Officially called the FIBA World Championhip, it takes place every 4 years.
There are actually two tournaments, one for men and one for women. The best
national basketball teams from every continent in the world play against each
other in order to crown the world champion. In many countries it is considered
the most important basketball tournament, although in the USA the Olympic
basketball tournament traditionally attracts more attention. This might be the
reason for the poor performance of the United States national teams that have
won just 3 gold medals in 14 tournaments. Here is a brief summary of the past
tournaments:
Year
|Location
|World
|USA position (wins - losses)
Champion
1950 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Argentina
| 2 (5-1)
1954 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, | USA
|
1 (9-0)
1959 |
Santiago, Chile,
|
Brazil
|
2 (7-2)
1963 |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, |
Brazil
|
4 (6-3)
1967 |
Montevideo, Uruguay, |
USSR
|
4 (7-2)
1970 |
Ljublijana, Yugoslavia, |
Yugoslavia |
5 (6-3)
1974 |
San Juan, Puerto Rico, |
USSR
|
3 (8-1)
1978 |
Manila, Philippines,
|
Yugoslavia |
5 (6-4)
1982 |
Cali, Colombia,
|
USSR |
2 (7-2)
1986 |
Madrid, Spain,
|
USA
|
1 (9-1)
1990 |
Buenos Aires, Argentina, |
Yugoslavia |
3 (6-2)
1994 |
Toronto, Canada,
|
USA
|
1 (8-0)
1998 |
Athens, Greece,
|
Yugoslavia |
3 (7-2)
2002 |
Indianapolis, USA,
|
Yugoslavia |
6 (6-3)
For the Toronto (1994) and Indianapolis (2002) games the USA assembled teams
with top NBA players, which contributed a lot to the credibility of a
competition that could be characterized as a joke, especially in the 50's and
60's. The 1998 USA team (Dominique Wilkins, Derrick Coleman, Shawn Kemp,
Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Joe Dumars, Alonzo Mourning, Mark Price, Dan
Majerle, Larry Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Steve Smith coached by Don Nelson)
cruised to win the gold medal with a 37.7 average win margin. The 2002 USA team
included Paul Pierce, Reggie Miller, Ben Wallace, Andre Miller, Michael Finley,
Baron Davis, Elton Brand, Jermaine O'Neal, Raef LaFrentz and other talented
professional players, and was coached by Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl.
Nevertheless, it was defeated in 3 of its last 4 games (by Argentina, Yugoslavia
and Spain) and finished 6th, the worst placement of a USA basketball team in a
major international competition.
Most of the other USA teams were either comprised of college players (70's,
80's and 90's) or represented by squads that nowadays sound ridiculous (1950 -
the AAU Denver Chevrolets, 1954 - the Peoria Caterpillars, 1959 - an Air Force
squad comprised of volunteers, 1963 - AAU, armed forces, collegians, 1978 -
Athletes In Action). Surprisingly, all of these teams did better than the
horrendous 2002 NBA team, which came unprepared and arrogant to compete against
well-trained and experienced teams from Yugoslavia, Argentina, Germany, Spain
and other countries.
The undeniable kings of the FIBA World Championships are the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia, having won 8 out of 14 tournaments. In 1990 the Yugoslavian team led
by the late Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac and Toni Kukoc defeated the USA college
team (Alonzo Mourning, Kenny Anderson, Chris Gatling, Billy Owens) 99-91 to
advance to the final where it defeated the USSR and captured the gold.