Panama men's national basketball team

With four qualifications to the Basketball World Cup, one qualification to the Olympic Games, and one medal at the Pan American Games, Panama has traditionally been the dominant basketball power in Central America.

Panama Pipeline[edit]

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, various Panama players played their college basketball in the United States at NAIA school Briar Cliff College as part of head coach Ray Nacke's "Panama Pipeline". Some of the members included national team members Rolando Frazier, Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Mario Butler, Eddie Warren, Reggie Grenald, and Mario Galvez. These players helped Briar Cliff to many NAIA Regional Championships, National Tournament appearances, and in 1981 the Chargers were ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA's final regular season poll.


The new millennium brought another set of very good players from Panama, coming out of the local Superior Basketball Circuit (CBS), the under 21 team, and local players in Division 1 Universities in the United States. Since 2000, Panama has gone to 4 preolympic tournaments, 5 pre-world championships, one world championship (Japan 2006), and one youth basketball olympics (Singapore 2010). The local program is based in neighborhood leagues that collect talent and export it to the United States. This symbiotic action produces the talent for the National Team.


Usually underrated and underestimated, Panama Basketball always manages to qualify to big tournaments and give stunning surprises, such as beating the United States in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007. Its long basketball tradition dating back to 1904, and its street basketball mentality of fighting hard to the end in basketball games, has made this Central American basketball program a "Classic" in the international scene.