OregonDucks No. 1 Share Posted August 10 It was really fun to watch the "old guys" - LeBron, Steph and KD carry Team USA. The rest of the world has clearly caught up but you can tell how much these guys wanted it. Fun to watch. U S A!!! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoGaDawg No. 2 Share Posted August 10 I kinda wish we would go back to playing amateurs. As in the top college players. It’s kinda cool to see our NBA players, but anything short of gold is a massive disappointment. If we played our top college players it would be more interesting to me and mean more to win gold. 1 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 3 Share Posted August 10 On 8/10/2024 at 4:45 PM, SoGaDawg said: I kinda wish we would go back to playing amateurs. As in the top college players. It’s kinda cool to see our NBA players, but anything short of gold is a massive disappointment. If we played our top college players it would be more interesting to me and mean more to win gold. Curry went bananas! People would put up with not medaling for about 3 seconds, which is what would happen if we unilaterally stopped sending our best players. Not to mention, how do you define amateur with NIL? Even HS players have NIL. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin Vee No. 4 Share Posted August 11 These guys play in a soft NBA. Yah I said it- soft. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 5 Share Posted August 11 On 8/10/2024 at 7:45 PM, SoGaDawg said: I kinda wish we would go back to playing amateurs. As in the top college players. It’s kinda cool to see our NBA players, but anything short of gold is a massive disappointment. If we played our top college players it would be more interesting to me and mean more to win gold. 1980 - Lake Placid, NY. Would the victory over the Russkies have been the Greatest Upset Ever if Herb Brooks was coaching NHL players? NO! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 6 Share Posted August 11 And Hats Off to the Women's CBB team that put a double whammy on home team France and captured the Gold for a basketball sweep. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noDucknewby No. 7 Share Posted August 11 What an exciting game! How does Curry do that? Talk about having a hot hand when it counts. I love the Olympic format. Ten minute quarters and they don't call very many fouls. The game really moves, not drawn out like NBA games are. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevada Dawg No. 8 Share Posted August 11 This is probably the last time we see Steph, LeBron and KD at the Olympics, and 2028 will be a strong challenge after seeing what I saw out of France and Serbia, both loaded with NBA players. This rising competitiveness abroad makes the tournament all the more exciting IMO. The same is true for the women who squeaked out a 1-point final second type win against the French women. I think that we have the NBA and WNBA to thank for this worldwide infusion of interest in roundball. I had assumed (there's that dreaded word assume) that both gold medal games would be walkovers for the US. Yet, they were infinitely more interesting because they were not! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonDucks Author No. 9 Share Posted August 11 On 8/11/2024 at 12:36 PM, noDucknewby said: What an exciting game! How does Curry do that? Talk about having a hot hand when it counts. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElPatoUO No. 10 Share Posted August 12 On 8/10/2024 at 4:45 PM, SoGaDawg said: I kinda wish we would go back to playing amateurs. As in the top college players. It’s kinda cool to see our NBA players, but anything short of gold is a massive disappointment. If we played our top college players it would be more interesting to me and mean more to win gold. The US would not win a single game with amateurs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 11 Share Posted August 12 The youngest woman on the USA team, Sabrina, gets a B grade to go with a Gold Medal with more Olympics and more playing time ahead. Grading the performance of every player on the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team WWW.SBNATION.COM How did A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and other WNBA stars fare at the Paris Olympics? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 12 Share Posted August 12 On 8/12/2024 at 12:27 PM, ElPatoUO said: The US would not win a single game with amateurs. BP - Before Pros, USA's amateurs dominated Men's basketball before and after 1968 when the refs hosed them out of a victory over Russia. Those of us around back then remember how badly Iron Curtain judges screwed over the USA every chance they could. It was the Cold War Olympics. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drake Moderator No. 13 Share Posted August 12 On 8/11/2024 at 7:50 AM, Flyin Vee said: These guys play in a soft NBA. Yah I said it- soft. The rules changed the game. I don’t think for a minute that NBA players are soft. Hand checking has been eliminated, the refs finally started enforcing the rule in the mid 90’s. The 3 point arc was shortened to encourage more outside shooting, and zone defense, once banned, is allowed. Eliminating hand checking turned the game from the low scoring rough and tumble games of the late 80’s, where the Bigs ruled the paint, to the “softer version” that we see today. You want a more physical game, bring back hand checking. Zone defense makes it more difficult for a center, or power forward to offensively dominate the paint. For a reference look at old games that show how the Pistons (Bad Boys) man handled Jordan his first 4 to 5 years in the league. You can’t do that anymore, because the NBA wants to showcase their “best players”. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoGaDawg No. 14 Share Posted August 12 (edited) On 8/12/2024 at 1:06 PM, Jon Joseph said: BP - Before Pros, USA's amateurs dominated Men's basketball before and after 1968 when the refs hosed them out of a victory over Russia. Those of us around back then remember how badly Iron Curtain judges screwed over the USA every chance they could. It was the Cold War Olympics. I’m not old enough to remember that, but that’s certainly what I’ve heard from my Dad and older friends. The Soviets saw it as another way to prove to their people that the Soviet Union was better than the USA. Edited August 12 by SoGaDawg 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElPatoUO No. 15 Share Posted August 12 On 8/12/2024 at 10:06 AM, Jon Joseph said: BP - Before Pros, USA's amateurs dominated Men's basketball before and after 1968 when the refs hosed them out of a victory over Russia. Those of us around back then remember how badly Iron Curtain judges screwed over the USA every chance they could. It was the Cold War Olympics. The controversial ending was in the 1972 Olympics. But yeah, those days are long gone. A group of college players thrown together wouldn't even be competitive on the international stage these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 16 Share Posted August 12 On 8/12/2024 at 6:55 PM, ElPatoUO said: The controversial ending was in the 1972 Olympics. But yeah, those days are long gone. A group of college players thrown together wouldn't even be competitive on the international stage these days. Thanks for the correction. I need all the help I can get. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElPatoUO No. 17 Share Posted August 13 (edited) On 8/12/2024 at 4:03 PM, Jon Joseph said: Thanks for the correction. I need all the help I can get. No worries. It was brought up so often during Doug Collins' broadcast career that the year is ingrained in my memory. For a trip down memory lane, here is an interesting look at the controversy surrounding that ending. Edited August 13 by ElPatoUO 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoGaDawg No. 18 Share Posted August 13 On 8/12/2024 at 12:27 PM, ElPatoUO said: The US would not win a single game with amateurs. Sure we would. We won medals every time we’ve competed as amateurs. Nine gold medals playing amateurs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoGaDawg No. 19 Share Posted August 13 On 8/12/2024 at 7:16 PM, ElPatoUO said: Things change.... I disagree, we wouldn’t lose every game. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElPatoUO No. 20 Share Posted August 13 The United States might not lose a game in the Olympics with amateurs for one reason....they likely wouldn't qualify for the Olympics at all. No, I am not joking. Simply qualifying for the Olympics at all is particularly difficult in Europe and North/South America (and becoming increasingly more difficult in the other continents as well) due to the limited number of qualifier slots available for those continents. Think if the US tried to send only college athletes to the Olympics in all sports, how competitive would they be? Any of these sports in the Olympics (volleyball, water polo, soccer, etc.),...there isn't a single team sport they would not get crushed in if they sent only college players. Some may think it is different for basketball, which is one of the most popular/competitive sports internationally, but it isn't. Of course, since the United States is hosting the next Olympics, they automatically qualify for every team sport regardless, even if they went the amateur route. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoGaDawg No. 21 Share Posted August 13 On 8/12/2024 at 8:31 PM, ElPatoUO said: Of course, since the United States is hosting the next Olympics, they automatically qualify for every team sport regardless, even if they went the amateur route. As stated above, I disagree. I don’t think we would lose every game. It’s a pointless debate anyway though, it’s never going to happen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevada Dawg No. 22 Share Posted August 13 Yeah I don't think that the amateurs would lose every game either but they certainly wouldn't medal in today's world. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckley Palace No. 23 Share Posted August 13 Olympics are odd in some way. For example a professional ice skater used to be disqualified if they went pro. I have no idea why professional ice skating is, but I imagine it involves money. That rule was such nonsense when the Olympics made a profit off the athletes. Much like college football . The IOC is just as inept as the NCAA. So I'm not shocked. But I still like watching the games for sports I never really watch otherwise like Rugby, Water Polo, Synchronized Diving, Decathlon, Fencing, and Rowing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
