History of the 1968 United States men's Olympic basketball team
Going into the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City it looked as if the US was finally going to lose, and for the first time the US was actually not favored to win the gold medal. The civil unrest of the civil rights movement had spilled over into basketball and this was preventing some of the biggest names in the game from playing for Team USA.
Arguably the greatest college player in the history of the game, Lew Alcindor, refused to play for the United States, citing "Trying to point out to the world the futility of winning the gold medal for this country and then coming back to live under oppression." The UCLA product was not the only notable player sitting out the Mexico City games, as Elvin hayes, Wes Unseld, Bob Lanier and Calvin Murphy also declined to participate.
Other politics also got involved in the selection process, where one of the largest snubs in basketball history happened because Team USA coach Hank Iba had a feud with Press Maravich, which lead to Iba not inviting the NCAA all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich to try outs.
Still, the American team was loaded with talent. But in terms of overall talent the 1968 team may be one of the least talented teams the Americans have ever assembled. The US did have Spencer Haywood, who at just 19 years of age was the youngest player in Team USA history.
Another player who did agree to play was Jojo White. The 6'3" guard from Kansas joined the team even after many of his friends advised him against it.
While the US was struggling to put together a roster, the Soviet Union had no such problem and assembled a veteran roster of players they felt could take down Team USA.
Once again, the Olympic pool was set up in the modern style with the host nation getting a bid, and the top 5 finishers from the 1964 Tokyo games also getting bids. Each of the contenents also got 2 teams and a playin tournmament was held weeks before the Olympics to get the pool to 16 teams.
Once again two groups of 8 were assembeled to play each other once and the top 2 teams would advance to the semifinals.
The USA's first game was against Spain, a team who was the last team to make the Olympics. The Spanish team proved to be of little resistance to the Americans as the US won 81-46.
The African champion Senegal seemed completely awestruck by the Americans and spent more time gawking at the USA's offense than actually playing defense. The US cruised to a 93-36 win, it what at the time was the largest win in USA's history.
The US got another easy win vs the Philippines 96-75, in a game thats scorer is closer than the actual game.
Entering the game vs Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavian team publically stated that they could beat Team USA and in the first half it appeared to be more fact the boast. The US eventually used its depth and size to eek out a 73-58 win.
Next the US took on Italy and got another easy win. The US dominated from the start and won 100-61.
With a spot in the semifinals locked up, the Americans did something they rarely do and took it easy vs Puerto Rico and that nearly cost them. The Puerto Ricans lead for a good chunk of the game and it was only Charlie Scotts defense which guided the US to a 61-56 win.
The US finished atop Group A with Yugoslavia coming in second. The Soviet Union also finished 7-0 atop group B with Brazil finishing second. So the US would face Brazil annd the USSR would face Yugoslavia. The Soviets laughed and joked about their eventual beating of the US, so much so they forgot they had another game to play.
The Brazillians fought hard against the US and made it a game, but ultimately the US used its superior talent and won 75-63 to advance to the gold medal game.
The Soviets, thinking they had an easy game vs Yugoslavia, never put their foot on the pedal and before they knew it they were down double figures in the second half. The Soviets came storming back, but it was too little too late as the Yugoslavians pulled off to that point, the biggest upset in Olympic basketball history beating the USSR 63-62 and setting up a game vs the USA.
The US knew better than to overlook the team who took down the favors, and the US smashed the Yugoslavians 65-50, in a game that was not as close as the final score would suggest.
It was the USA's seventh straight Olympic title. The Silver medal was Yugoslavians first medal of any kind in basketball. The USSR did end up beating Brazil for the bronze medal.
JoJo White would lead the Americans in scoring with 16.3 points a game. He'd go on to have a steller career with the Boston Celtics where he would be named the NBA finals MVP and make the hall-of-fame.
Spencer Haywood would have to go to the ABA because of the NBA's age limit, he would sue and win in the Supreme Court decision in Haywood vs National Basketball Association. Haywood would have a weird career where he would be dominate with the Seattle Sonics, before falling off some as a member of the New York Knicks, before rising to stardom again rising to stardom with the New Orleans Jazz, before falling from grace as amember of the Los Angeles Lakers. and evetually going to Europe. He would be inducted in the Hall-of-fame in 2015.
Like Haywood, Charlie Scott would join the ABA before joining the NBA. His 34.6 points per game as a member of the Virginia Squires was an ABA record. Scott would have a solid NBA career with the Suns and Celtics before finishing his career as a role player with the Lakers and Nuggets.
Bill Hosket played breifly in the NBA with the Knicks and Braves. He did win a championship in 1970 with the Knicks.
Ken Spain, Glynn Saulters and Calvin Fowler all played in the ABA but never made the NBA. The 4 NBA players on a team is the second lowest only beaten by the 1936 Berlin team, a team founded a decade before the NBA.
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