Olympic Basketball 2012: Biggest Challenges to Team USA Winning Gold Medal

The United States is the clear favorite to take home the gold medal in the men's basketball competition, but they're by no means an absolute certainty to hear "The Star Spangled Banner" played through the loudspeakers. 

A few teams and mental obstacles stand in the way, and Team USA must clear all of them to win it all. 

So, what are those obstacles? 

Lack of Length

A lack of length has been the much-publicized issue for Team USA. It's a valid concern as Tyson Chandler is the only true center on the entire Olympic roster. 

Chandler is one of the world's best defensive players, capable of shutting down the entire paint when he's on his game. However, he's not an offensively dominant player by any stretch of the imagination and often leaves the Americans playing 4.5-on-5 when they have the ball. 

A duo of Kevin Love and Anthony Davis—far more of the former than the latter—backs up Chandler. While Love is a perimeter threat and a stud rebounder, he's not much of a defender. 

As for Davis, he's more of a reserve than anything else because his lack of experience keeps Mike Krzyzewski from ever throwing him out on the court. 

This lack of length isn't going to be a problem against weaker competition, as the Americans can small-ball their way past almost anyone. However, there are a few teams against whom it could spell trouble. 

Spain

Spain would be one of those problems. 

If any team is going to beat Team USA, it would be the one featuring a frontcourt of Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Size reigns supreme here. 

The Gasol brothers and Ibaka complement each other quite well with a nice blend of offense and defense, a combination that can embarrass even the top teams in international competition. 

Spain also features a number of NBA point guards, namely Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro. Those guys obviously aren't on the same level as Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, James Harden and Kobe Bryant, but they're still solid competition. 

It would be shocking if Spain and Team USA weren't playing each other in the final game of the competition. 

Argentina

The only other country with a shot to take down the Americans without some fluky injuries or crooked refereeing would be Argentina. 

If Manu Ginobili starts Eurostepping his way to a high point total and distributes the ball well among his high-level teammates, there's a slight chance at an upset. 

The Argentines feature a good bit of NBA talent between Manu, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino. 

Argentina is included here more for posterity's sake than anything else. It would be a monumental upset if anyone but Spain was able to take down Team USA. 

Getting Everyone's Best Shot

Make no mistake about it. Each and every team at the London Olympics will be fixing a bullseye squarely on the metaphorical back of Team USA. 

As the overwhelming favorites, the Americans will be getting everyone's best shot and then some. They'll be facing desperate team after desperate team, and each will be playing their hearts out with nothing to lose. 

A desperate team is typically a dangerous one. 

Even if the other squads playing Team USA aren't as talented, they'll be playing with little to no expectations of winning, ones who are ready to lay it all on the line and hope the unthinkable happens. 

Themselves

For Team USA, it should all boil down to whether or not they beat themselves. 

The Americans will face ridiculously high expectations as they hope to live up to the standard set forth by the Dream Team. They'll face global headlines if they lose a single game. They'll be getting everyone's best shot. 

Plus, they're going to breeze through the group stage and risk losing their mental edge on the competition as the starters sit on the bench and enjoy blowout victory after blowout victory. 

It would be a mistake to bet on anyone but Team USA, but they could knock themselves out of the competition by either getting too down or too high on themselves. 

As tempting as it will be to look ahead to a showdown with the Gasol brothers in a Spain-USA gold-medal game, the Americans have to remain focused on each and every game.