U.S. Olympic Team

I just finished watching the second half of the final Olympic tuneup for the U.S. team versus Australia this morning. Although the "Redeem Team" (as they have been inanely dubbed by the media) ultimately defeated the Australians by double digits, there was the usual troubling lack of discipline and smart play from the Americans, as the Australians out-executed the vastly superior American athletes on both sides of the floor throughout the half. Defensively, the U.S. continue to demonstrate a bullying mentality marked by habitual gambling and reaching. The international officials seem to allow more physicality and bumping which does help these "feast or famine" tactics. Unfortunately, all the reaching and overplaying also inevitably leads to numerous numbers advantages and easy shots for the opposition.

Apparently the basic strategy for Coach K and his staff is this: since the American players are either unwilling or unable to execute much resembling a half-court offense involving ball movement and intelligent play, the idea is to throw shock and awe tactics at the opponents on the defensive end and hope that phenomenal athleticism, slow international whistles, and intimidation will lead to enough easy transition dunks to overpower the opponents. This formula has been successful thus far in the five exhibition games, but will almost certainly not succeed against teams such as Spain, Greece, and Argentina, just as it didn't in 2004. Unless something radically changes in the opening rounds next week, I would be very surprised if the U.S. wins the gold medal despite having by far the best athletic talent in the world.