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It was a phenomenal team that couldn’t help but get better. Those guys really did get better and better during that time.”

In Los Angeles, players stayed in the Olympic Village on the University of Southern California campus. The team rode on the same bus with athletes such as gymnast Mary Lou Retton and boxer Pernell Whitaker. Alford met sprinter Carl Lewis and diver Greg Louganis. Alford said the experience gave him a lifelong appreciation of athletes from other sports.

“We were a part of the Olympics,” he said. “We weren’t the Olympics.”

Team USA swept through group play with a 5–0 record, beating China 97–49, Canada 89–68, Uruguay 104–68, France 120–62, and Spain 101–68. Alford came off the bench to score thirteen points against Canada on six-of-eight shooting. Against Uruguay, the Americans once made fifteen consecutive shots.

Alford was taking antibiotics for a staph infection before the game against France, but it was not evident. In twenty-three minutes, he shot eight of eight from the field and two of two on free throws for eighteen points. For years, he has teased his basketball-playing children about it.