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US men’s team drawn into tougher Olympic pool
The way things have been going, Americans should have expected a tough road back to Olympic men’s basketball gold.
”It’s been that kind of a year,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said.
The U.S., reeling from major injuries to NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose, was placed into what appears to be the more difficult group Monday during the draw for the London Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The defending champions face powerful Argentina, France and Tunisia in Group A, plus two more teams from a last-chance qualifying tournament in Venezuela in July. Solid European squads such as Lithuania, Russia and Greece – the last team to beat the USA squad – are favorites to grab those spots.
Argentina, the 2004 gold and ’08 bronze medalist, will have Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola back. The resurgent French were the European runners-up last year behind San Antonio point guard Tony Parker.
Tunisia earned its first Olympic berth by beating Angola last year for the African championship. The Tunisians trailed the Americans by only four points in the third quarter at the world championship two years ago, before the U.S. pulled away for a 92-57 victory.
”It appears that our group, Group A, is going to be extremely competitive,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement.
”It’s a tough draw with a former Olympic champion in Argentina; France is another powerful team, a veteran team that is extremely talented; Tunisia continues to improve, and then our group will add the top two teams from the FIBA World Qualifying Tournament. In the Olympics you only have 12 countries qualify so you’re going to have tough draws, and that’s why winning a gold medal is such a great accomplishment.”
By BRIAN MAHONEY | The Associated Press
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