Don't tell me 'Well, Allen Iverson wasn't there,' because A.I. Don't tell me we lost because Tim Duncan wasn't there, because Duncan was there in Athens two years ago when the United States lost. Two of the brightest men in the basketball community, Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski, led the effort that put together this team. Please, I don't want to hear about how we could have won if we'd only had our best players. I think, in terms of international competition, they've passed us. But the United States barely won Olympic gold in 2000 in Sydney, finished sixth in the world championship in 2002, lost three times in the 2004 Olympics and now has failed to win in the 2006 world championship. The Dream Team reestablished American superiority in Barcelona in 1992. And we dominated hoops for nearly 100 years if you don't count being cheated out of the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics.īut a lot has happened since, beginning in 1987, when Brazil beat a U.S.

Americans only popularized golf we invented basketball. We're fairly arrogant about Ryder Cup play, too, but not to the extreme of basketball. In every other sport we seem to understand that we're not the only ones playing, that we're not vastly superior and, in fact, often aren't as good. Because Greece, a team known only for playing good defense in this tournament, scored 101 points early Friday morning in Japan and eliminated Team USA from the FIBA World Championship. Greece? Why should we pay attention to Greece?īecause they won. We didn't know the Greek players, so how could they be any good? Where are their phat shoe contracts? Where were they in the Top 10 Dunks on 'SportsCenter'? How talented could they be if they don't have a Gatorade commercial or answer to a single name like Shaq or Kobe or LeBron? Hell, half the time we don't even pay any attention to the opponent. We commit the single most arrogant and unpardonable mistake in competition: We underestimate the opponent. teams, first the college boys and now the pros, are getting whipped in these international competitions. they're all the same, right? They are to most Americans, fans and players alike, which is one of many reasons U.S. But you know how we roll one foreign basketball team is the same as another. This was after beating up on the likes of Senegal and Australia, teams that were never going to challenge the world's top teams anyway.

2004 olympics basketball usa roster