Greece 101, U.S. 95

[imported_biggamesjames]

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i don't think we were really expected to win hockey or soccer

baseball and basketball dropped the ball on this one...baseball got outplayed, Mike Krzyzewski and the committee lost it for the U.S.

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Can't put it all on the coach...they said the same thing about Larry Brown. Brown and Coach K both are great coaches. Coaches coach and players play. If they can't shoot jumpers and free throws by now and play defense on the pick and roll than they never will. If its anybody's fault other than the players I would say its more the NBA itself than anything else.

[gcdevil22]

i wasn't talking about the coaching part of it (even though you'd think one of the top college coaches would recognize how to defend a screen-and-roll) i was talking about the selection of the players (hence coach K AND the committee members)

as much as i hate to say it J.J. Redick is tailor-made for a competition like this...if coach K was gonna take any of his Dukies it should have been Redick...Battier over Bruce Bowen??? come on, are you serious? and in what way is Elton Brand good for international competition?

Brad Mller? what the heck, pick the team according to needs...looks to me like coach K kept half the ACC but left out some people who would have been vital to winning the tournament...he HAD to know the rest of the world would zone us to death and make us shoot outside

btw, i think it was a wise move to bring in a college coach who had some respectability but also didn't have anything to gain like an NBA coach would

coach K did a good job with those guys in terms of making them get out and play defensively b/c we needed transition buckets to win that tournament and the only way to do that with them playing zone is to get out on fast breaks and blow games open...Greece is no slouch, the rest of the world is catching up...we do not suck, we do not have attitudes and yes we can play defense [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

let coach K coach again, but let someone else pick the players...maybe Mark Few, Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, Roy Williams and the like...or a panel of retired coaches

[imported_biggamesjames]

I agree the player selection was suspect. Redick should not have only made the team he probably should have been a starter. Elton Brand is a good defender...definitely keep him. Adam Morrisson is a guy that should get alot of time in international play as well. I think they need to get some older players as well. I think Bruce Bowen would've been excellent as long as he was given good minutes.

Well atleast they did come back and beat Argentina to get the Bronze. Its a sad state for Team USA that a win like that now has to be considered an upset.

The rest of the world isn't "catching up"...anyone who has been paying attention to international basketball over the last decade or so will notice that the foreigners have pretty much "caught up."

[Widespread_Panic]

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Redick should not have only made the team he probably should have been a starter.

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Redick had a back injury he was trying to heal over the summer and was not able to try out for the team. Coach K invited Redick to try out for the team but the doctors advised him to give the back some rest before the NBA season began. He probably would have made the team had he been healthy.

[imported_biggamesjames]

"Greece is no slouch"

There not a slouch but they don't have a single NBA player on the roster and Spain just blew them out by about 30 without Pau Gasol.