South Korea national basketball team

Initiation (1947-1951)

In 1947, two years after the establishment of the People's Republic of Korea, the Korea Basketball Association joined the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and sent its national teams to FIBA-sponsored events. Only one year later, the team already celebrated its first major accomplishment at the 1948 Summer Olympics, when it finished 8th, better than any other Asian nation, and ahead of teams such as Canada, Argentina, and Italy.

Steady improvements (1952-1968)

At the 1954 Asian Games, for the first time ever, South Korea finished in the Final Four of a major international basketball tournament in Asia. The team slowly improved its position within Asia almost every year and qualified for the Basketball World Cup several times.

Golden years (1969-1970)

In 1969 and 1970, the team enjoyed a brief period to shine, when it won the 1969 Asian Championship and the 1970 Asian Games and ultimately qualified for the 1970 FIBA World Championship. There, as the only Asian team, South Korea finished ahead of Australia (champion of FIBA Oceania) and Egypt (champion of FIBA Africa) and showed its best performance ever at this event. Korea's Shin Dong-Pa dominated all scorers at the 1970 FIBA World Cup as he averaged 32.6 points per game, almost 13 points more than the second placed Davis Peralta from Panama.

Asian elite position behind China (1971-2007)

At the Asian Championship, South Korea stayed among the top three teams at 21 straight events, a record that is still unmatched until today. The streak finally ended when Qatar defeated South Korea at the 3rd place game at the 2005 event. Between 1975 and 2005, South Korea was the only nation besides the Philippines that was able to seriously challenge China's dominance. It interrupted China's championship winning streak in 1997, when it defeated its dominant neighbor in the semifinals and ultimately won the crown as 1997 Champion of Asia.

At the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship, Korea was able to go on a streak, and won the first 5 games. Because of the "four centers" Ha Seung-jin (221 cm), Kim Joo-sung (205 cm), Lee Dong-jun (202 cm), and Kim Min-soo (200 cm), South Korea had the tournament's highest 2-point field goal percentage (61%). Korea was also a team that had a strong back court with Kim Seung-hyun (179 cm), Yang Dong-geun (182 cm), Kim Dong-woo (198 cm), and Choi Jin-soo (205 cm), who guaranteed that the team was in the tournaments top-3 in free throw percentage (70.6) and assists per game (11.5).^[2] All these players helped their team to win the bronze medal once again.

Emergence of West Asian competition (2008-present)

In the modern era, South Korea's competition from West Asia intensified as countries such as Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, and especially Iran improved their basketball programs. South Korea is still considered one of Asia's major teams but its position among the top three teams in Asia is not guaranteed anymore. In 2014, the team qualified for the Basketball World Cup for the first time in almost 20 years. Even though the team was eliminated in the first round, the qualification itself has been a success and provided much needed global exposure. Most of the players that played at the 2014 World Cup returned for the 2014 Asian Games where they helped secure the gold medal on home soil.

William Jones Cup

William Jones Cup
Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
1977
1978	Runners-up
1979	Not held
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986	Runners-up
1987
1988	Third place
1989	Not held
1990
1991	Third place
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998	Third place
1999	Champions
2000	Runners-up	6	5	1
2001	Runners-up
2002
2003	Not held
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009	5th Place	8	5	3
2010	Did not enter
2011	Runners-up	9	7	2
2012	5th Place	8	5	3
2013	Third place	7	5	2
2014	Did not enter
2015	5th Place	8	4	4
2016	Runners-up	8	6	2
2017	Third place	9	6	3
2018	Third place	8	6	2
Total	?/37	?	?	?

Current roster

Roster for the 2018 Asian Games

South Korea men's national basketball team – 2018 Asian Games roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. C 0 Kim Jun-yl 7003959500000000000♠26 – (1992-05-07)May 7, 1992 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps G 1 Park Chan-hee 7004114420000000000♠31 – (1987-04-17)April 17, 1987 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Incheon Electroland Elephants F 2 Choi Jun-yong 7003889800000000000♠24 – (1994-04-04)April 4, 1994 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Seoul SK Knights F 3 Lee Jung-hyun 7004114870000000000♠31 – (1987-03-03)March 3, 1987 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Jeonju KCC Egis G 5 Kim Sun-hyung 7004110010000000000♠30 – (1988-07-01)July 1, 1988 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Seoul SK Knights G 6 Hur Hun 7003839900000000000♠22 – (1995-08-16)August 16, 1995 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Busan KT Sonicboom G 9 Heo Ung 7003914000000000000♠25 – (1993-08-05)August 5, 1993 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps F 11 Heo Il-young 7004120620000000000♠33 – (1985-08-05)August 5, 1985 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Goyang Orion Orions C 13 Kang Sang-jae 7003862700000000000♠23 – (1994-12-31)December 31, 1994 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Incheon Electroland Elephants F 17 Jeon Jun-beom 7003984900000000000♠26 – (1991-08-27)August 27, 1991 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps C 20 Ricardo Ratliffe 7004107670000000000♠29 – (1989-02-20)February 20, 1989 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Ulsan Mobis Phoebus F 33 Lee Seoung-hyun 7003984900000000000♠26 – (1991-08-27)August 27, 1991 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps	Head coach Hur Jae Assistant coach(es) Kim Sang-shik Legend (C) Team captain (NP) Naturalized player Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 14 August 2018

Depth chart

Past rosters

1956 Olympic Games: finished 14th among 15 teams

Ahn Byung-Suk, Kim Young-Su, Cho Byung-Hyun, Kim Choon-Pae, Kim Young-Ki, Ko Se-Te, Paik Nan-Chung, Choi Tae-Kon, Ahn Young-Sik, Kim Hyung-I

1964 Olympic Games: finished 16th among 16 teams

Shin Dong-pa, Moon Hyun-chang, Kim Young-il, Kim Seung-kyu, Chung Jin-bong, Lee Byung-koo, Kim Young-ki, Kim Chung-sun, Ha Ui-kun, Kim Moo-hyun, Bang Yeul, Kim In-kun (Coach: Kim Hee)

1968 Olympic Games: finished 14th among 16 teams

Shin Dong-pa, Lee In-pyo, Kim Young-il, Kim Moo-hyun, Kim In-kun, Choi Jong-kyu, Lee Kyung-jae, Ha Ui-kun, Yoo Hee-hyung, Park Han, Lee Byung-koo, Kwak Hyun-chae (Coach: Lee Kyung-jae, J. Jeff Gausepohl)

1970 World Championship: finished 11th among 13 teams

Shin Dong-pa, Lee In-pyo, Kim In-kun, Kim Young-il, Park Han, Choi Jong-kyu, Yoo Hee-hyung, Lee Byung-koo, Yoo Jung-kun, Lee Ja-young, Shin Hyun-soo, Kwak Hyun-chae (Coach: Kim Young-ki)

1978 World Championship: finished 13th among 14 teams

Kim In-Jin, Kim Pyung-Man, Jung Young-Soo, Jang Bong-Hak, Park Sang-Ung, Park Soo-Kyo, Kim Sang-Chun, Kim Hyung-Nyun, Kim Dong-Kwang, Koo Jong-Hoo, Lee Mun-Kyu, Choi Bu-Young (Coach: Kim Moo-Hyung)

1986 World Championship: finished 22nd among 24 teams

Hur Jae, Park In-kyu, Lee Min-hyun, Cho Yoon-ho, Han Ki-bum, Lee Mun-kyu, Kim Hyun-jun, Kim You-taek, Kim Sung-wook, Lee Won-woo, Lee Chung-hee, Goh Myong-hwa (Coach: Kim In-kun)

1988 Olympic Games: finished 9th among 12 teams

Hur Jae, Lee Mun-Kyu, Han Ki-Bum, Kim Hyun-jun, Kim Yoo-taek, Lee Won-woo, Lee Chung-hee, Park Jong-chun, Kim Yoon-hoo, Oh Seh-woong, Yoo Jae-hak, Choi Chul-kwon (Coach: Pang Yul)

Manufacturer

2016: Nike ^[3]

Sponsor

2016: Hana Financial Group ^[3]

Videos

• Korea v Iraq - Semi-Final Highlights - FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 Youtube.com video