Coach K And USA Basketball

[Edouble]

IMO, you overrate Spain and underrate the USA team. Is Pau Gasol their best talent? He's good, but didn't exactly rise to the occasion in the NBA finals.

True, but neither did Kobe.

[tecumseh]

What puzzles me is why is the US opening against China, as Yao Ming said
"My form in the games might be an illusion, caused by the differing quality of opponents," he told Sohu.com. "We have lots of problems, in rebound, in defense and in shooting quality, overall. These cannot be solved in one or two days."

I rode back to the States with some of China's top junior players and one told me that the gold medal should come down to China or the US. Perhaps Spain will beat the US but I will bet dollars to doughnuts that the US will rout China. This is a team with their best player sub par and in the last world championships they came in 15th recently they lost to Angola So to open against the USA seems to me it might shake the confidence of this pretty shaky team whom the average Chinese person has highly unrealistic expectations of. I guess it was concession to the TV god.

[wilson]

Here's a good X's and O's breakdown of the USA-Canada game the other night from Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com. Sheridan focuses on defense, and rightly points out that pick-and-roll defense needs to continue improving. He also notes as many around here have that forcing turnovers will be an important element of the team's defense. A good read.

[moonpie23]

sorry, that read like i thought we WERE going to "just go pick the gold up"...i meant that i hope we respect that it is NOT ours to just pick up...

whatever...y'll knew what i meant...but since i was Tar Heel hating on some other posts....

[moonpie23]

I rode back to the States with some of China's top junior players and one told me that the gold medal should come down to China or the US.

who's in charge of the clock? and who are the officials....i'm not sayin, i'm just sayin.


how do you say "shaftola" in ruskie???

[tecumseh]

When you are down by 40 the clock is not much of a factor. China is going to be blown out by team USA. It will be interesting to see if the USA runs out to a huge lead if they rest Yao. The Chinese are of the disposable athlete mode and are in general running Yao into the ground.

[BlueintheFace]

It's far more likely that Chinese officials simply threaten the players by telling them that their families will be bankrupted if they don't win (jk). The pressure on some of the athletes over there right now is absolutely incredible... i mean, beyond American comprehension.

Here is a breakdown of how Olympians come to be Olympians in China--

When children are younger and show athletic promise, the government approaches the child's family and offers to "educate them" while preparing them for athletic glory. The family is "compensated", but most of the time there really isn't a choice involved. The family needs the money, the party needs the child and that is what happens.

Then, these children are sent to athletic combines across the country where they do very little learning and are essentially brainwashed and trained for their sport day and night. If they are not good enough, then they are sent home, uneducated and untrained in any craft. They become useless and unable to generate any kind of living for a family. If they succeed, then they essentially become property of the state. They go where the Chinese government tells them to go when they tell them to go there. They are even limited in their choice of life partner. They usually are forced to marry another athlete for genetic (read- breeding) purposes. If they somehow win medals then they are country-wide heroes and financially set for life. If they do not, then they simply fade away and become uneducated and poor citizens with zero training in a society where such tools are almost entirely necessary to generate any kind of wealth.

So, China may be an inferior opponent, but for some of the players-- this olympics could be the difference between eventual poverty and great fortunes. Plus, a win over America would be bigger to them than our Miracle on Ice. I guarantee that.

[tecumseh]

It's far more likely that Chinese officials simply threaten the players by telling them that their families will be bankrupted if they don't win (jk).

Oh I don't think they need to tell them anything they all know what the deal is. To add to the pressure all these athletes are only children and the families are relying on them as their retirement pension. I agree unbelievable pressure and I think sadly a few will crack. As for the miracle on Ice the US had a pretty good hockey team and would have won a medal without that win. I think the Chinese have a very slim chance of a medal of any kind in basketball. If they get out of the round robin phase it will be a major accomplishment and there is so much pressure on this team. This is a team that just lost to Angola. To top off everything the Chinese are particularly bad at guard play which is the key to keeping a team steady faced with tremendous pressure. No a very bad decision for this team to open with the US. Open with the two easiest teams and get the confidence up.

[Tennessee&DukeFan414]

USA plays Turkey tomorrow @ 8:00 and Lithuania friday in firendlys. USA should beat these teams by at least 20. I know Turkey has good players suach as Kutluay,Okur,Turkoglu and Lithuania has guys such as Jasikevicius, Macijauskas, Songiala, and Siskauskas but they should be no much for USA. The real test will be in Beijing when we face Spain and Greece, who I think are the 2 favorites behind the USA to win, because Argentina has just not been playing well. I am anxious to see the Spanish Pete Maravich, who will probably be the number 1 pick in 2009 or 2010 and the Greeks Sofoklis Shortsianitis is 6'10 375 and they have a good PG in Theodoros Papaloukos but I think USA should win. It should be interesting.

[roywhite]

USA plays Turkey tomorrow @ 8:00 and Lithuania friday in firendlys

Viewer alert---the Turkey game is at 8:00 Thursday 7/31, but that's 8:00 AM EDT live, and 8:00 PM EDT on delay, both on ESPN2

I guess we should get used to planning for morning telecasts once the Olympics begin.

[CameronCrazy'11]

I believe U.S. vs. Lithuania is on ESPN2 at 8:00 AM EDT Friday morning.