Combinatorics Problem: Basketball Team with Players that Can Play any Position

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Problem. Suppose you are to choose a basketball team of 5 players from 12 available athletes. How many ways can you choose a team composed of 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center?

Solution. The way I understood the problem is that any player can be delegated to either of the three positions. There is no restriction to how many players we can only delegate to a certain position. So I assumed that the only concern I have is not over-counting the players I have already chosen for a certain role in a team of 5. Thus
$$\binom{12}{2}\binom{10}{2}\binom{8}{1}=23,760 \:\text{ways}$$
Is this correct?

Best Answer

Yes, this is correct. Another approach is to first choose the five players and then assign them to positions: $$\binom{12}{5}\binom{5}{2}\binom{3}{2}\binom{1}{1}=23760$$