Please Pardon My MisEducation

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The World Under Coack K's Pressure

Finally Team USA basketball will be instilling fear into its opponents. On a decline over the last decade the US National and Olympic teams have become the laughing stock of international basketball.

No longer. Not with Coach K running the show. I read Dan Wetzel's article about a recent scrimmage with the Puerto Rican national team. I'm hot and cold on Dan's writing, but this article really just makes sense...much like Coach K and his style of "high pressure" defense.
My guess is that when the wolrd gets a taste of the new press, there will be a lot of crying and complaining about the new style "American ball." I say in response..."What Zidane did in Germany is going to pale in comparison to the hurt that USA basketball is about to put on the world." Not only are we about to see the return of ridiculous margins of victory (43 points per game in the '92 Summer Games), but teams are likely to score less than 30 points facing this smothering defensive edition of USA basketball.

KUDOS I say to the powers that be whom brought Coach K in to do this job. I've never been a big fan of Larry Brown and I'm glad the world is laughing at USA basketball because of his idiocy...Coach K is one of the trump cards we had in our back pockets...and he's about to be dropped on the table.

I was a couple of paragraphs in the article by Wetzel. Namely this line right here: After each made basket in a scrimmage against Puerto Rico Tuesday, the USA Basketball team did a simple, seemingly obvious thing they slapped a harassing, smashing full-court press on their opponent.

"Why would you not?" said coach Mike Krzyzewski.

I don't know, ask Larry Brown.

It was not particularly enjoyable for the Puerto Rican guards to stare into a trap that featured, say LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul swarming the front court.

That is quite possibly the scariest vision that has been painted into sports reporting about USA basketball since the early 90's. At that time the precursor to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona was a roster including names such as Jordan, Bird, and Magic. But its not the roster names that are scary, its the game in which they put onto the floor that stikes fear into the heart of future opponents...and this fear has been all but conquered thru the late 90's and early parts of the new century.

No more. The fears will return soon, because of one name on the roster and the defensive mindset that is inspired by that name. That is name: Mike Krzyzewski. A man who stops at nothing to find the right way to win.

To the world of basketball that has been snickering at USA basketball for the better part of a decade please know this. You have been put on notice. Coach K is coming for you. You can no longer hide behind your trapezoidal key and international three point line. The only release you will find is when you see USA basketball kissing its gold medal in Beijing.

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