5. Doug Collins – Doug’s son, Chris, is one of Coach K’s assistants on the Team USA staff and has said he’d be giving his gold medal to Doug who was cheated out of his own gold medal in the disputed 1972 Olympics. Doug, you finally got your gold medal, now stop talking about a game that happened 36 years ago!

4. Coach K – Just before Team USA went down in Athens in 2004, Coach K had turned down the Lakers, opting to continue coaching in the college ranks. Now, with a gold medal in hand, Coach K has quieted at least some of his doubters that he couldn’t coach a bunch of superstar millionaires.

3. Lebron James – All the players are happy about winning gold, but it’s extra important to Lebron as he won’t have to hear “Lebronze” anymore. That’s one nickname you’d rather not have.

2. Jerry Colangelo – Jerry assembled the team and it was always his goal to be seen as some sort of evil basketball genius. Well, you got your wish, Jerry.

1. Kobe Bryant – This one unfolded perfectly for Kobe. He didn’t play in 2004 or even in the 2006 World Championships, and he was the star of the gold medal game. The way it looks is that Kobe is the secret ingredient, like he’s Mr. Miyagi in his prime or something, the master of basketball excellence.

Who would you add to the list?

Once again, dismal three point defense kept Team USA’s opponent in the game in the first half and USA failed to hit outside jump shots.  China shot 10-27 from downtown, which is not overly impressive, but they shot a much higher percentage in the first half before they were worn down by Team USA.  Deeper and more skilled teams will have a good chance at knocking down 40%+ of their threes against Team USA.  USA did not shoot well either or, more accurately, they didn’t really try to shoot all that much, opting to dunk instead.  The game showed two distinct styles…Team USA had alley-oop after alley-oop in transition while China was knocking down threes.

Despite these issues, Team USA is still much improved from 2004 and is still the favorite to win gold.  This team is not selfish like the 2004 version was, has a better roster, and understands international play a bit better.  One big difference from 2004 is this team understands that you cannot count on getting “in the act” fouls called so they did not try to draw fouls around the basket.  Instead of creative up-and-under layups, Team USA just went up for aggressive power dunks near the basket and it paid off.  They didn’t dribble into trouble as much either.  One of the biggest nuances of international play compared to NBA play is that you have about 1 less dribble per move before you get into turnover trouble and Team USA is doing a much better job at not dribbling too much.

So, my prediction?  I wouldn’t be surprised if the USA loses a game, but I’m going to predict they do go undefeated and win the gold again.

How do you think Team USA will fare?