Puerto Rico national basketball team
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since September 2006. |
 Puerto Rico |
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| FIBA ranking | 12th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FIBA zone | FIBA Americas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National federation | FBPR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic Games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIBA Americas Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | Gold: 1980, 1995 Silver: 1988, 1993, 1997 Bronze: 2003 |
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The Puerto Rican national basketball team (or Puerto Rican national basketball selection) is the men's side that represent Puerto Rico in international basketball competitions, including in the Games of the Olympiad, Pan American Games, Goodwill Games, Central American and Caribbean Games, Centrobasket, and FIBA World Championship. The side, selected by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation, historically comprised only players from National Superior Basketball, but, in the 1990s, began to include Puerto Rican players playing in the American National Basketball Association. Similarly-styled teams represent Puerto Rico in women's and juniors competitions.
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[edit] History
In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the team reached the fourth place thanks to the contribution of Juan "Pachín" Vicéns. This was the highest place they had reached since the teams birth. However, during the 1970s, the team had a varying degree of success on these competitions.
The 1980s, it could be said, were the team's golden years. They earned gold medals at the 1983 Venezuela Pan American Games, the 1986 Dominican Republic Central American and Caribbean games, and the 1989 Mexico Centrobasket. After that triumph, the Puerto Rican players returned home to a large welcoming at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan. They also obtained a Bronze medal at the 1987 Pre Olympics 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.
In 1987, the men's sub-21 national team also brought national pride to basketball fans in Puerto Rico, winning the gold medal at the sub-21 Centrobasket, held in Caguas, Puerto Rico, defeating the Cuban team by a score of 94-78 in the championship game.
During the 1990s, their success slowed somewhat; nevertheless, they qualified for the 1992 Barcelona, Spain Olympics and they reached the second round there, having the misfortune of facing the Dream Team in their first game of the elimination round. They finished in eighth place in Barcelona.
In 1996, they 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.
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 by recording only the third loss in Olympic competition for the U.S. team, and the first since NBA players were allowed to compete. The other team to defeat the U.S. has been the Soviet Union in the 1972 gold medal game and the 1988 semifinals.
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 competiing teams.
[edit] Uniform
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since September 2006. |
During most of the 1980s and up until the late 1990s, the team wore a uniform with the word Puerto Rico written in cursive, styled in the way that the NBA's Clippers wore their name on their uniforms at the time. The uniforms were red for road tournaments, and white for tournaments where they were the hosts. Nowadays, the national team's uniform reflects the Puerto Rican flag.
[edit] Current national team
The side who represented Puerto Rico at the 2006 FIBA World Championship comprised:
| Jersey number | Position played | Height | Name | Year of birth | Club otherwise represented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Center | 7'3" | Peter John Ramos | 1985 |  Washington Wizards |
| 5 | Forward | 6'8" | Angelo Reyes | 1982 | Criollos de Caguas |
| 6 | Point guard | 6'2" | Roberto Hatton | 1977 |  Spartak St. Petersburg |
| 7 | Guard | 6'3" | Carlos Arroyo | 1979 | Orlando Magic |
| 8 | Guard | 6'3" | Rick Apodaca | 1980 |  Legea Scafati |
| 9 | Guard | 6'3" | Christian Dalmau | 1975 |  Prokom Trefl Sopot |
| 10 | Guard | 6'1" | Larry Ayuso | 1977 |  Zalgiris Kaunas |
| 11 | Forward | 6'8" | Antonio Latimer | 1978 | San German Atlethics |
| 12 | Guard | 6'3" | Filiberto Rivera | 1982 |  Artland Dragons |
| 13 | Center | 6'10" | Manuel Narvaez | 1981 | Ponce Lions |
| 14 | Forward | 6'7" | Carmelo Antrone Lee | 1977 | Guaynabo Conquistadores |
| 15 | Center | 7'0" | Daniel Santiago | 1976 |  Unicaja Málaga |
[edit] Notable players past and present
- Rick Apodaca
- Carlos Arroyo
- Elias Larry Ayuso
- Jose Juan Barea
- James Carter
- Eddie Casiano
- Wesley Correa
- Angelo Cruz
- Carlos Cruz
- Christian Dalmau
- Raymond Dalmau
- Jose Lanauze
- Antonio "Puruco" Latimer
- Edgar Leon
- Francisco Leon
- Federico Lopez
- Orlando Melendez
- Jerome Mincy
- Mario Morales
- Evelio Ortiz
- José "Piculín" Ortiz
- Peter John Ramos
- Ramon Ramos
- Ramon Rivas
- Filiberto Rivera
- Ruben Rodriguez
- Angel Santiago
- Daniel Santiago
- Jose Sosa
- Arquelio Torres
- Georgie Torres
- Orlando Vega
- Alonso Custodio
- Juan "Pachín" Vicéns
- Joel Jones
neftali rivera charlie bermudez teo cruz freddie lugo joe hatton butch lee tito ortiz jose sosa mickey coll josean baez hector blondet luis brignoni cesar fantauzi nestor cora willie quinonez armando torres caco cancel Sammy Betancurt Edwin Pellot Manny Figueroa Ritchie Hernandez Johnny Báez
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