Was K's Legacy on the line yesterday in Team USA's Gold Medal game?

[weezie]

My jaw hit the floor when LeBron dumped the water on K's head.
Imagine the Duke basketball player fraternity watching and gasping.
Very cool.

[Acymetric]

My jaw hit the floor when LeBron dumped the water on K's head.
Imagine the Duke basketball player fraternity watching and gasping.
Very cool.

That was awesome. The camera showed LeBron picking up the two water bottles and I was just like "man, guess he's really thirsty!" Then they show some other stuff going on on the court and all of the sudden you see LeBron sneaking up behind Coach K...hilarious. Me and my friends died when we saw it.

[hq2]

Yep. Yesterday was a "whew" moment. A loss and any future conversation about K's greatness and legacy would have to jump over that Olympics loss. I am glad we don't have to.

Definitely, The Carolina folks would never have let us off on that one; they've been rooting for him to lose ever since Brown and Karl got clobbered.
K's place on the coaching Mount Rushmore is now completely secure. He's no worse than third or fourth; I still give Wooden the top spot, but
it's close between K and maybe Rupp or Hank Iba for second (and yes, Rupp was a racist, but that was typical of his era). Still, find it hard
to believe, after 25 years of excellence, that of the 300 division one coaches and programs, that ours was indeed the best. Wow. What an honor!

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Definitely, The Carolina folks would never have let us off on that one; they've been rooting for him to lose ever since Brown and Karl got clobbered.
K's place on the coaching Mount Rushmore is now completely secure. He's no worse than third or fourth; I still give Wooden the top spot, but
it's close between K and maybe Rupp or Hank Iba for second (and yes, Rupp was a racist, but that was typical of his era). Still, find it hard
to believe, after 25 years of excellence, that of the 300 division one coaches and programs, that ours was indeed the best. Wow. What an honor!

Two good reads...


http://aol.sportingnews.com/olympics...ent-chris-paul

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/pick...lead_bask.html

[Duvall]

Speaking of legacies, one of the pleasures of this summer has been seeing NBA writers and bloggers respond to the way the Heat, Thunder and Team USA moved LeBron and Durant around the court by talking about how the future of basketball is multidimensional players without positions.

[hq2]

Great reads. It shows that K was the right man at the right place at the right time. In the end, however,
I believe that it was the humiliation of 2004 that made it possible (or necessary). I mean they didn't just lose, they got blown out, repeatedly. To experience what was supposed to be America's best getting their butts kicked by a bunch of players individually not remotely equal in talent to the American players had an absolutely incredible effect on guys like Carmelo and Lebron; it was too much for them to take. I'll never forget the words of Doug Collins watching Argentina getting the gold medals, remembering the robbery of '72, staring at our players in shame: "The worst part about it all was not hearing the national anthem be played". The players who stood on the bronze medal steps, and the rest of the NBA simply couldn't bear it. And that was why, when K came along and showed them the way to winning again on the international stage, they were willing to do it his way. And, the rest is history.

[Newton_14]

You know the Duke haters were out there hoping Spain would pull the upset. Then they could have said that K was the losing coach in the greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history (LeHigh) and the head coach in the greatest upset in Olympic history........in the SAME year!! Thank gawd LeBron, Durant. Kobe and Paul kept that from happening!!!

Agree with Kedsy that Duke's loss to Lehigh was not the greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history. Not even close really.

I am also a bit miffed by the part I bolded in your post. You seem to be implying that Lebron, Durant, Kobe, and Paul "bailed Coach K out". I don't see it that way at all. As has been mentioned in the other thread on the Olympic win, 2002 and 2004 showed that coaching is in fact a critical element, and Coach K played a very large role in this team winning gold. Especially given the players we lost due to injury. Any other coach may well have taken lesser players just to have a "normal" amount of big men. That strategy may well have back fired and produced something less than gold. K instead, chose to take his chances with just two top level big men in Chandler and Love, and to go small with a frontline of Anthony, Lebron, and Durant.

The USA had a ton of talent even without Howard, Bosh, and Rose, and the players deserve a huge amount of props. They bought in to the system, with each playing a role that differed from their roles in the NBA. I have mad respect for all of those players for that fact alone. It took that attitude, combined with their talents, combined with the mastery that is Coach K to bring home gold.

So I thank God that all of their efforts were rewarded in the end. Coaching staff and players.