La Jolla, California • June 22-26, 1992

When USA Basketball began its planning for the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's team training, it decided that the squad's best interest would be served if it had a team to scrimmage during its initial June 22-26 training camp in La Jolla, Calif.

In assembling a scrimmaging partner that could challenge the Dream Team and imitate the international style of play, USA Basketball looked for players that would get the ball up and down the court quickly, penetrate and pass back out to the perimeter and take plenty of 3-point shots.

Ultimately, an eight-member all-star collegiate team was selected and was headlined by four Atlantic Coast Conference players, two from NCAA champ Duke and one from North Carolina and Wake Forest.

Selected for the USA Developmental Team were guards Anfernee Hardaway (Memphis State/Memphis, Tenn.); Allan Houston (Tennessee/Louisville, Ky.); Bobby Hurley (Duke/Jersey City, N.J.); forwards Grant Hill (Duke/Reston, Va.); Jamal Mashburn (Kentucky/New York, N.Y.); Rodney Rogers (Wake Forest/Durham, N.C.); and Chris Webber (Michigan/Detroit, Mich.); and center Eric Montross (North Carolina/Indianapolis, Ind.).

University of Southern California head coach George Raveling, an assistant coach to the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic teams, served as head coach. He was assisted by University of Kansas mentor Roy Williams.

Scrimmaging daily against the Dream Team, the Developmental squad proved right from the start that this was not some star-dazed team and proved to be some of the best competition that the legendary team would face.

Amazingly, in a 20-minute scrimmage against the '92 Olympic men on June 24, the Developmental squad managed the unlikely by defeating the Dream Team 62-54 on the strength of its 3-point shooting. While lasting only half the time of a regulation 40-minute game, the Developmental team had delivered a crucial wake-up call to the U.S. Olympic Team.

"We got killed today," Michael Jordan said. "They beat us and they played well. We're so out of sync and so unsure about things that we feel comfortable with in normal situations. We don't have any continuity at all."

"These young kids were killing us," Scottie Pippen recalled years later. "We didn't know how to play with each other."

"Some of these college players should be probably be playing on this team," Larry Bird said afterward.

"If they were in the Olympics," Jordan said, "they'd win the silver medal."

"Our purpose is to help them get ready to win the gold medal and to improve our own game," Webber said. "But we're not going to back down. I'm not even nervous out here playing with these guys. I'm out here talking trash just like I always do. They're doing the same thing. They talk a lot more trash."

"Houston hit 10 threes in the scrimmage. They couldn't do anything with Webber. I'm telling you, Webber was killing these guys," said the Developmental Team's Hill. "We all had our moments. Bobby Hurley though, they couldn't keep him out of the paint."

The next day's meeting between the Dream Team and the Developmental team was completely different from the first. The Dream Team dominated that game and looked like the best team in the world.

"The next day, we couldn't get the ball over half-court," admitted Hill.

The Dream Team went on to cruise through the 1992 Tournament of the Americas and qualify for the 1992 Olympic Games, then of course went on to dominate its opponents (winning its eight game by an average margin of 43.8 points a game) and win gold in the Barcelona Olympics Games.

1992 USA MEN' DEVELOPMENTAL TEAM ROSTER

Atlanta, Georgia; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky • April 5-9, 1978

Days after leading his University of Kentucky squad to the 1978 NCAA Championship, hall of fame mentor Joe B. Hall undertook the challenge of directing a USA National Team comprised of top collegians in the 1978 World Invitational Tournament. A made-for-television event, joining the USA team of collegians in the April 5-9 round-robin tournament were international powers Cuba, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

Hall's USA roster included five members of Kentucky's national championship team, and overall the U.S. averaged just 20.3 years of age. The 14 players featured 12 future NBA first round picks, 10 players who would be selected among the first six picks in future NBA drafts, including No. 1 picks Joe Barry Carroll (1980) and Earvin "Magic" Johnson (1979).

Although young, seven of the USA players boasted of valuable international experience. Phil Ford was a 1976 Olympic gold medalist, while Rick Robey won gold as a member of the 1975 Pan American Games when he was just 19. James Bailey, Larry Bird, Darrell Griffith and Sidney Moncrief were teammates on the 1977 USA World University Games that finished 8-0 to claim gold, and Earvin Johnson was the leading scorer for a USA team that captured the title at the 1977 Albert Schweitzer Tournament.

Opening the tournament at the Omni in Atlanta on April 6 and facing Cuba, the U.S., behind its athleticism and depth, overpowered Cuba 109-78. Jumping out to a 16-3 lead the USA was fully in control by halftime, leading 56-21. Eleven of the USA's 12 active players scored, led by Jack Givens' 17 points. Moncrief scored 15 points in the lopsided win, David Greenwood, Griffith, Kyle Macy and Robey added 12 each, while Bird and Magic contributed four points.

In Day 1's opening game, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic and Kresimir Cosic combined for 74 points to give Yugoslavia a 97-79 victory over Russia.

Playing day two of the competition in Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C. on April 6, six-foot-nine Rutgers center Bailey scored 14 points to lead the USA to a hard-fought 88-83 victory over Yugoslavia. The U.S. fell behind early in the game but following a jumper by Macy jumped ahead 37-35 with four minutes left in the first half. The second half was a see-saw battle most of the way until Macy hit a jump shot with two minutes to go to make it 84-79 and the USA went on to earn the 88-83 win. Ford, playing on his UNC home court, had 13 points, Macy finished with 12 and Givens added 10 points. Kicanovic led Yugoslavia with 22 points, and Mirza Delibasic had 18.

In the day's other game, the Soviet Union improved to 1-1 with an overwhelming 108-78 victory over Cuba (0-2).

Finishing the tournament on April 9 in front of a reported 12,014 fans in Rupp Arena, the younger USA squad dominated the Soviet Union 107-82 to finish a perfect 3-0 and take the inaugural World Basketball Tournament trophy. The USA led 13-11, then posted a 12-0 run to push its advantage to 25-11. Givens, who starred at the University of Kentucky and had scored 41 points in the Wildcat's title game victory over Duke, scored six points in a USA 16‐2 run that closed out the first half and saw the Americans cushion their lead to 71-42 at halftime. Givens led the red, white and blue offensive charge with 15 points, Griffith added 14 points and Moncrief scored 13 as the USA received balanced scoring. Bailey and Johnson recorded 11 points each, while Greenwood, Lee and Robey each contributed 10 points. Sergei Belov poured in 32‐points to pace the Soviets.

The USA ended the round-robin tournament with a 3-0 record, Yugoslavia, which knocked off Cuba 98-80 in the final day's first game, claimed second place with a 2-1 mark, the Soviet Union placed third at 1-2 and Cuba finished 0-4 to finish fourth..

Givens and Moncrief, along with Yugoslavia stars Kicanovic and Dalipagic, and the Soviet Union's Belov, were named to the All-Tournament Team. Kicanovic, who averaged 21.0 ppg., was selected the Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

1978 USA WORLD INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT TEAM ROSTER

1978 USA WORLD INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS

Montevideo, Uruguay and Córdoba, Argentina • August 25-September 3, 2017

It had been 10 years since the United States last competed in its zone championship.

While the format of the competition was different and the official name of the Americas Championship had been altered to the FIBA AmeriCup 2017, the results weren’t much different.

Featuring a team directed by former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy and relying on a roster consisting primarily of NBA G League players, the USA’s success was a remarkable story of team coming together very quickly and working to improve each day and every game.

“We took the competition very seriously. Our team was into it. They wanted to do something special together, and we knew going on the road, both to Uruguay, which was an outstanding team, and here at Argentina, which is a great, great team - that we would have to play well and be mentally strong,” said USA skipper Van Gundy. “To me, that was the greatest thing ... We grew in our mental strength. We stuck together and we fought together. Ultimately, we won together.”