Who were those masked men who captured the 2010 FIBA World Championship Sunday night in Istanbul?

Sure we knew the faces of the old-wise veterans on the squad, Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, and the young emerging NBA superstars, Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.

But Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Danny Granger, Eric Gordon and Kevin Love? Who were they?

Well, we can now call them U.S.A. gold medalists who gained valuable exposure over the last month proudly representing their country.

Six out of the 12 players on the 2010 USA Basketball roster were 22 years of age or younger.

And because of their age and lack of international experience, they proved pundits wrong by winning this year's world basketball competition.

No, this team didn't rout countries like the Redeem Team in '08, however, it did show the NBA will be just fine without Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony .

Dwayne C. Nelson is also a featured arts and entertainment and sports contributor for Associated Content from Yahoo! Click here to check out more of his content.