i'm a big fan of international basketball. the thing is, team usa used to dominate from top to bottom. they are now very beatable regardless the level of competition.
u-19 team russia wasn't even ranked in top 5 in the world and they definately didn't play like a top 5 team, but led this game from start to finish.
serbia, lithuania and serbia are always good in international basketball but none was really expected to compete with usa, except lithuania who is the host.
serbia and croatia were big dogs against team usa too.
u-19 team russia wasn't even ranked in top 5 in the world and they definately didn't play like a top 5 team, but led this game from start to finish.
serbia, lithuania and serbia are always good in international basketball but none was really expected to compete with usa, except lithuania who is the host.
serbia and croatia were big dogs against team usa too.
i think it is the way basketball is played in the usa as far as a team concept. you do have aau which is good. but when you put a "team" together with guys for international. they have limited time to practice together and learn each others strengths and weaknesses. these international teams have been playing together for some time and know each other.
not so sure about that.
most world basketball championships won in history: serbia (yugoslavia) 5, usa 4, russia (soviet union) 3
serbia won their last wc on us soil, beating usa in the process (usa w/nba players, and it was a good team)
usa is the best basketball team in olympics, winning 7 golds in first 7 tournaments but only 6 of last 10, with two golds won on us soil.
And again......... Our BEST players didn't play in all of those games.
If our BEST players decide to, and want to participate, the rest of the world will never stand a chance.
Not a mix of of a couple of our best players with other scatterered in, but our best, against their best, is always going to go in our favor.
I do believe the reason some other countries' younger players have success against the U.S. younger players is because they play better team ball than we do.
Most everyone who follows knows that.
But..... when our kids get a little older, and their talents take over, our group of the best are unbeatable...
We have the BEST basketball PLAYERS in the world. No one is arguing about that. The problem is, basketball is a team sport and US players are not good team players.
There are now better basketball teams than team USA in every level of competition, including the highest level.
We can put better names on the court and stil lose to a better team.
There are now better basketball teams than team USA in every level of competition, including the highest level.
We can put better names on the court and stil lose to a better team.
