1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team

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]

1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team
Basketball at the Summer Olympics season
Head coachBob Knight
1984 Summer Olympics
Scoring leader Michael Jordan
17.1
Rebounding leader Wayman Tisdale
5.9
Assists leader Leon Wood
7.9

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 at Knight's regular base of operations at Indiana's campus in Bloomington. 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 of Gonzaga, Terry Porter of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Maurice Martin of Saint Joseph's.[7] Knight's final cut to twelve players came in June, and the final four let go were Tim McCormick of Michigan, Lancaster Gordon of Louisville, Johnny Dawkins of Duke and Barkley's Auburn teammate Chuck Person (Dawkins and Person served as alternates for the team).[8] The most controversial selection was Knight's own Indiana player, Steve Alford, who was the team's youngest member at 19 and not expected by most to make the team.[1]

Prior to the Olympics, the team played eight games against NBA All-Star teams including Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre and won all eight.[9][10][11]

Olympic tournament
See also: Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics

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),[12] while Leon Wood led the team in assists (7.9 per game).[2]

Results

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, including during the sweep of the NBA All-Stars before the Olympics. 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."[13]

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

References
  1. 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.
  2. "1984 USA Men's Olympic Games Roster & Results Archived 2010-07-16 at the Wayback Machine." usabasketball.com. Retrieved on August 18, 2012.
  3. "Bowie, Turpin to Skip". TheDaily Times. April 14, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  4. "Olympic Cage Quest". TheDaily Times. April 14, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  5. Blanchette, John (April 24, 1984). "Stockton makes Olympic cut". Spokesman-Review. p. C1.
  6. Bondy, Filip (2007). Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever. DaCapo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81486-0.
  7. Blanchette (May 14, 1984). "Basketball school is over for Stockton". Spokesman-Review. p. 13.
  8. "Knight Makes Up His Mind Early, Announces Olympic Cage Squad". TheDaily Times. June 28, 1984. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  9. HOORAY FOR THE RED, WHITE, BLACK AND BLUE! by Curry Kirkpatrick Sports Illustrated
  10. Remembering Michael Jordan and the 1984 Olympic trials by Sean Deveney The Sporting News
  11. VIDEO: Michael Jordan lit up an NBA All-Star team in a pre-1984 Olympic exhibition win by Michael Hulse The Herd with Colin Cowherd
  12. USA 12 - Wayman Tisdale.
  13. Smith, Sam (1993). The Jordan Rules. Simon and Schuster. p. 207. ISBN 9780671796662. Retrieved March 27, 2015. bobby knight the jordan rules olympics.
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