Mike Krzyzewski and USA Basketball On Verge of Championship: Why The Criticism?

What does a Hall of Fame coach have to do to get some respect around here?

Mike Krzyzewski who is arguably the greatest active college basketball coach around, seems to be drawing nothing but criticism regarding his stint as coach of USA Basketball.

Whether it is from disgruntled Duke fans who dislike his time and effort being spent on something other than the Blue Devils, or the media regarding his choice of players and his rotation for the USA's team, Coach K can't seem to catch a break.

Forget he has won four National Titles and led Team USA back to Gold after a series of embarrassing performances internationally. It just doesn't make sense.

Krzyzewski was criticised during the Olympics for picking a small, guard-oriented team. All he did was take that team to gold.

During the World Championships with none of the members of the last Olympic team electing to participate, Krzyzewski assembles a brand new team in one summer and now has them playing for a chance to win the championship for the first time since 1994.

Still he is constantly second guessed for once again selecting a team that is deemed too small, or not filled with enough marquee names.

Forget Kevin Durant has been a beast and is on the verge of setting some team USA scoring records.

The teams is winning like Krzyzewski's Duke teams win, with smart, efficient offense and good defense. He has NBA players playing team defense. That is a minor miracle in and of itself.

Yet the criticism keeps coming and not just for him but the team. Apparently winning all your games by an average of double digits is just not good enough. All the games according to the "experts" should be blow outs or there as good as a loss.

Krzyzewski has even been accused of using questionable motivational tactics. Prior to Team USA's showdown with Russia, the Russian coach David Blatt said he felt that the controversial 1972 Olympics, which saw Team USA lose to the former Soviet Union  on a horrible officiating decision the likes that has never been seen since, was a legitimate win for the Russians.

Krzyzewski when questioned struck back partly with tongue in cheek and partly with his patriotic fervor, by saying that Blatt could see the situation more clearly without "tears" in his eyes.

That statement was deemed too over the top. Apparently gamesmanship isn't allowed in international basketball, but NBA players can say much worse on the court and its just boys being boys.

Seemingly every decision he makes is analysed to death. Point guard Derek Rose doesn't play in the final quarter of the USA's semi-final victory over Lithuania and Krzyzewski has lost trust and confidence in him.

If he doesn't play his starters for the majority of the game in a blow out victory and Krzyzewski isn't giving the best players the opportunity to play the most. Then if he does focus on letting the best players play the most he isn't using his bench enough.

Krzyzewski has said that the 2012 Olympics will be his last hurrah as the coach of Team USA. He says it is because he wants to give someone else the chance to run the team and that there are others capable of doing just that.

But you have to wonder if just a little part of him, regardless of how patriotic and loyal he is to his country, just doesn't want to have to put up with this crap any longer.

Apparently winning isn't enough for some people.