OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 10:43 p.m. ET June 23, 2008

Sean Deveney

CHICAGO - Just about three years ago, shortly after being named managing director of USA Basketball's senior men's national team, Jerry Colangelo convened a host of former coaches, players and executives from basketball circles all around the country to figure out how best to boost the sagging fortunes of the Americans on the international stage. The 2004 Athens Olympics — which yielded a 5-3 record, misbehavior by several team members and a bronze medal — were an embarrassment. Several changes were adopted. Scouting would be beefed up. Preparation for international rules would be more intense. Players would be picked based on tryouts and based on their ability to fill roles on a team, not based on a scattered committee choosing an All-Star team.

Most important, the national team would require a multi-year commitment, meaning Team USA would get players who were serious about representing their country, players who would learn to play together over time rather than be thrown together just weeks before the next tournament. It all sounded like it would lead Team USA back to glory.

It better. All those changes have had three years to take effect. As we get closer to this year's Beijing Olympics — and the fact that the national team officially announced its 12-man roster here Monday is a reminder of how close those Olympics are — it's becoming increasingly clear that USA Basketball has an awful lot staked on winning a gold in the upcoming Games. Even if it's not something they like to admit.

Colangelo pointed out that, when he became chief of Team USA in '05, the organization badly needed a new infrastructure. That was clear to just about all observers. It was easy to find fault with our national team's lack of a system, and pin the blame for our failures there. But now, we have a system. We have infrastructure. We have team players, core guys who have been together for (by Colangelo's estimate) nine weeks over the last two summers.

But there's something no one seems to want to ask. What if we still finish third?

It's an important question, because, after all, we did begin to make changes in time for the 2006 World Championship, and though Team USA went 8-1 that year, that was good enough only for the bronze. That's the nature of international play. You can dominate early, but if you drop a game in the quarterfinals, that's it. No gold. Team USA was much better in the World Championship than it had been in Athens, but the result was the same — bronze.

Thus, the question was posed to Colangelo: Isn't this team under extraordinary pressure?

"I've never been a guy who worried about pressure," Colangelo said. "When you've been involved with sports like I have been my whole life, you relish the opportunity to be put on the spot. So, as I look at what we've accomplished, what we chose to change, the proof in the pudding will be not only the Olympic effort this summer, but the fact of the young players we are bringing into the pipeline.

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