101 Greats of European Basketball

of 1985, 1987, 1991 (bronze medal) and 1993 and the
World Cups of 1986, 1990 and 1994. In the 1990 edition,
he scored 48 points against Venezuela, which is
still the Spanish national team record. But his brilliant
career could have been even greater with an Olympic
medal.
Vladimir Stankovic
finals, Jordi Villacampa turned into a great player, the
leader of a new generation for Joventut and an important
piece on the Spanish national team.
Villacampa made his debut in a national team jersey
on April 27, 1984, in a tournament in Linares, Spain,
where he scored his first 10 points against Poland.
Spain had an impressive team, with Nacho Solozabal,
Andres Jimenez, Juanma Lopez Iturriaga, Juan Antonio
Corbalan, Fernando Romay and Jose Luis Llorente,
among others. It was the same team that would go on
to win the 1984 Olympic silver medal in Los Angeles.
National team coach Antonio Diaz Miguel decided to
leave Villacampa off his final team for the Olympics,
but after that, Villacampa became a mainstay for Spain
and featured in both the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona
1992 Olympic squads. He also played the EuroBaskets
An ideal shooting guard
Standing 1.96 meters tall, Villacampa had the perfect
build for the wing positions. He was fast and could
run the break very well, but his main weapon was his
shot. He had a great touch and was one of the first
players to really take advantage of the three-point rule
introduced in 1984. In the golden years of Joventut,
1990-91 (Spanish League champions after beating
FC Barcelona 3-1) and 1991-92 (champions again, 3-2
against Real Madrid) Villacampa was the undisputed
leader of the team. Yes, he had excellent teammates
in Rafa and Tomas Jofresa, Ferran Martinez, Corny
Thompson, Harold Pressley, Mike Smith and Juanan
Morales, but on every team there is a boss, and it was
clear that Villacampa was the leader for Penya.
Joventut reached the 1992 EuroLeague final but
lost against Partizan Belgrade, 71-70, on the famous
three-pointer by Sasha Djordjevic with a few seconds
left on the clock. Villacampa played all 40 minutes in
that game and scored 13 points, dished 1 assist and
picked up 4 steals, but it was not enough. Somehow,
however, sporting justice was made for this excellent
generation of Joventut players. Two years later, at the
Tel Aviv Final Four, Joventut was in the final again, this
time against Olympiacos Piraeus. Penya took the win
this time also by a narrow 59-57 margin behind 16
points by Villacampa in 35 minutes. The dream was
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