1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team
| Basketball at the Summer Olympics season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bob Knight |
| 1984 Summer Olympics |  |
| Scoring leader |  Michael Jordan 17.1 |
| Rebounding leader | Wayman Tisdale 5.9 |
| Assists leader | Leon Wood 7.9 |
The 1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, representing the United States. The USA's senior men's team, was led by coach Bob Knight, who was also the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers at the time. The team won the tournament's gold medal. It was the last amateur level U.S.A. team to win an Olympic gold medal in men's basketball. The team was considered to be one of the strongest in U.S.A.'s history to that time, as it featured four of the five 1984 consensus first team All-Americans, in Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Wayman Tisdale, and Sam Perkins.[1]
Due to the 1984 Summer Olympic Games boycott, which was led by the Soviet Union and involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, the Soviet Union national team and the Hungarian national team withdrew from the tournament. However, the 1980 Summer Olympic Games gold medalists, Yugoslavia, defied the boycott to play at the tournament, and ultimately won the bronze medal.
Roster
| Name [2] | Position | Height | Weight | Age | Home Town | Team/School |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Alford | Guard | 6'1" | 163 | 19 | New Castle, IN | Indiana |
| Patrick Ewing | Center | 7'0" | 248 | 21 | Cambridge, MA | Georgetown |
| Vern Fleming | Guard | 6'5" | 184 | 23 | Long Island City, NY | Georgia |
| Michael Jordan | Guard | 6'6" | 199 | 21 | Wilmington, NC | North Carolina |
| Joe Kleine | Forward | 6'11" | 269 | 22 | Slater, MO | Arkansas |
| Jon Koncak | Center | 7'0" | 250 | 21 | Kansas City, MO | Southern Methodist |
| Chris Mullin | Guard | 6'6" | 211 | 20 | Brooklyn, NY | St. John's |
| Sam Perkins | Forward | 6'9" | 233 | 23 | Latham, NY | North Carolina |
| Alvin Robertson | Guard | 6'4" | 193 | 21 | Barberton, OH | Arkansas |
| Wayman Tisdale | Forward | 6'9" | 259 | 20 | Tulsa, OK | Oklahoma |
| Jeff Turner | Forward | 6'9" | 229 | 22 | Brandon, FL | Vanderbilt |
| Leon Wood | Guard | 6'3" | 190 | 22 | Santa Monica, CA | Cal State Fullerton |
Olympic trials
Trials for the team were held in April 1984, on the campus of Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. Seventy players attended the trials. Kentucky post players Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin chose to skip the trials, in order to concentrate on the upcoming 1984 NBA Draft,[3] and Keith Lee of Memphis State, Len Bias of Maryland and Kenny Smith of North Carolina, ultimately pulled out as well.[4] Knight led the trials with assistant coaches George Raveling, Don Donoher and C. M. Newton, whittling the prospects down to twenty, by the end of the first week of the trials.[1][5]
During the trials, Auburn junior Charles Barkley impressed with his performance - most observers felt he and North Carolina shooting guard Michael Jordan were the two top performers. However, Barkley's and Knight's strong personalities did not mesh, and Barkley was one of the last cuts from the roster.[6] Released along with Barkley, in the penultimate cut from 20 to 16 players in May, were John Stockton, Terry Porter, and Maurice Martin.[7] Knight's final cut to twelve players came in June, and the final four let go were Tim McCormick, Lancaster Gordon, Johnny Dawkins, and Chuck Person (Dawkins and Person served as alternates for the team).[8] The most controversial selection was Knight's own player, Steve Alford, who at 19, was the team's youngest player and who most did not expect to make the team.[1]
Olympic tournament
The team went 8–0 in the Olympic tournament, averaging 95.4 points per game, and holding their opponents to 63.3. Four players averaged double-figures in scoring: Michael Jordan (17.1), Chris Mullin (11.6), Patrick Ewing (11.0) and Steve Alford (10.3). Wayman Tisdale led the team in rebounding (5.9 per game),[9] while Leon Wood led the team in assists (7.9 per game).[2]
Results
- USA 97, China 49
- USA 89, Canada 68
- USA 104, Uruguay 68
- USA 120, France 62
- USA 101, Spain 68
- USA 78, Federal Republic of Germany 67
- USA 78, Canada 59
- USA 96, Spain 65
Legacy
The 1984 Summer Olympics was a coming-out party for Michael Jordan, who led the U. S. team in scoring and dazzled the worldwide viewing audience with his athleticism and speed. In addition to Jordan, the team featured two other future Hall of Fame members in Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin (both of whom would later reunite with Jordan, as a part of the 1992 Dream Team). Jordan recalled that while this Olympic experience was exciting, it had also been trying because of Knight: "I don't know if I would have done it if I knew what Knight was going to be like."[10]
The Olympics and trials helped the draft stock of several players. Vern Fleming and Jeff Turner parlayed their Olympic exposure into first-round spots in the 1984 NBA draft, while several players that were cut from the team, either received strong recommendations from Knight (future Hall of Fame member John Stockton and Tim McCormick), or benefited from exposure from the trials (Charles Barkley and Lancaster Gordon).[6]
See also
- 1984 Summer Olympics
- Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- United States men's national basketball team
References
- ^ a b c Cunningham, Carson (2009). American Hoops: U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball From Berlin to Beijing. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2293-9.
- ^ a b "1984 USA Men's Olympic Games Roster & Results Archived 2010-07-16 at the Wayback Machine." usabasketball.com. Retrieved on August 18, 2012.
- ^ "Bowie, Turpin to Skip". TheDaily Times. April 14, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Olympic Cage Quest". TheDaily Times. April 14, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Blanchette, John (April 24, 1984). "Stockton makes Olympic cut". Spokesman-Review. p. C1.
- ^ a b Bondy, Filip (2007). Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever. DaCapo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81486-0.
- ^ Blanchette (May 14, 1984). "Basketball school is over for Stockton". Spokesman-Review. p. 13.
- ^ "Knight Makes Up His Mind Early, Announces Olympic Cage Squad". TheDaily Times. June 28, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ USA 12 - Wayman Tisdale.
- ^ Smith, Sam (1993). The Jordan Rules. Simon and Schuster. p. 207. ISBN 9780671796662. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
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