History of the Argentina national basketball team
[1] Canadian Professor Paul Phillip was in charge to teach basketball at the YMCA headquarters in Paseo Colón Avenue, Buenos Aires.
[2] In successive years, other clubs such as Ñaró, Estudiantes (LP), River Plate, Gimnasia y Esgrima, Universitario and Racing) registered their teams to the Federation.
By the 1930s the practise of basketball had been widely spread around Buenos Aires, with the media (more remarkably El Gráfico magazine) not only covering the sport but even organising competitions.
[4] The squad, formed entirely by amateur players, trained in preparation for the tournament in River Plate's facilities every day in double shifts, something uncommon for the times.
[4] Other important players were Ricardo González (captain), Leopoldo Contarbio, Juan Carlos Uder, Raúl Pérez Varela and Roberto Viau (who was 18 years old at the time of the tournament).
The suspension was for allegedly violating the Amateur Sportsman Statute, as, according to the administrators who had been installed in the Argentine Basketball Federation, the players had been paid to play by the overthrown government of Juan Perón.
[5] Coach Andrizzi formed a squad that averaged 22.8 years of age, the lowest in the team's history at the competition, and with only one player from the previous World Championship (Antonio Tozzi).
Desimone joined Pallacanestro Cantù in the Serie A of Italy and Zoilo Domínguez the St. Joseph College in the NCAA Division II of the United States.
[5] In the group stage, Argentina defeated Japan and Peru (who had beaten them in the last two South American Championships), and lost heavily against the Soviet Union by 39 points.
In the final round, Argentina defeated only Uruguay, losing the other 5 games (United States, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Brazil and Poland).
In the Argentine league I was a tall player with my 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in), but when we got to the hotel in Montevideo I was surprised by seeing the Soviets and Yugoslavs who were many centimeters taller and physically stronger than me.
To compensate for the lack of international experience of most of the players, the national team made the longest tour in its history, playing 20 games in 46 days throughout Europe.
The team for the 1974 World Championship was built around four experienced players: Alberto Cabrera, Ernesto Gehrmann, Carlos González and Alfredo Monachesi (who averaged 28 years of age) the intermediate generation of Adolfo Perazzo, Jorge Becerra and Raúl Guitart (averaging 23), and the youngsters Eduardo Cadillac and Carlos Raffaeli (who had won the South American Youth Championships of 1972 and 1973).
Though some of the players had other jobs or studied, all of them were professional, exception being Cabrera who did not get paid in Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca for a matter of personal principle.
Puerto Rican Flor Meléndez, by the time coach of Unión de Santa Fe in Argentina, was selected to manage the national team.
The key match for obtaining qualification was the debut against the Netherlands, in which the youngster Rik Smits (19 years of age and 2.21 m (7 ft 3 in)) scored 25 points.
The coach also faced problems when forming the squad, due to Germán Filloy and Esteban Camisassa's injuries, and center Carlos Cerutti's death earlier that year.
The squad for tournament was formed by the best players from the local league (exception being Montenegro, who rejected the call up) plus Marcelo Nicola, who was playing for Tau Cerámica in Spain.
With a taller team (including Rubén Wolkowyski, Diego Osella, Osvaldo Tourn, Esteban Pérez and the aforementioned Nicola) and two high scoring shooting guards (Héctor Campana and Juan Espil).
The team was composed by players as Marcelo Milanesio, Diego Osella, Ruben Wolkowisky, Estaban De la Fuente, Juan Espil, and a young Fabricio Oberto among others.
After obtaining back-to-back gold medals in the 2001 South American championship and in the 2001 Tournament of the Americas, Argentina took the first step on a path to solidify their place in basketball elite.
Next came the 2002 FIBA World Championship celebrated in Indianapolis, where they made history by being the first team to defeat a United States roster composed entirely of NBA players.
[10] The following year, after obtaining a sixth place in the 2003 Pan American Games with an alternate roster, Argentina sent their best players to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2003 Tournament of the Americas that would grant three spots in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
[11] In July 2004 Argentina began preparations for the Olympic Games in Athens, starting with the 2004 South American Championship held in Brazil, the Argentine team defeated the hosts in the final.
[15] Argentina made their debut on the group phase of the Olympic Tournament with an 83–82 victory against world champions Serbia and Montenegro, thanks to a last-second basket by Manu Ginóbili.
[19] The impact the series of results obtained between the Indianapolis and Athens tournaments led the Argentine press to dub this group of players The Golden Generation ("La Generación Dorada", in Spanish).
After that match the media stated it was the end of the Golden Generation[21] with some of Argentina's key players (Pablo Prigioni, Leonardo Gutiérrez and Andrés Nocioni) retiring from the national team.
With Hernández on the bench, the squad qualified to play the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro after winning the silver medal in the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.
After the game, USA's coach, Mike Krzyzewski, praised the Argentine players defining them as "not only a team but a culture, because of the magnificence they have been showing to the world during the last two decades".
[25][26] In 2019, led by Luis Scola and Facundo Campazzo at the pitch, and with Sergio Hernández as coach, the Argentine team won the gold medal in the Panamerican Games, beating Puerto Rico in the final match.
