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Ow! USA loses to Australia by 21, is out of medal hunt


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Australia, Lithuania, and the United States all finished the Quarterfinal pool 2-1. Australia is ranked first, Lithuania second, and U.S. third. The best the U.S. can finish now is fifth.

http://www.basket.gr/wcj2003/press.asp?id=384

http://www.fiba.com/competition/standings....type=G&PC=False

It looks like Greece should be able to defend its home turf.

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I think this result validates just how tough the competition is in the World Juniors. As I've stated before, the USA team is quite talented, YET will not even receive a medal in this competition. Even though, a few people perceived it as a knock when I said that a Billiken would probably not crack the roster, I was simply pointing out the talent on the team. Given the representation of many elite colleges on that team, the Billikens would not be alone in not being able to land players on that elite roster of freshmen and sophomores.

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or maybe the coaches for this usa team used this team as an excuse to trumpet some of their own players or friendly coaches players rather than take the better players. i.e. maybe some of these "elite" program players arent as good as you think.

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However, I have personally watched Paul Davis, Dee Brown, Deron Williams, and Maurice Ager and I'm sold on each. Paul Davis might be the best big man in the country in a year or two. He has some serious post skills. As for Deron Williams, he's a tremendous athlete, who has a jumper. I wouldn't be surprised if he doubles his freshmen production next year at the Illini. As for Hollins, he showed some flashes late with UCLA, so I'd watch out for him too.

I'm sure there are comparable players, who aren't the household names, but I would definitely not say these players are slouches.

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imo the fact this usa team will finish 5th or 6th speaks volumes about their true skills. there are better players that could have represented the usa. to finish so low is embarrassing. i hope izzo and snyder are happy they made half of the team their own players.

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There are obviously some very talented players on this team. The fact that they are finishing so low probably has to do with the fact that they have never played together before. They also may have the typical US mindset that we are better than everybody else so we don't have to try. I'd have to disagree with you Roy that the teams final placement is an indication of the skill. The main reason being how the US team faired in the olympics and other recent world games. We used some of the most talented players in the NBA on those teams and could not win...we actually got embarrased at some games. But, I do think that those "dream teams" talent was as good if not better than any of the competition.

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jwd, thank you for pointing out my error. i stand corrected. do you have the rosters or know where i can find the rosters of these two separate usa teams? also, is this an age limit thing then?

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I wouldn't place all of the blame on the coaching and their roster selection. I don't know if everyone is oblivious to this, but it's obvious the rest of the world has caught up with us. In fact, Team USA DIDN'T win at the last World Juniors in 1999, where they finished second to Spain. We all know what happened with US men at last year's World Championships...

For those who are curious, the 1999 roster included Nick Collison, Michael Wright, Steve Logan, Casey Jacobsen, and Keyon Dooling. I'd say that was a pretty decent team. We can certainly cite teamwork and lack of emphasize on fundamentals for US failings on the international stage, but let's give some credit to the expanding international talent. Let's also give credit to the level of play at this competition.

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They had an interesting segment on HBO's Real Sport on just this topic. By the way, baseball isn't immune to this problem either. Guess the athletes around the world see the money that can be made here and have dedicated themselves to getting some of it.

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All the detail on the US team and the selection process is at:

http://www.usabasketball.com/

I think A.J.'s general point about the competition at the Junior World's being higher than generally thought is true but I am puzzled by the individual players he cites for praise (some of whom did not play much or well at the worlds). Paul Davis and Daniel Brown have played well.

I think the US selection process can definitely be faulted for stressing offense. It is also harder for several offensively minded people to meld together in a short time (the bane of "all-star" teams). The team did not play very good defense (their points against was high). They could have picked a better team but I suppose that would always be true.

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because I was most familiar with them. I saw Deron Williams in St. Louis last year. I've kept up with Maurice Ager after he spurned the Tigers. Paul Davis impressed me immensely in NCAA tourney play. I could have mentioned Dee Brown more, but everyone knows he's great. Regardless, every player I mentioned were IN FACT among the top 6 scorers on the team. Ager had a disappointing game against Australia, but he was the fifth leading scorer on the team. What's so puzzling about mentioning them?

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>do you have the rosters or know where i can find

>the rosters of these two separate usa teams? also, is this

>an age limit thing then?

The base info is here: http://www.usabasketball.com/men/index.html

The Junior World Chamionship team: http://www.usabasketball.com/men/03_mjwc_roster.html . All of the players on all of the teams in the Junior World Championships are 19 and under (born Jan. 1, 1984 or later).

The Pan Am Games team: http://www.usabasketball.com/men/03_mpag_roster.html . This is the team Lorenzo Romar is an assistant coach for. The final roster cuts have yet to be made.

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