The
Puerto Rican national basketball team (or
Puerto Rican national basketball selection) is the
men's side that represents
Puerto Rico
in international
basketball competitions.
The team, selected by the
Puerto Rican Basketball
Federation, historically comprised only players from the
National Superior
Basketball league, but in the 1990s began to include Puerto
Rican players playing abroad professionally. In the same fashion,
teams represent Puerto Rico in
women's and junior competitions.
History
In the
1964 Tokyo
Olympics,
the team reached fourth place, in good part because of the
contributions of point guard Juan
"Pachín" Vicéns. This was, and still is as of 2007, the
highest place they have reached since the team's birth at any
Olympic Games.
The 1970s brought some memorable moments for the team, particularly
a dramatic one-point loss to the United States in the 1976
Olympics; a win would have been the first undisputed loss for the
US in Olympic competition. During this decade, the 1974 Basketball
World Championship and the 1979 Pan American Games were held in San
Juan, promoting local enthusiasm for international basketball and
Puerto Rico's presence in it.
During the
1980s, the team earned gold medals at the 1986
Dominican
Republic
Central American and
Caribbean
games, and the 1989 Mexico
Centrobasket. They also obtained a Bronze medal at the
1987 Olympic Qualifier held in Uruguay
, to secure
their first Olympic participation since 1976. They did not participate at the 1980 Moscow
games due to
the American
boycott of that competition (The Puerto Rican team,
as Puerto Rico is an autonomous nation sportswise, could have participated; they chose to
respect the boycott instead), and at the 1984
Los
Angeles
Olympics because they failed to qualify.
The Puerto
Ricans advanced to the second round in the 1988
Seoul
Olympics, finishing in seventh place.
During the 1990s, their success continued as usual, as they begun
the decade with a Fourth Place finish at the World Championship in
Argentina. In 1991, they won, for the first time, the Gold Medal at
the Pan American Games, held in Cuba.
The team qualified for
the 1992 Barcelona, Spain
Olympics and they reached the second round there,
facing the United States National team composed by NBA players in
their first game of the elimination round. They finished in
eighth place in Barcelona. In 1994, they finished in sixth place at
the World Championship in Canada, and won the Gold Medal at the
Goodwill Games competition. During this period, Puerto Rico was
classified as one of the top 10 international teams.
In
1996, they placed 10th at the Olympic Games
in Atlanta, USA, and conquered the first of back to back Gold
medals at Centrobasket. In
2000, they retained
the Centrobasket title, with another triumph in Mexico.
In
2003, the team won the Gold medal at the
Central American and Caribbean Games, held at El Salvador
.
In 2002, the team had a strong showing at the World Championship
held in Indianapolis, USA. In a tournament full of well-known
professionals, including NBA superstars, they beat the top 3
European teams at the time; eventual champion Yugoslavia, Turkey
and Spain. Puerto Rico, with a 5-1 record entering the
quarterfinals, lost its chance to get into the medals round in a
dramatic 2-point loss to New Zealand, eventually placing
seventh.
The Puerto Rican National Basketball Team conquered the silver
medal at the 2004 Centrobasket tournament, losing to the Dominican
Republic, 75-74, in the championship game.
In August
15, 2004, at the 2004 Summer
Olympics in Athens
, Greece
, the Puerto
Rican National Basketball Team became the second team in history to
defeat the United States Olympic basketball team, recording only
the third loss in Olympic competition for the U.S. team, and the
first since NBA
players were allowed to compete. The 92-73 outcome of that
game is, as of 2007, the most lopsided victory against the US
(collegiate or professional players) in the history of
Olympic/World Championship basketball.
The other team to
defeat the U.S. had been the Soviet Union
in the 1972 gold
medal game (whose outcome is still disputed) and the 1988 semifinals.
2004-2008
At the
2006 FIBA World
Championship contested in Japan
, Puerto
Rico, in group play, defeated
Senegal and the
People's Republic of
China but lost ties against the United States,
Italy, and Slovenia, the latter two,
played respectively on August 23 and
August 24 in Sapporo, by eight points and then one. The
application of a second
tiebreaker of
points differential to Slovenia, China, and Puerto Rico, each with
a
winning percentage of .400,
placed Puerto Rico fifth in
Group D, and
the team did not advance to the
knockout round; the squad were
ultimately
placed
seventeenth amongst the twenty-four competing teams.
On August 6, 2007, the team began in their first participation in a
Caribe Basket tournament, debuting against Trinidad &
Tobago. Although the team didn't had the participation of Daniel
Santiago or Rick Apodaca, they won the tournament which was
classificatory for the 2008 Centrobasket.
Puerto Rico was placed in Group D of the Fiba Preolympic Tournament
in the draw that took place on January 31, 2008. This group
included
Croatia
and
Cameroon and
its winner would cross with the second place of Group C. Following
this event the president of the National Superior Basketball League
confirmed that the team had already scheduled exhibition games
against Germany, Greece and New Zealand beginning on July 4, 2008.
A second set of exhibition games was scheduled to start on July 8,
2008 in Slovenia, after these preparatory tournaments the team
would train until the tournament's beginning. The team began
practicing on May 19, 2008, and included several players that were
under consideration for inclusion by Cintrón. On June 4, 2008,
Daniel Santiago confirmed that he
would abandon his international retirement and play with Puerto
Rico in the Preolympic Tournament. The player announced that he
would join the team in July, following an exhibition game. Javier
Mojica, Alejandro Carmona and Joel Jones were included in as
potential members in a preliminary team. On July 1, 2008, hours
before the team was scheluded to travel to Europe, Angelo Reyes was
excluded after not establishing communication with the directives.
Reyes was replaced with Alex Falcón. Subsecuently, Reyes asked for
a dispense to attend personal matters, noting that he intended to
join the team in a week, however the player was not included due to
time contrains. In the first game of a series of exhibition games,
Puerto Rico defeated
Germany with scores of
85-83. In this game the team was mostly composed of reserve
players, while Carlos Arroyo, Daniel Santiago, Larry Ayuso and
Carmelo Lee were attending different compromises. Puerto Rico
continued playing with these players, finishing second in the
Bamberg Super Cup, losing in the finals to Greece who entered the
cup with their entire lineup. Santiago and Ayuso joined the
practices on July 5, 2008.
Puerto Rico then traveled to Slovenia
, where the Alpos Cup was being held. The
first match in this tournament was against New Zealand, whom they
defeated 82-74. In the semifinals the team faced Iran, defeating
them 83-80. Puerto Rico finished second in ths cup, losing to
Slovenia in the finals. The Olympic Qualifying Tournament began on
July 14, 2008, the team received a "bye" on its first day. Puerto
Rico's debut came the following day, defeating Cameroon 81-72,
advancing to the second round due to a loss that the African team
suffered during the first day of competition. On its second game
the team lost to Croatia. In the quarterfinals Puerto Rico defeated
Slovenia 81-70. The team didn't qualify to the Olympics, after
losing to Greece in the semifinals and Germany in the tournament's
bronze medal game.
2008-2012
This Olympic cycle began with the
2008
CentroBasket competition. After having failed to classify
directly to it, Puerto Rico´s spot was secured after it´s first and
only participation in the
2007 CaribeBasket tournament, where Puerto Rico won all round
one games by over 25 points and went on to win gold. The 2008
Centrobasket was scheduled to take place before the Olympic
Qualifying Tournament, but due to time constraints it was
postponed. A group of prospects was included in the roster to
replace Peter John Ramos and Ricky Sachez, who were injured. Among
those included was Angel Daniel Vasallo, who played as a small
forward in
Virginia Tech.
In the
first game of the tournament, Puerto Rico defeated Costa Rica
. In the other two games of the first round,
the team defeated Cuba
and Panama
.
During the course of the event, Carlos Arroyo and Larry Ayuso were
forced to rest a game due to injuries.
In the semifinals,
the team scored a win over the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico won the gold medal by defeating
the United
States Virgin Islands
in the finals, with scores of 70-87. The
team has secured a spot in the
2010 FIBA World Championship by
finishing in 1 of the top 4 spots in the
2009 FIBA Americas
Championship.
Puerto Rico finished the tournament with the
Silver as they lost to Brazil
61-60. Pending the performance at the 2010 FIBA World
Championship, this cycle has had Puerto Rico with a record of 19-2
(Caribebasket 6-0, Centrobasket 5-0, FIBA Americas 8-2), not
counting the 2nd place finished in the 2009 Marchand Cup.
Uniform
During most of the 1980s and up until the late 1990s, the team wore
a solid color uniform, with accent lines and the word "Puerto Rico"
written in stylized cursive. Nowadays, the national team's uniform
resembles a
Puerto Rican flag, but
also includes the usual Puerto Rico sign in cursive. The uniforms
are red or blue for "visitor" status, and white for "host."
Performance at FIBA World Championships
Puerto Rico has only been absent from two world championships since
its debut in 1959 (1970 and 1982)'. It failed to qualify for the
2006 Championship, but received one of the four invitations to
play. The best performance was at the 1990 Championships, reaching
semifinals, but failing to win a medal.
Performance at Olympic Games
Puerto Rico has participated in nine Olympic tournaments, coming in
fourth in 1964 and achieving history in 2004 when it became the
first team in history to defeat a United States' team composed of
NBA players. Up to this day, Puerto Rico's win over Team USA
represents their biggest margin of loss (19 points) in
international competition ever. Since its debut in Olympic
basketball in 1960, it has only been absent from 4 Olympic
tournaments (1980 because of the boycott, 1984, 2000 and
2008).
Performance at FIBA Americas Championships
| Year |
Position |
Tournament |
Host |
| 1980 |
Gold |
1980 FIBA Americas
Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 1984 |
6 |
1984 FIBA Americas
Championship |
São Paulo , Brazil |
| 1988 |
Silver |
1988 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Montevideo , Uruguay |
| 1989 |
Gold |
1989 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Mexico City , Mexico |
| 1992 |
4 |
1992 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Portland, Oregon , United
States |
| 1993 |
Silver |
1993 FIBA Americas
Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 1995 |
Gold |
1995 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Tucumán , Argentina |
| 1997 |
Silver |
1997 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Montevideo, Uruguay |
| 1999 |
4 |
1999 FIBA Americas
Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 2001 |
4 |
2001 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Neuquén, Argentina |
| 2003 |
Bronze |
2003 FIBA Americas
Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 2005 |
7 |
2005 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic |
| 2007 |
Bronze |
2007 FIBA Americas
Championship |
Las Vegas, Nevada , United
States |
| 2009 |
Silver |
2009 FIBA Americas
Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Puerto Rico has participated in all of the FIBA Americas
Championships and has gone all the way to the semifinals in all but
the 1984 and 2005 tournaments. It has a total of 9 medals.
Performance at the Pan American Games
| Year |
Position |
Tournament |
Host |
| 1959 |
Silver |
1959 Pan American
Games |
Chicago, Illinois |
| 1963 |
Bronze |
1963 Pan American
Games |
São Paulo, Brazil |
| 1967 |
5 |
1967 Pan American
Games |
Winnipeg, Canada |
| 1971 |
Silver |
1971 Pan American
Games |
Cali, Colombia |
| 1975 |
Silver |
1975 Pan American
Games |
Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1979 |
Silver |
1979 Pan American
Games |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 1983 |
6 |
1983 Pan American
Games |
Caracas, Venezuela |
| 1987 |
Bronze |
1987 Pan American
Games |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 1991 |
Gold |
1991 Pan American
Games |
Havana, Cuba |
| 1995 |
6 |
1995 Pan American
Games |
Mar del Plata, Argentina |
| 1999 |
Bronze |
1999 Pan American
Games |
Winnipeg, Canada |
| 2003 |
Bronze |
2003 Pan American
Games |
Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic |
| 2007 |
Silver |
2007 Pan American
Games |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Performance at the CentroBasket Championship
| Year |
Position |
Tournament |
Host |
| 1965 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1969 |
Bronze |
CentroBasket Championship |
Havana , Cuba |
| 1971 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Caracas , Venezuela |
| 1973 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 1975 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic |
| 1977 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Panama City , Panama |
| 1981 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| 1985 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1987 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| 1989 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Havana, Cuba |
| 1991 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Monterrey , Mexico |
| 1993 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| 1995 |
Bronze |
CentroBasket Championship |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| 1997 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Tegucigalpa , Honduras |
| 1999 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Havana, Cuba |
| 2001 |
Gold |
Centro Basket Championship |
Toluca ,
Mexico |
| 2003 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Culiacán , Mexico |
| 2004 |
Silver |
CentroBasket Championship |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| 2006 |
Bronze |
CentroBasket Championship |
Panama City, Panama |
| 2008 |
Gold |
CentroBasket Championship |
Cancún ,
Mexico |
Puerto Rico is the most dominant team in the CentroBasket
Championships, having participated in all of them but 1967 and
obtaining a medal in all.
Performance at CaribeBasket
Puerto Rico has only participated in one CaribeBasket tournament
after failing to classify directly to CentroBasket 2008. In this
tournament, it won all round one games by over 25 points and went
on to win gold.
Performance at other international events
Current squad
The following players have been called up for
FIBA Americas Championship
2009,
Puerto Rico.
Rosters
References
External links
- Head coach
- Assistant coach(es)
- Legend:
- (C) Team captain
- nat field describes country
of last club
before the tournament
- Age field is age on August 20, 2009
|
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