SLAM: Will gold ever be enough?

[pap49cba]

Admittedly, the women of Team USA were taken for granted. The team was expected to win the Gold medal, with only a dozen practices under its belt—half of them taking place in between Olympic matches. Coach Geno Auriemma was honest with his thoughts on the creation of this Gold-medal team.

“Our situation in USA Basketball is so different than everybody else’s,” Auriemma explained. “Everybody else has actually had a four-year plan. With us it’s like, ‘Hey let’s get together for five days, four years ago.’ Then, the following year, ‘Let’s get together for four days, let’s go to York for 10 days. Let’s play in the World Championships. Let’s take next year off and then let’s go to the Olympics.’ So for us it’s kind of like we jut throw it together and see what sticks.”

LINK

 

[MilfordHusky]

Given the lack of preparation time, having 6 Huskies who knew what Geno was teaching was a bonus. All 12 players were consummate pros, but Geno taught at least the non-UConn alums something new. It was a truly great team.

 

[UcMiami]

Very good article - really enjoyed reading it. Love the Catchings quote at the end.

 

[Outside Shot]

If the absolute USA dominance continues, I wonder if WBB will ever be in jeopardy as an international sport? Nobody else is even close. Nobody else seems to have a young pool of talent that will make things any more competitive in the near future. No other country devotes resources and has infrastructure for WBB like the USA. It's a bit of a farce.

 

[alexrgct]

If the absolute USA dominance continues, I wonder if WBB will ever be in jeopardy as an international sport? Nobody else is even close. Nobody else seems to have a young pool of talent that will make things any more competitive in the near future. No other country devotes resources and has infrastructure for WBB like the USA. It's a bit of a farce.

When they dropped softball, they also dropped baseball. I don't think they're dropping men's BB, so WBB will be safe.

 

[Wbbfan1]

The only way the Women's team will get the respect they deserve is to lose a World Championship or Olympics and then comeback the next time and win it. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened in the Australia game if Penny Taylor was available. She very easy could have been a difference maker. If anything, Australia would have been playing for the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze.

If Griner does play for Team USA in the next World Championship or Olympics, just don't see a team on the horizon that will beat Team USA. However, what Griner will do, is give the team considerably more press attention as the media and fans will be looking to see if Griner will dunk. If I'm Team USA I encourage Griner to do so. Also since Skylar is a media darling if she makes the team, she'll bring attention as well.

 

[alexrgct]

The women didn't win the world championship in 2006.