*On Saturday at noon EST (televised on ESPN Classic), Team USA will meet Lithuania in the semifinals of the World Championship. Starting at guard for the Lithuanians is Duke’s own Marty Pocius.
On Saturday, Coach K and Coach Collins appeared in our theater in the K Center, while seated outdoors and over 5,000 miles away in front of a yacht in Istanbul, Turkey. The National Team had a short break before beginning the elimination rounds on Monday, and Coach K and Coach Collins wanted to check in and see how everything was going with the first week of school having just wrapped up.
Our video coordinator Kevin Cullen is out in Turkey helping the National Team and he set up the video chat in Istanbul. Back in Durham, we had a camera connected to a computer in our theater so the whole room would appear in the frame. “Do you guys like my boat?,” joked Coach Collins as our Associate Head Coach appeared in front of a large, lavish yacht with Coach K. The National Team apparently was about to enjoy a scenic and relaxing boat cruise to help recharge after what has been a hectic past couple of months of travel and tough games for them.
Coach K and Coach Collins talked to our guys about the National Team and offered their thoughts on the team’s play so far. In some respects, the National Team’s style of play isn’t that different from what we will try to do this year in terms of applying great pressure defensively, attacking the passing lanes and then turning defense into offense in a hurry. They also asked about the first week of school and the football team’s season-opener on Saturday, which our guys said they would be attending. The video chat wrapped up as Coach K and Coach Collins told everyone in Durham they were pumped to take a run at the gold in Turkey and then get back to Duke to get our season started officially on October 15th.
Durant leads USA to 86-85 exhibition win over Spaniards
Coach K and the U.S. National Team decided to take on an extremely tough exhibition schedule prior to beginning play in the World Championship in Turkey in September, and the decision paid off over the weekend in Madrid. The Spanish national team, the silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics and a favorite at this year’s World Championship, hosted the Americans in an exhibition game that added another exciting chapter to the growing USA/Spain basketball rivalry.
Team USA led for the entire game until Spain grabbed its first lead of the night at 82-80 with under two minutes to go. Facing tough game pressure and a hostile crowd, the Americans rose to the occasion. Kevin Durant scored two of his 25 points 17 seconds later and Derrick Rose gave the USA the lead again on a driving layup with 33 seconds left. Spain then jumped back on top with a bucket and a foul before Rose again took it hard to the rack and drew a foul. The speedy PG hit both free throws — saying the clutch shots were “something I’m never going to forget” — and Spain called timeout.
“We’ve practiced a lot with the zone and we used zone on all under out of bounds which were good. Then from the timeout Jim Boeheim said let’s go Orange,” said Coach K on the USA’s strategy in the timeout. “We call it Orange with respect for Jim, he said he doesn’t have any buildings named after him in Syracuse so we’ll name the zone after him. I agreed with him, but it was his suggestion and the guys did a good job with it.”
“I just wanted to cover a much ground as I could and help my teammates out,” said Durant about the game’s last possession. “I saw Ricky Rubio open in the corner and I just wanted to use my length to get out there and tip the shot. I was able to get a finger on it and I had the ball and it kind of slipped out of my hand and Rubio got it back and threw it to Fernandez and I just didn’t want to jump and get a foul on a three-point shot so I stayed down and kind of timed it pretty well and I was fortunate enough to get a block and the game was over. I just wanted to do something to help my team win.”
The win was a major confidence builder and great learning experience for the USA team and also left the group more prepared to handle tight games decided in the final few possessions. After the contest, the Americans headed to Greece for more training and an exhibition game tomorrow against a tough and together Greek team.
Nike Basketball video feature on “blue-collar” U.S. National Team
Nike and USA Basketball are partners and the sportswear giant has helped spread the word on the National Team since Coach K and USAB Director Jerry Colangelo took over in 2005. The video below from Nike Basketball’s YouTube channel gives an update on Team USA’s progress heading into this week’s training and preparation in NYC.
