INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL
A Lesson in Basketball History
Brian McCormick, Hard2Guard
After USA Basketball lost to Germany, Steve Kerr said, “It’s not 1992 anymore.”
There are two greatly overlooked factors about 1992: First, other countries already were developing talented players; second, it was the first Olympics at which the former countries of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union competed separately. Yugoslavia became Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. The Soviet Union became Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, and Slovenia competed at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The Soviet Union defeated Yugoslavia for gold in the 1988 Olympics, as the United States won the bronze.
2023 FIBA World Cup Final Recap: Germany are World Champions, Silver for Serbia, and Bronze for Canada
Andrew Bernucca, Fansided