LEXINGTON – There will be a distinct Kentucky flavor to the U.S. men’s basketball team taking the court for the Tokyo Olympics.
But even if the squad featuring former Wildcats Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo and Keldon Johnson wins the gold medal, this version of Team USA will not be UK’s most prominent appearance in the Olympics. That distinction belongs to the 1948 U.S. Olympic basketball team, which featured Kentucky’s entire starting five from its 1948 national championship squad.
Just four days after winning the NCAA title in Madison Square Garden in New York, Adolph Rupp’s Wildcats beat Louisville in the first game in the college bracket of the Olympic Trials.