1968 United States men's Olympic basketball team

**1968 United States men's Olympic basketball team**
Head coach	Hank Iba
1968 Summer Olympics
Scoring leader	Spencer Haywood 16.3
	← 1964 1972 →

The 1968 United States men's Olympic basketball team represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico from October 13 to 25, 1968. Team USA won its seventh consecutive gold medal.

1968 USA men's Olympic games roster

Name ^[1]	Position	Height	Weight	Age	Team/School	Home Town
Mike Barrett	G	6'2"	155	25	U.S. Armed Forces (West Virginia Tech)	Richwood, West Virginia
John Clawson	G	6'4"	200	24	U.S. Armed Forces (Michigan)	Naperville, Illinois
Don Dee	F	6'7"	205	25	St. Mary of the Plains Col. (KS)	Kansas City, Missouri
Calvin Fowler	G	6'1"	170	27	Goodyear Wingfoots (St. Francis)	Akron, Ohio
Spencer Haywood	C	6'8"	225	19	Trinidad State Junior College	Detroit, Michigan
Bill Hosket	F	6'8"	220	21	Ohio State University	Dayton, Ohio
Jim King	F	6'7"	200	25	Goodyear Wingfoots (Okla. St.)	Akron, Ohio
Glynn Saulters	G	6'2"	175	23	Northeast Louisiana University	Lisbon, Louisiana
Charlie Scott	F	6'5"	180	19	University of North Carolina	New York, New York
Mike Silliman	F	6'6"	225	23	U.S. Armed Forces (Military Acd.)	Louisville, Kentucky
Ken Spain	C	6'9"	240	22	University of Houston	Houston, Texas
Jo Jo White	G	6'3"	195	21	University of Kansas	St. Louis, Missouri

The roster was led by future NBA All-Stars Haywood (19 years old) and White (21 years old), who led the team in scoring, with an average of 16.3 points and 11.7 points respectively.^[2] Haywood was the youngest player to make the USA basketball team at the time.

USA Basketball also selected 6 alternates to the U.S. squad; Tom Black of the Goodyear Wingfoots, George Carter of the US Army, Joe Hamilton of Christian College of the Southwest (TX) Junior College, Dan Issel of the University of Kentucky, Rick Mount of Purdue University and Charlie Paulk of Northeastern Oklahoma College.^[3]

Notably absent from the squad or the list of alternates were Pete Maravich, who led the NCAA in scoring during his sophomore season at LSU and would go on to set the NCAA career scoring record of 3,667 points, and reigning NCAA Champion and Player of the Year Lew Alcindor, who chose not to try out for the Olympic team in protest at the treatment of African Americans in the United States, stating that he was "trying to point out to the world the futility of winning the gold medal for this country and then coming back to live under oppression."^[4] Some of other NCAA stars, such as Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, Bob Lanier and Calvin Murphy, were also absent. As such, the Americans were severely weakened.

Staff

Head coach: Hank Iba, Oklahoma State University
Assistant coach: Henry Vaughn, Goodyear Wingfoots
Assistant coach: John McLendon, Cleveland State University^[5]
Team Manager: Ben Carnevale, New York University
Assistant Manager: G. Russel Lyons, Boulder, CO
Athletic Trainer: Whitey Gwynne, West Virginia University

Results

United States beat Spain, 81–46
United States beat Senegal, 93–36
United States beat Philippines, 96–75
United States beat Yugoslavia, 73–58
United States beat Panama, 95–60
United States beat Italy, 100–61
United States beat Puerto Rico, 61–56
United States beat Brazil, 75–63
United States beat Yugoslavia, 65–50

By obtaining an 8–0 record, Team USA would earn its right to play in the gold medal game. The team who won the game would receive the gold medal, and the team who lost the game would receive the silver medal.