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Another pleasant surprise was the largely unheralded American basketball team, which at week's end seemed likely to leave Munich unbeaten; that would leave yet unbroken a U.S. Olympic winning streak dating back to 1936. Since this year's team lacks an all-round star of the caliber of Bill Bradley (1964) or Spencer Heywood (1968), there had been some speculation that the U.S. might finally get knocked off by the rough-and-tumble Cubans, who had defeated them in the 1970 Pan-American Games, the offense-minded Brazilians or the towering Russians. But wily Hank Iba, a college coach for 36 years (at Oklahoma State) and Olympic mentor for the past eight years, stitched together a tenacious, defense-oriented unit of his own. With 6-ft. 9-in. Jim Brewer of Minnesota holding Star Center Pedro Chappe to a mere four points, the U.S. team whipped the Cubans, 67-48. The Brazilians proved tougher, forcing the Americans to shoot from the outside as they built a seven-point lead in the second half. But the U.S., led by hard-driving Tom Henderson and Doug Collins, penetrated Brazil's formidable defense and earned a 61-54 victory and a clear shot at another undefeated Olympic tournament.
While U.S. athletes were picking up medals in events no one expected them to win, they also lost their best chance to win a gold or silver in an American specialty, the 100-meter dash. Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson, who have both equaled the world record of 9.9 sec. and who were favored to beat Russia's fleet Valery Borzov, were disqualified as the result of an unconscionable lapse by Sprint Coach Stan Wright. Hart and Robinson had easily qualified in the preliminary heats, but they missed competing in the quarterfinals (while unwittingly watching them on TV, thinking that they were viewing replays) because Wright had misinformed them about the starting time. U.S. Sprinter Robert Taylor, who had also qualified for the quarterfinals, discovered the mistake at the same time Hart and Robinson did, and just made it to the blocks for his heat. He remained in the running as the only U.S. hope in the 100 meters, but finished second behind Gold-Medal Winner Borzov.
Wright was desolated: "It's all my fault. I'm the one to blame." His anguish did not soften Hart and Robinson. "I don't care, the man is a coach, he can say he's sorry," fumed Robinson. "What about three years? What about torn ligaments, pulled muscles, a broken leg?" He added bitterly: "He can go on being a coach. What can I go on being?"