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DONGGUAN, China — When it comes to basketball’s World Cup, this is how it works back home for American players: Only in defeat are you remembered.

In a tournament of such modest standing in our hoops culture, compared to the Olympics, typically only by losing does the United States men’s national basketball team command the attention of the mainstream sports public.

The 12 players who agreed to represent the United States at the 2019 FIBA World Cup knew the deal, deep down, when they signed up to join a roster that had been shunned by some 40 top pros — including all the biggest American stars. Yet those volunteers discovered the true depths of their no-win situation on Wednesday night, when the United States was outclassed early and late in an 89-79 quarterfinal loss to France at the Dongguan Basketball Center.

Had they managed to hold their 7-point lead over France in the fourth quarter and find a way through the next two rounds against Argentina and the Spain/Australia winner, this group likely would have been celebrated for what it overcame — and then quickly forgotten when more established players returned to the program next summer for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.