Olympic Legends - London a happy hunting ground for Team USA

LONDON (Olympics) - Next summer, London will host the Olympic Games for the first time since 1948.

In doing so, it will host its first major basketball tournament since those Games 63 years ago.

Serious efforts to grow the sport in the country mean that tickets for the basketball sold out long ago for home fans and there is great anticipation about what a British team led by Luol Deng might be able to achieve on court.

But back in 1948, basketball was something of a curiosity for British fans, who watched their own team go 0-6 to finish 20th.

Instead, it was the United States who dominated on the court. 

Basketball was being played at an Olympics for only the second time, the first being in 1936, but this time it was played indoors on a wooden court, in a fashion far more recognisable to fans today.

However, the rosters were made up in a very different fashion.

Phillips 66ers coach Bud Browning led the United States team, assisted by University of Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp, and their 14-man roster included five 66ers and five Wildcats.

The two coaches used a strategy of sending the players out as complete five-man units, starting games with the 66ers players and then, when a substitution was called for, switching all five for the Kentucky quintet.

It worked at first as they routed Switzerland 86-21 and Czechoslovakia 53-28, but against Argentina, the United States found themselves in trouble, with Rupp's Wildcats unable to hold a slim lead built by the 66ers, and they trailed at half-time.

In the second half, the coaches abandoned the five-man unit system and began to mix things up, eventually pulling out at 59-57 victory.

From then on, the United States returned to dominating as they brushed aside Egypt, Peru, South American champions Uruguay and Mexico to reach the final.

Once there, Browning returned to a starting line up formed entirely of 66ers, but quickly abandoned the system as they struggled to impose themselves on France.

As the team became more flexible, the US went on a 19-5 run and eventually won 65-21 to take gold.

FIBA