USA Olympics: Men's Basketball Gold Medal Chances - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Joe Chacon's Blog

USA Olympics: Men's Basketball Gold Medal Chances Stuck

Posted on July 25, 2012 at 03:29 PM.

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The USA Men's Basketball team completed the exhibition portion of their schedule with a 5-0 record and an average victory margin of nearly 27 points. Argentina posed the toughest challenge for USA and nearly pulled off the upset before falling 86-80.

Argentina is in Pool A along with the US team and will face each other in the last game of pool play on August 6.

The other teams rounding out Pool A are France, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

France has six NBA players, Lithuania and Nigeria both have one, and Tunisia doesn't have any.

Pool B features Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Russia, and Spain.

The top four teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals, which take place August 8, followed by the semi-finals on August 10 and then the finals on August 12.

Is the USA in a no-win situation?

If they win the gold medal, well, they were supposed to. If they don't win a game by 20 points it would most likely be considered a disappointment. Finally, heaven forbid they don't win the gold medal. They would be torn apart by fans and media alike.

Let's be honest, with a roster like this there is no reason the team shouldn't walk through each of their opponents with a win:

Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
Tyson Chandler
Anthony Davis
Kevin Durant
James Harden
Andre Iguodala
LeBron James
Kevin Love
Chris Paul
Russell Westbrook
Deron Williams

There is no other team that comes close to the talent the US has to offer, but can the team gel together and avoid the letdown we witnessed in 2004.

When taking the time to look through the rosters of the other teams it becomes quickly evident the US team is head and shoulders above the rest. This isn't breaking news though, you already knew this.

There is always the risk of the squad coasting a bit too much and creating a hole they have to dig themselves out of. Especially when they face extremely motivated teams from Argentina and Spain.

I don't expect any other outcome than for Team USA to win the gold medal, and to win it easily.

Are you the least bit concerned about Team USA and their quest to bring home the gold medal? Or do you also believe it will be a cake walk?

Joe Chacon is a Staff Writer for Operation Sports and a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 kevin23 @ Jul 25

They won't lose because of their athleticism, tempo and depth.

# 2 bigsmallwood @ Jul 25

They have no choice other than to win.

# 3 THE YAMA @ Jul 26

I don't see our team losing one game this olympics because of our athleticism and perimeter defense.

# 4 bohne78 @ Jul 27

Hmm of course the US team is the favorite but there are still some teams that could surprise. Especially Spain Argentina and Russia seem to be strong. We will see but in the past tournaments we have seen that its not an easy walk to win the medal..