Throwback Thursday: 1976 USA Basketball Team by UNC’s Dean Smith
We take a look back at the time Dean Smith coached the US Basketball Team
Everyone knows about the USA Basketball Dream Team from the 1992 Olympic Games. But the University of North Carolina has another big connection to a previous Olympic Basketball Team.
The 1976 Olympics took place in Montreal, Canada as the USA sent a roster of players over to compete for gold in Basketball.
The 1976 USA Olympic basketball team roster included Tate Armstrong (Duke), Quinn Buckner (Indiana), Kenny Carr (North Carolina State), Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame), Walter Davis (North Carolina), Phil Ford (North Carolina), Ernie Grunfeld (Tennessee), Phil Hubbard (Michigan), Mitch Kupchak (North Carolina), Tom LaGarde (North Carolina), Scott May and Steve Sheppard (Maryland).
Smith’s assistants for the 1976 USA Basketball Team were Bill Guthridge, who later went on to replace Smith at UNC and John Thompson. Smith and Thompson faced each other in the 1982 NCAA National Championship.
The 1992 Dream Team was the first time that professional NBA players were allowed on the Olympic basketball team. Until that time, college basketball players represented the United States in Olympic basketball.
Davis, Ford, LaGarde and Kupchak played for Smith at UNC. In addition, this team included the 1976 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Scott May. Scott May is the father of Tar Heel great and 2005 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Sean May.
The 1976 team went undefeated with a 7-0 record. Egypt had to forfeit their game (Game Four) versus the USA. This is the reason why there are six games rather than a total of seven.
There was some controversy around the makeup of the team. There were seven ACC players on the roster, included four players from Smith’s UNC team. Some people felt that Smith orchestrated this team by himself. The reality is that he did not. There was a committee that handled this. Smith was part of the decision as to who played on the team, but he did not make the decision on his own.
The USA Basketball committee, consisting of Henry Iba, Red Auerbach, Pete Newell, Wayne Embree and Dave Gavitt. Iba coached the USA basketball team in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics. USA Basketball won gold medals in 1964 and 1968. In 1972, USA Basketball won a silver medal. Since the 1972 Munich Olympics was deemed as a failure for USA Basketball, a new coach was sought.
Enters Dean Smith.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski has done a great job with USA Basketball in 2008 and 2012. However, Iba was the first coach in USA Olympic basketball to win two gold medals, not Coach K. Moreover, he did this with college basketball players. Former UNC Tar Heel and legendary coach/player Larry Brown played for Iba on the USA Olympic Basketball team in 1964.
Similar to Iba, Dean Smith won a gold medal with college players as well. Similar to Coach K and moreover prior to Coach K, Smith saved USA Basketball. Smith accomplished this task 40 years ago but receives very little credit for what he did.
When you watch the 2016 USA Olympic Basketball team later this month and next month, remember that UNC’s Dean Smith brought the gold back to the United States with college players including several Tar Heel greats. What Coach K did in 2008, Smith did in 1972 during a great deal of controversy and scrutiny. SB Nation’s Brian Barbour said it best with ‘Dean did it first.’