USA Basketball … Bringing Home the Gold

Reprinted from ABAUSA News
Vol. 10, No. 1
December 1986

<< Previous

It was indeed a golden summer for USA Basketball, as the men's and women's teams won both the Goodwill Games and World Championships. Despite the fact that basketball was invented and perfected in this country, the United States entered the World Championships as underdogs. In fact, 1986 would mark the first time in 32 years that both the USA men and women would hold what some regard as amateur basketball's most coveted title, FIBA World Champions. The boycotts of the past few Olympiads have tarnished the Olympic gold and made the gold medal of the World Championships the most precious and prestigious of all.

For the USA men the road to Madrid, Spain, for the finals was not an easy one to travel. The names of Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were now only present on the posters the team hung on their dorm room walls and the shoes that filled their closets. David Robinson, Kenny Smith and 5'3" Tyrone Bogues would be the names remembered from the summer of 1986. What the team lacked in flash and glitter they made up for in guts, grit and heart. Behind the leadership of head coach Lute Olson of the University of Arizona, the young USA team would face many veteran squads, yet miraculously bring home the gold medal.

Critics claimed that the USA team was too young and inexperienced to win the championship. Could they be right? The team came out of pool play in Malaga undefeated, but not without a scare from Puerto Rico, whom they squeaked by 73-72. In the semifinal round, the luck and the clock ran out on the USA team as an upstart Argentinian team defeated them 74-70. Bronze was looking more probable than gold at this point, but the loss to Argentina inspired the young Americans to play some of their finest basketball of the tournament. The USA team was able to fight their way back to respectability and the gold medal game against the Soviet Union.

The game was no less dramatic than one would expect when two world powers meet. After dominating the first half and building a lead of as many as 18 points in the second half, the USA squad started toying with the clock and the Soviet machine started their wheels in motion to peck away at the deficit. Behind the play of their much publicized 7'2" center Arvidas Sabonis and the deadly shooting of Valdemaras Khomichus, the Soviets pulled within two points with 50 seconds remaining in the game. With 15 seconds left, Kenny Smith scored what proved to be the winning basket and the United States posted an 87-85 victory over the Soviets.

The 9-1 American squad was composed of Tommy Amaker (Duke), Bogues (Wake Forest), Sean Elliott (Arizona), Armon Gilliam (UNLV), Tom Hammonds (Georgia Tech), Steve Kerr (Arizona), Robinson (U.S. Naval Academy), Rony Seikaly (Syracuse), Brian Shaw (UC Santa Barbara), Charles Smith (Pittsburgh) and Kenny Smith (North Carolina). Coach Olson was assisted by Bobby Cremins (Georgia Tech), Jerry Primm (UC Santa Barbara) and Scott Thompson (Arizona).

Although the outcome was the same, the recipe the USA women used to cook up their world title was completely different than that of the men. For the women, there remained some of the same ingredients from their Olympic championship team. Cheryl Miller, Teresa Edwards and Anne Donovan topped the roster, but the addition of fresh faces like Kamie Ethridge and Katrina McClain completed the winning combination.

The summer of 1986 was spent in the Soviet Union. The USA women would compete in the Goodwill Games in July and then return in August for the World Championship. Beating the favored Soviets on their home court once was a tall order, beating them twice, nearly impossible. Coach Kay Yow of North Carolina State University, however, would have the young women ready to meet the challenge.

The USA squad breezed past every opponent they faced in the Goodwill Games, including a once dominant Soviet Union team, whom they embarrassed 83-60 in the final game. Could such a stunning defeat happen twice in one summer on the Soviets' home court? The Soviet Union had no intention of letting that occur; five team members and the head coach were replaced for the World Championship competition.

In the World Championship, the USA picked up right where they left off in the Goodwill Games, defeating teams in the Vilnius pool play by as many as 53 points. This time the American women would enter the gold medal game in Moscow as the tournament favorite against the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets were able to close within nine points in the second half, the USA proved too powerful for them to overtake. Pushing the score over the centennial mark, the United States posted a 108-88 victory over the Soviets to win the world title and record a perfect 18-0 record for the summer's competition. In addition, the victory ended a long dominance in women's basketball by the Soviet Union and dubbed the USA as the new power in the world.

Participating in the -Double Gold" summer were Cindy Brown (Long Beach State), Cynthia Cooper (USC), Clarissa Davis (Texas), Donovan (Old Dominion), Edwards (Georgia), Ethridge (Texas), Jennifer Gillom (Mississippi), Fran Harris (Texas), McClain (Georgia), Suzie McConnell (Penn State), Miller (USC) and Teresa Weatherspoon (Louisiana Tech). Rounding out Coach Yow's staff were Marianne Stanley of Old Dominion and Sylvia Hatchell, the newly appointed coach at the University of North Carolina.

With both World Championship crowns back in the land of their birth, USA Basketball can reflect on a truly golden summer and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead.