USA vs. Brazil Basketball: Underwhelming U.S. Frontcourt to Get First Test

Despite what you may have heard, size matters, and the U.S. men's basketball team has some major disadvantages in this area heading into the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Team USA will get its first true test of the summer in this department on Monday night against Brazil—a team with a strong frontcourt lineup. 

The Americans don't feature a strong regiment of big men, which is why this game is going to be interesting.

Since the unfortunate and untimely injuries to Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Blake Griffin, Team USA has seen its big men dwindle in both size and experience. As of this moment—barring any further injuries—Tyson Chandler is the team's only true center. 

Kevin Love and youngster Anthony Davis round out the group of "big men," and Team USA will find it hard to compete down low against the big bodies many of the international teams will throw out there on a regular basis. 

Case in point: Brazil features Nene of the Washington Wizards, Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Tiago Splitter of the San Antonio Spurs. The Brazilian squad also possesses one additional big, Guilherme Giovannoni—a versatile, feisty forward who gives them five more fouls to use against Team USA.

While none of these players are necessarily as skilled with the basketball as Love or Davis, they all earn their living as bangers down low. They may not be as talented on offense, but they are more than a match for Team USA's bigs in the paint when it comes to pure effort, grit, defense and rebounding. 

Brazil also poses another challenge for Team USA; point guard Marcelo Huertas almost led Brazil to victory against the Americans in the World Championships in Turkey a couple of years ago. He did so by utilizing a consistent and dangerous pick-and-roll attack in concert with Brazil's big men. 

Chandler, Love and Davis will be forced to play inside and out, as Brazil runs its pick-and-roll offense. They will have to stay out of foul trouble and play smart, while simultaneously trying to avoid being caught napping on defense. 

I expect Team USA to handle Brazil on Monday night. They have too much talent across the board at every other position, but I won't be shocked to see them lose, either. All it will take is one or two of their bigs getting into foul trouble, leaving the Brazilians with a massive size advantage down low.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all your Team USA and 2012 Summer Olympics news, opinion and analysis. Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave me a comment down below.

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