 – (2000-03-10)10 March 2000 SF 5 Evans, Ryan 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 99 kg (218 lb) 31 – (1990-06-19)19 June 1990 SF 8 Jukić, Darko 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 31 – (1990-08-23)23 August 1990 F 10 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 21 – (2000-03-28)28 March 2000 C 11 Diouf, Michel 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 32 – (1989-04-19)19 April 1989 SF 12 Ongwae, Tylor 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 30 – (1991-07-15)15 July 1991 SF 13 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 32 – (1989-03-06)6 March 1989 SG 23 Harris, Marvelle 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 28 – (1993-12-16)16 December 1993 C 25 Taylor, Travis 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 31 – (1990-04-25)25 April 1990 PG 32 Ogungbemi-Jackson, Jarred 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 30 – (1991-08-11)11 August 1991 G 44 Laerke, Thomas 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 30 – (1991-04-04)4 April 1991	Head coach Anders Sommer Assistant coach(es) David Gómez Muñoz Thomas Hemmingsen Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: October 11, 2021

Notable players[]

Individual awards[]

Honours[]

Domestic competitions[]

• Basketligaen
  • Winners (19) : 1957–58, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
    • Runners-up (8) : 1962–63, 1964–65, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–2006, 2009–10, 2014–15
• Danish Cup
  • Winners (11): 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018
    • Runners-up (6) : 1980, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014

European competitions[]

• FIBA Europe Cup
  • Semi-finalist (2): 2017–18, 2019–20

Season by season[]

Head coaches[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website (in Danish)
• Eurobasket.com Bakken Bears Page