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Winning: the new American dream: still having nightmares of Stephon Marbury trying to guard Sarunas Jasikevicius coming off a high screen? Good news. They're both too old to play in the U21 World Championship
Sporting News, The, May 27, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy
As hard as it was on North Carolina's Roy Williams and Illinois' Bruce Weber to watch so many underclassmen enter the NBA draft, their losses are trifling compared with Phil Martelli's.
Deron Williams. Chris Paul. Sean May.
Martelli has lost them all.
When he was offered the job of coaching the U.S. team in the under-21 World Championship, back during the Final Four, those players met the age requirement to compete and still were in school. May and Paul were the key players in last summer's qualifying tournament. But even though pros are eligible to compete--you know, LeBron James is under 21--the U.S. will restrict its roster to active collegians, which will make Martelli's job that much more challenging.
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He considers it a very important job. The U21 championship, August 5-14 in Argentina, will be the first major international competition since the 2004 Olympics. You know what happened to the U.S. there.
"When I speak to the players the first time, I'm going to tell them this is a completely different opportunity and challenge," Martelli says. "You want to say it was the NBA players or that team in particular--I don't believe that. I think U.S. basketball has been brought into question."
The best U.S. college players have discovered playing with USA Basketball ultimately has its rewards. The past four Most Outstanding Players at the Final Four (Juan Dixon, Carmelo Anthony, Emeka Okafor and Sean May) competed for the U.S. the previous summer.
But of the four major international championships, the U21 title is the only one held by the U.S. men. Martelli was an assistant for that team in 2001 and for the squad of college players that beat mostly pros to win the 1998 Goodwill Games. He believes those teams had two common strengths: exceptional point guard play (Chris Duhon, Andre Miller) and a dominating post presence (Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand).
How will the U.S. find such players in the current crop? Some of the most gifted young point guards, such as Memphis' Darius Washington and Texas' Daniel Gibson, still are learning the position. Washington accepted an invitation to the July 21-23 trials in Dallas and could be a revelation if he improves at the same rate he did during his freshman season.
It'd be nice if Duke's Shelden Williams could help up front, but he doesn't meet the age requirement. Martelli would love to have Michigan State's Paul Davis. It wouldn't hurt if Wake Forest's Eric Williams would exit the draft, as expected. LSU's Glen Davis brings the same sort of assets (great physical talent) and limitations (minimal experience) as Washington does at the point.
One thing Martelli liked about his two previous USA Basketball experiences: "Both of those teams, the kids really cared about each other. There was almost a lack of ego that was really a pleasure to deal with." When the U.S. enters an international competition, though, only winning is pleasant.
speed read
Marquette should return to its Warriors nickname and avoid Native American symbols. Instead, officials first proposed Marquette Gold, which sounds like something with half the tar and nicotine. Now, officials are allowing a vote on 10 choices, none of them Warriors. That's higher education for you: Ten bad ideas is better than one.
INSIDE DISH
Syracuse PG Gerry McNamara has preferred to get away from the game during the summer, but he must decide whether he wants to get in better condition for his senior year. When McNamara had two or fewer days between games last season, he shot just 33.1 percent-compared with 39.3 percent in other games. He just wasn't fit enough. His future in the game, and the Orange's 2005-06 season, largely could be determined by how much work he puts in this 0ffseason. * The NCAA prohibits teams invited to the NCAA Tournament from competing in the NIT. The NIT is suing over that restriction, and one coach asked to testify suggests the NCAA has good reason to fight the suit. He believes NCAA leadership is concerned that if the NIT prevails, BCS schools eventually would be free to start their own p0stseas0n basketball tournament. They'd never generate the billions the NCAA tourney does, but they'd keep all the money, as they do in football. * Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg wants players who will be committed to his program and system, so it was no surprise to see PG Marquie Cooke dismissed. Cooke is talented, but he endured a problematic first year at Tech. * Cincinnati surprised its fans by picking up PG Domonic Tilford, who was Kentucky's Mr. Basketball but is considered a mid-major prospect by scouts. The Bearcats already had signed elite point guard prospect Devan Downey, but they wanted an extra guard because SG Vincent Banks, who sat out his freshman year to establish academic eligibility, left the program. * Memphis wants 6-9 C Joey Dorsey to lose 20 pounds and play his sophomore season at 250. He averaged 6.0 rebounds in only 15.1 minutes per game last season.
Read more of Mike DeCourcy's opinions at sportingnews.com/experts/mike-decourcy.
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