"We didn't have all the publicity, we didn't have the guys with Nike" - Oscar Robertson says his 1960 Olympics team was also a Dream Team

oscar

The 1992 Dream Team is often celebrated as one of the greatest teams ever assembled, with stars like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird shining brightly in the memories of hoops fans all over the world. However, it may come as a surprise to some, but Oscar Robertson said there was a lesser-known but equally remarkable team that came before the Dream Team: The 1960 USA Olympic basketball team.

"We had a lot of guys in 1960 who were Hall of Famers and played very good. We beat a lot of teams, about maybe 45 points per game. We've got a good team, but we didn't have all the publicity that the guys did. We didn't have the guys with Nike and these types of shoe company and doing all these types of things all over the world and whatnot and riding on private planes,” Robertson once said.

The 1960 Olympic team was stacked too

Taking a quick trip down memory lane, Team USA indeed took home the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics held in Rome. Robertson was also on point when he said that much like the '92 Dream Team, the '60 Team USA was stacked with future Hall of Famers.

Unsurprisingly, "The Big O," Jerry Lucas, Jerry West, and Walt Bellamy were the stars of that squad, but Adrian Smith, Jay Arnette, Bob Boozer, Terry Dischinger, Burdette Haldorson, Darrall Imhoff, Allen Kelley, and Lester Lane also contributed to the country's success at the time.

"At forward, we had myself and Terry Dishchinger, [Walt] Bellamy, Jerry Lucas playing the pivot, Adrian Smith and Jerry West, man we had a real good team," Robertson recalled.

The Amateur Dream Team

In 1960, Team USA was still prohibited from including professional basketball players in the Olympic roster. Nevertheless, Robertson and the squad dominated the tournament, going 8-0 from the preliminary to the championship round.

Due to their dominance and remarkable performances, the '60 Team USA was widely regarded by some as the greatest amateur basketball team ever formed or "the amateur version of the Dream Team."

Years later, what Robertson, Bellamy, Lucas, West, the team’s head coach, Pete Newell, and manager, Dutch Lonborg, accomplished on the international stage was immortalized when they were enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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