History of the 1956 United States men's Olympic basketball team
When fans think of dominate American basketball teams, the 1956 team is seldom mentioned, but statistically it was the most dominate team the US has ever sent to the Summer games. The plus 428 point differential is the most amongst any US Olympic team, even beating the vaunted 1992 Dream Team by 75 points. The only other American team that comes close to their level of dominance is the 2007 AmeriCup team with a +395 point differential, and they played 10 games compared to the 8 games the 1956 team played.
Like previous years the US selected the best amateur players in the country, but unlike previous teams the 1956 team would be lead by a player everyone knew had their sights set on the NBA: 6'10" Bill Russell.
The University of San Francisco sent not only Russell, but team KC Jones as well. One again the Philips 66ers made up the majority of the roster with 5 players being selected from the AAU juggernaut. Three players were also selected from the US Armed Forces, another AAU star and Carl Cain from the University of Iowa rounded out the roster. The team was coached by Gerry Tucker.
The hyper for the US team was something previously unseen and something that would take nearly 40 years until it was seen again. Unlike Helsinki, the US team went into Melbourne as the clear favorites. Jones and Russell were college stars that were dominating the NCAA and Bill Hougland returning from 1952 made the team seem invincible.
The US played an exhabition game in Los Angeles before heading out. They beat UCLA 110-20 in the uncounted exhabition game.
When the US began pool play it was seen as a foregone conclusion that they would win easily, just fans were not prepared for how easily. Though the first 20 minutes of their first game it did seem that maybe the US was all hype. The US lead by just 13 points over a much inferior opponent: 33-20. The US in the second half turned into the dominate team everyone was expecting and scored the first 25 point of the half enroute to a 98-40 win.
The second game vs Thailand was over by half-time. The US at one point lead 30-0 and was up 54-12 at the half and won the game 101-29.
The US finished pool play by once again putting the game away by half-time. The US lead the Philippines 66-23 at the half, and won 121-53
The pool draw for the US has in the 1956 games as been criticized for being overly easy. The US drew three Southeast Asian countries who were not basketball powerhouses and who lacked size.
The teams redrew a new pool after the first group play and the US drew much stuffer opponents in the USSR, Bulgaria and Brazil - still the US did not struggle against better talent.
The Americans first gamae of the new draw was against Bulgaria, who actually put up a fight for a couple of minutes before the US put the game away. The US lead 48-19 at the half, but the Bulgarian tried to slow the US by holding the ball and getting shot-clock violations from the newly introducted shot-clock. The Bulgarians were hoping to curb their margin of defeat and hope the US beat the USSR even worse and that they could sneak into the next round on point differential - it did not work as the Soviets beat them 66-56 in the next game.
The US got back to its dominating ways vs Brazil. The US lead 50-22 at the half and won 113-51 in a game that was never close.
The US would face their Cold War foe the USSR in the third game. The US place in the next round was already assured but the US tiook no mercy on the Soviets. The Soviets actually played the US well in the first half only trailing by 7 at the half 39-32, but the US was too much for the Soviets and the US won 85-55.
The US drew Uruguay in the Semi-finals of the torunament and would administer one of the worst beat downs in Olympic history. The US lead 51-10 at the half and won 101-38. The game could have been much worse, but the US seemed to have taken mercy on them and wasted a lot of time in the second half.
The US once again faced the Soviet Union in the gold medal game, and once again took no mercy on them. The US lead 56-27 at the half and won 89-55.
The sheer dominance of the US cannot be understated. the US scored more points in the first half than their opponent did in six of their eight games; only Japan and the USSR prevented that from happening - and in the case of Japan the US scored more points in the 2nd half than they did all game.
Fifteen nations appeared in the Melbourne games with the US taking Gold, the USSR taking Silver and Uruguay taking Bronze. France would finish fourth followed by Bulgaria and Brazil. Thailand finished last going 0-7.
Bill Russell lead the US in scoring at 14.1 points per game. He would go on to be one of the most dominate players in NBA history winning 11 NBA championships in his 13 seasons and being named one of the 50 greatest players to ever play and be a member of the hall-of-fame.
KC Jones would join Russell in the NBA with the Boston Celtics and win 7 NBA titles and join the HOF.
Dick Boushka, Carl Cain, Charles Barling, Billy Evans, Gil Ford, Burdie Haldorson, Bill Hougland, Bob Jeangerard, and Rom Tomsic all would play AAU or more NCAA basketball but never join the NBA. Several of them are members of the basketball hall-of-fame.
Jim Walsh had a breif career with the Warriors before retirning from basketball.
Cain's sister would marry teammate KC Jones. Cain would die in 2024 being the last living member of the 1956 team.
Burdie Haldorson would also be a member of the 1960 team in Rome.
Bill Hougland was also a member of the 1952 team in Helsinki
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