The history of Spanish basketball and the national team cannot be understood without the reference of the emblematic figure of “Nino” Buscató. The point guard was one of the pioneers in using the jump shot in Spain, which left a significant mark during the 1960s for his fast, authoritarian and agile style of play.
The history of Spanish basketball and the national team cannot be understood without the impact of Francesc Buscatóbetter known as Nino Buscató. A point guard who, with just 1.78 tall and a limited physique, was one of the pioneers in using the jump shot in Spain, a highly effective technical gesture that according to the player himself “was the shot of the future because it was more surprising.” . He was an emblematic figure of Spanish basketball, who left a significant mark during the 1960s, a time in which basketball was played on open courts, with cement floors, with boards that were made of wood and heavy balls that complicated control. of the boat.
His legacy is supported by his 222 international matches with the National Team, his participation in three editions of the Olympic Games and in eight Europeans, as well as on the seven occasions he was part of the European team. In national competition, he won two Leagues and two Cups with different teams and put the finishing touch to his career with a silver medal in the Eurobasket of Barcelona (1973).
The nickname “Nino” comes from the name of the family business, the bakery. Cal Nino, which he combined with sport for many years. From a very young age, he participated in different sports disciplines, “in a single day I competed in three school finals, football, handball and basketball”, however, it was in basketball where he began to stand out for his fast, authoritarian and agile.
His career as a professional player
Francesc made his debut at the age of 15 in the first team of the UDR Pineday, from his hometown, in which he showed prodigious conditions in his first two seasons, which would lead him to compete in the Primera Catalana at only 16 years old. As expected, his talent soon caught the attention of big teams.
In 1957 he signed for Barcelona, because the person in charge of the club’s sections, Antoni Pales, had dealings with the family and “convinced my mother, who made it a condition that I continue living in Pineda and return there every night.” Every day she came home from training at twelve at night and started making bread until seven.
Nino Buscató with the Youth of Badalona
He was there three years, until the president Enric Llaudet He decided to convert the sections into amateurs and the team was dismembered, “it was the high point of my career and I wanted to continue playing in the National League.” He ended up in Aismalíbar de Montcada y Reixachwhere he trained definitively for four years under the direction of the coach who had the most impact on him throughout his career, Eduardo Kucharski. He then made the jump to Youth of Badalona (known to its fans as the “rock“), where he spent eleven seasons and lived the best years of his career, becoming the most emblematic player in Catalan basketball.
Some of the best anecdotes of his career come from this stage, such as the 1970 Cup Winners’ Cup tie, when they had to go to Athens to play against AEK on a hellish trip, where the players were subjected to terrible pressure from the moment they arrived. , “about 500 people constantly followed us wherever we went. During training they stayed on the edge of the track uttering insults and threats, with constant chants. For the match, 40,000 spectators gathered in the Athens Olympic stadium, uncovered of course. It had rained recently and the entire ground was wet, it was almost impossible to play. On the first ball they punched me in the stomach and the referee did nothing. We lost by 21″.
Buscató was always one of the most sought-after players in the basketball market and the Real Madrid He did not hesitate to try to sign him on several occasions, “Saporta even gave me a blank heel, but for me the important thing was to continue learning alongside the best coach I knew, Kucharski.”
The Spanish team, a withdrawal in style
In the national team he served as leader of the group of regular Catalan players and almost always had to negotiate bonuses with Raimundo Saporta. “If you won any ‘fight’ it was with the national team and with that the Catalans were excited. Those from Madrid were already used to it, however we…”.
The peak moment of Buscató’s international career came at the ’73 Eurobasket, a crucial event in the history of basketball in this country, “it was the media event that marked the takeoff of basketball as a mass sport. For ten days the country lived basketball at its best”. Things couldn’t have gone better, the goal was to reach the semifinals and the team responded, not only by achieving it but also by defeating the USSR in a historic match that qualified for the final against Yugoslavia. Even though they lost that match, the Spanish team’s participation in that European Championship was considered a success.
Buscató took advantage of this opportunity to announce his retirement from the national team, “For me it was special because it meant farewell and in Barcelona. In addition, we defeated the Russian giant in a memorable match“. After the Eurobasket that year he continued to be active for one more season in Joventut and then he left permanently. He did not publicly say that he was retiring, but everyone interpreted it like this, “if a big team had come to me, I think that It would have been useful because I was fit.
Nino Buscató in a match with the Spanish National Team
He later began his career as a coach alongside Kucharski and at the head of Joventut in the 75-76 season, but in that same year both ended up resigning from their position after the European elimination. Later, Buscató took charge of the Barcelona junior, The hospital in Primera B and, since 1992, he has held the position of coach of Catalonia.
For 20 years, he has worked as a basketball teacher at the Barcelona Institute of Physical Education and he combines it with being a radio commentator for the network TO BE, “I live well, as much as I can. “I am linked to the world of basketball doing what I like and I am happy.”
2023-12-10 03:12:42
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