My Summer Lair Chapter #314: Did The Select Team Really And Truly Beat The Dream Team?
On April 8,1989 FIBA (The International Basketball Federation) under the leadership of Secretary General Borislav Stanković approved the rule that allowed NBA players to compete in international tournaments, including the Olympics.
Until that point, USA Basketball Men’s National Team was populated with college players; granted many of these kids would eventually end up in the NBA. Still, they were 19, 20 year old kids…all raw talent.
The 1988 US Team collegian roster included future NBA all-stars David Robinson, Danny Manning and Mitch Richmond. (Thunder Dan Majerle led the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game.)
That 1988 team came up short, winning the bronze medal. The American team beat Australia 78–49 in the bronze medal game. To give you a sense of where International competition was at that time.
1988 was the last time the American Olympic Team consisted exclusively of non-NBA (mostly college) players.
Within the first two minutes of We Beat The Dream Team there is this Bob Costas voiceover quote:
“America’s collegians have a rich history in world competition. And with professionals now in the picture…it looks like the start of a promising new era.”
That was a radical understatement. Following the FIBA rule change…the greatest basketball team (sports team?) ever was assembled.
The legendary Dream Team was: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, John Stockton and Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley. Christian Laettner was the one collegiate player.
Stunning.
Of course, in the 1992 Summer Olympics, the U.S. Dream Team won the gold medal with an average winning margin of 44 points per game. And without calling a timeout.
It was a dominate performance marred only…by 1 significant loss. To the Select Team.
The 1992 Select Team was Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, Bobby Hurley, Jamal Mashburn, Allan Houston, Eric Montross and Rodney Rogers.
That’s still an impressive team. These were all 19, 20 year old kids: this was Duke Grant Hill and Michigan Chris Webber. No doubt they were good.
Cue the We Beat The Dream Team documentary trailer:
It seems silly now but head Coach Chuck Daly wanted to prepare The Dream Team. An assembled talented like that could only win Gold. Anything else would be considered a failure and entirely unacceptable. So Coach Daly pitted The Select Team vs The Dream Team in a private scrimmage to prepare for battle.
In an unexpected twist, the upstart and snarky college team shocked the NBA superstars by defeating them in that scrimmage. The scrimmage lasted about 20 minutes, but the Select Team finished with a solid 62-54 triumph. Sure: it wasn’t a “real game.”
But come on…did you really think these college punks were just gonna walk into this gym and defeat the NBA elite?
It was a sobering reset and according to the established narrative…that trash talking laced loss ultimately propelled The Dream Team to gold.
“Using the only surviving VHS copy of the secret scrimmage, interviews with the USA Select Team key players and coaches We Beat The Dream revisits the only game the celebrated Dream Team lost, sharing this powerful David vs Goliath story from the perspective of the college athletes.”
Only…did it all happen? There’s one lingering controversy: Did The Select Team Really And Truly Beat The Dream Team?
For that and which side you pick…you gotta watch the documentary.
This is more than just the latest My Summer Lair podcast. This is a time machine. And we’re going back to the ‘90s.
This MSL conversation starts with Michael and me talking about X Caps…remember those distinct baseball caps? And speaking of Spike Lee…
I’ve done many NBA-basketball related interviews and yet I think this is the first episode where I bring up Lil Penny. Shout out to those iconic trash talking commercials where Lil Penny was voiced by Chris Rock.
I asked Michael Tolajian about working at NBA Inside Stuff; one of his first professional NBA gigs. All the abiding adoration we currently have for Inside The NBA is mirrored in that classic Saturday morning TV show hosted by Ahmad Rashad and Willow Bay.
Yes…this is clearly all about ‘90s NBA. And if you are a basketball fan, this is the good stuff.
And yet this is all about dreams. About resilience. About hope. That’s also the good stuff.
We Beat The Dream Team is streaming on HBO Max (America) and Crave (Canada): #SetTheVCR.
Shall we revisit the glorious 1990s in the NBA?
We Beat Dream Team @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 1:30 pm (EST)
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