The 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team is one of the best teams that played in the history of the Olympics. There was only one player on that team who did not make the Basketball Hall of Fame as an individual, and that was Christian Laettner.

Though the Dream Team had a loaded team, there was a game where they were outplayed and ended up losing.

The 1992 Dream Team

The 1992 Olympic Team had the best players in the league all on one team. Just look at the names: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, and a host of other talented players. Before the Olympics even started, they were favorites to take home the gold medal.

When the Olympics started in Barcelona, Spain, fans packed the arena to watch the U.S. team play. Even their opponents from other countries were star-struck when they had the chance to play against the stars of the NBA. You had players from other teams asking for autographs before and after games.

Even though the Dream Team enjoyed signing autographs for other players and fans, they still had a job to do. When it was time to play, those men did not play around. They dominated every team they played against. No team stood a chance against them.

During the Knockout stage, the Dream Team played three games and defeated each opponent by 30 points or more. In the gold medal game, they beat Croatia 117-85. That team showed the world that the U.S. has the best talent in the game of basketball. But before the Dream Team had all this success during the Olympics, they played a group of guys in a scrimmage, and it did not end well.

The Dream Team vs the college team

Before the Dream Team packed up their bags and headed to Barcelona, they played a group of college guys in San Diego, California. These weren’t just regular college players; these were the best college players in the world. On that college team were future NBA players such as Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Jamal Mashburn, Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Bobby Hurley, Eric Montross, and Rodney Rogers.

Some of those college players would go on to have successful NBA careers and would become Hall of Fame players. But at that time, they had an opportunity to play the best basketball players in the world. The college players did not back down either. The college team defeated the Dream Team in a scrimmage, and that caught the NBA players by surprise.

The game was a 20-minute scrimmage, and the college team played the best basketball of their lives. Everyone on that team contributed in a big way, and the Dream Team did not have the chemistry down. That was an eye-opening experience for the Dream Team, and they knew they had to get their stuff together. The Dream Team would scrimmage the college team again, and this time it was a different story.

The college team put the Dream Team in check

The second meeting between the Dream Team and the college team was completely different from the first. The Dream Team dominated that game and looked like the best team in the world.

Playing the college team before they went off to the Olympics really got the team together and brought their chemistry together as well. You can say that the college team helped with the Dream Team’s success a little bit.