FIBA World Championships 2010: 5 Excuses Team USA Will Make Should They Not Win

On Thursday Team USA is set to square-off in its second elimination game of the FIBA World Championships. They are set to face a Russian team that has been a bit of a defensive juggernaut thus far in the tournament.

The Russian’s are 4-1 in the tournament. They have been accumulating wins by using a very stingy zone defense. A zone defense that could very well be the reason Team USA is sent packing after its Thursday match-up.

In light of the lofty expectations that comes with representing a country like the United States. Coach Mike Kryzewski has done everything possible to cover his players’ backs and lower the expectations of fans.

He’s repeatedly stated that Team USA can be beaten and that they shouldn’t be the favorites to win the tournament. This doesn’t sound like a guy that’s promoting fan-fair for a country. It sounds like a guy in-charge of public relations.

Instead of reassuring the American people that their team will win Gold this FIBA World Championships, it appears they are setting the citizens of this great nation to embrace failure.

So it got me thinking about the five most likely excuses that could be made should the team falters in these international competitions.

Excuse #5: Not Enough International Experience

It’s been well documented how the players on this team haven’t played a lot of international ball. They don’t have a pre-existing knowledge of how the games are played that many of the 2008 Olympic Team members had. Though this is true, it still shouldn’t be an excuse…most of these teams star players are second, third, and fourth tier players.

Excuse #4: Not Enough Go TO Scorers

For most of this summer the Media, as well as Team USA coaches, have built this image of Kevin Durant being the lone capable scorer on a team built to compliment his talents. Occasionally there has been a Derrick Rose reference also. But for the most part, this team has been advertised as a bunch of athletes that need to play defense and run. The fans have bought into this foolishness…ignoring the fact that 10 of the 12 players were the leading or second-leading scorer on their NBA clubs this past season (6 averaged 20-plus per game). So as you can see, this too shouldn’t be an excuse.

Excuse #3: Not Enough Time Together

Unlike most teams in the tournament, the USA squad hasn’t spent a lot of time together. They’ve literally been together for like two months. This is primarily due to the extremely long NBA season and most of the initial players that were invited declining the invitation. I say though-luck. Most of the teams in the tournament don’t even have the best player from their country participating because of their NBA obligations. If they can’t cry over spilt milk, neither can team USA.

Excuse #2: Not Enough Size

The Team currently has four players that are 6’10’ or taller (Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom, Kevin Love, and Tyson Chandler). Most teams in this tournament have at least six such players. The USA coaches knew this and had every opportunity to keep longer players but the college head coach wanted to take his chances with an unbalanced roster. I don’t hear anyone making excuses for the USA opponents for not having enough speed and quickness. They chose this path and thus have no grounds using this as an excuse.

Excuse #1: This Isn’t the Team That Was Expected To Compete

Originally Jerry Colangelo and Mike Kryzewski imagined that many of the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Team would join the 2010 Select squad. But as the event drew closer, the better players withdrew their names due to injuries or other complications. Well, that hasn’t stopped the Media and member of the NBA community from pumping up Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose to top of the NBA food chain. Many have sold them as starters on the 2012 Olympic team. So with two of the top five on your future Olympic team competing, they are not allowed to complain. Not when their roster has more talent than any other team present.

In Conclusion

Team USA doesn’t have any grounds for any excuses. Unless they lose Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose to injuries, they should be obligated to capture Gold and make good on their promise to give the American Public their best effort.

So here’s to hoping they won’t have any needs for excuses…go USA!