Coach K to coach Olympic team (reportedly)

[TheTruth]

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/4985324

Report: Krzyzewski will be Team USA coach
Story Tools: Print Email
FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago



The NBA coaches haven't been getting it done for the United States recently in international competition. So apparently Team USA will turn to a college coach.

Also...


What does it mean for Duke?


According to a report in the USA Today, USA Basketball will turn to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski to coach both its 2006 world championship and 2008 Olympic teams.

Crediting two sources with knowledge of the selection, the newspaper said the official announcement would be made at the end of October.

Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball's senior men's program, had no comment Tuesday.

Krzyzewski was an assistant coach on the original Dream Team in 1992, but no college coach has headed a U.S. world championship or Olympic team since NBA players began representing the United States in 1992.

The United States is coming off a pair of disappointing performances in international play — a sixth-place showing in the world championships in 2002, followed by a bronze-medal performance at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Those squads were the first ones to fail to win gold medals in world or Olympics competition since play was opened to professionals.

[samikeyp]

A good choice....I would liked to have seen Pop do it but K is good.

[Kori Ellis]

They would have had a lot more NBA players willing to do it if Pop was the coach. But we'll see how Coach K does.

[TheTruth]

So this pretty much clinches that Timmy won't be playing in anymore olympics, right? Pop would probably be the only one able to talk him into it.

[ObiwanGinobili]

Pop would have been my 1st choice.

But Coach K is a close second. I mean - the man ain't a legend for nothing. ANd the fact that he;s stayed so long at one job, instead of going after the bigger and badder paycheck and the bright lights of the NBA, shows to me that he has exactly the attitude needed to coach the Olympic team.

[ggoose25]

I went to Duke and Coack K is the perfect choice...

And I know im biased, but there are a lot of reasons Coach K is better than Pop, or any other NBA coach. For starters, the college season is a lot shorter and gives him more time to devote to USA basketball. If pop or any other successful coach were in charge he would go from preparing NBA game plans in May/June to trying to adjust to the International game almost seamlessly.

Also, if you look at Duke teams, they are not necessarily the most talented. With the exception of Grant Hill, how many Duke NBA players can you name that are/were All-Stars? With USA basketball moving in the direction of integrating college players with NBA players, Coach K has a lot more experience forming championship teams from a tepid talent pool. Just ask yourself, how many championships would Pop have without Duncan? The college game is all about taking a completely different roster each year and making it work, not filling in pieces around a superstar. Since that is the model Olympic basketball has followed, Coach K makes sense since he already has three championships doing it that way.

Building on that point, K also finds a way of bringing everyone together to play as a team, something that has been the glaring downfall to US basketball supremacy over the course of the past 5 years.

He also prides himself on preaching defense first (although Duke does gamble a lot) and is not afraid to get into players faces, even his superstars.

Overall, this is a step in the right direction for the USA to get back on track...

[ducks]

the usa team is not off track

geez
the standard for the usa team is gold and winning by 40 points a game

[ggoose25]

ducks are you an american?

cause americans dont settle for mediocrity, espcially when they are capable of winning it all, all the time.

(sorry, just watched Patton last week.. im on a patriotic kick)

[gus]

Coach K will need the best NBA players, because if he has not them he'll loose. There are some teams that are pretty good.

Gus

[Das Texan]

We wont win more than bronze with Coach K at the helm.

[Medvedenko]

Coach K and Kobe Bryant....=Gold....book it.