BRING ON THE AUSSIE'S

After passing back-to-back tests against the elite teams of Europe, the U.S. men’s basketball team probably could have beaten overmatched Germany wearing lederhosen to close the preliminary round of the Olympic tournament 5-0. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, Monday as the United States completed an undefeated march through pool play.

The Americans were scoring so easily, they practically got in each other's way. Chris Paul led a 3-on-1 break and threw an alley-oop that could have gone to either James or Dwyane Wade. James jumped higher and got it to lay it in, then stepped outside to hit his second 3 for a 23-5 bulge. Up 19 after one, the U.S. scored the first eight points of the second to make it 39-12. The lead was 28 after James drilled 3-pointers on consecutive U.S. possessions, and ballooned to 30 for the first time when Dwight Howard scored four straight to make it 49-19 with 3 minutes left in the half.

The U.S. isn't ready to crown themselves the next big thing, a la Phelps. At the moment, the Americans are thinking about their quarterfinal game against Australia, the last team to push the U.S. Also, Spain plays Croatia at 2:30 a.m. Lithuania plays China at 4:45 a.m., and Argentina plays Greece at 10:15 a.m. The U.S. knows Australia is a physical team that lost by just 11 when the two countries played an exhibition game in Shanghai on Aug. 5. They kept it close despite not having their lone NBA player, Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, available for the contest.

When the quarterfinals tip off tomorrow, everybody is 0-0. Should the Americans lose, they won't even end up with a medal — as happened to Spain in 2004, after they went unbeaten in pool play. Watch TEAM USA lift their basketball game to an entirely different competitive level against the Aussie's.

United States gets Revenge against Greece

Two years ago, Greece surprised the USA men's basketball team at the 2006 FIBA World Championships. They took it to the Americans by shocking them 101-95 in the semifinals. This time, there would be no letdown for the Americans.

Greece was ahead 13-9 with four minutes left in the opening quarter, but less than two minutes later a steal by Chris Paul led to a Kobe Bryant bucket giving the Americans the lead for good. The United States forced 25 turnovers and outscored Greece by 28-4 off the turnovers.

The Americans’ best moments in this tournament have been with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, who both come off the bench, on the floor. Greece ran 42 of its trademark pick-and-rolls in the teams’ 2006 match-up. On Thursday, it did not get half of that number, with the activity of Wade on the perimeter and Bosh inside keying a disruptive defense.

After looking sloppy and uninspired at times in its first two games, the United States played its best game of these Olympics. The United States led by 19 at halftime and rendered the second half a formality. It was 51-32 at the half, and Mike Krzyzewski's team was in the driver's seat throughout the final 20 minutes. Greece couldn't get closer than 16 in the third and the U.S. led by at least 19 throughout the fourth.

Next Game Saturday vs. Spain

USA Basketball vs. China: U.S. Wins 101-70

Dwyane Wade picked up right where he left off in exhibition play,leading Team USA to their first Olympic basketball win with 19 points. Despite Yao Ming's rise to stardom, the Chinese are still incredibly weak in basketball because they lack the physical stamina, creativity and toughness it takes to win on the international level. Their best finish was a meager 8th in the 2004 Athens Olympics - and just three of their players have NBA experience (which is almost a necessity these days to understand how to beat Team USA mentally).

China played an impressive passing game, especially in the early going, as Yao Ming was surrounded by defenders. Chinese players loved the three-point line; the first points of the game were scored on a three (by of all people, Yao) and by game's end, no less than six Chinese players had hit threes. Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi, both of whom have NBA experience to add to their maturity as international-level players, each hit four threes.

TEAM USA used relentless defense to trigger turnovers and force the weaker Chinese team into mistakes - leading to countless easy layups and highlight reel ally-oops. Although the weakness of the American team is all too apparent: Zero halfcourt offense. It's really scary that a team composed of guys like LeBron and Kobe, and penetrators like Deron Williams and Chris Paul struggle in a half court setting, but these guys manage it somehow. If Team USA doesn't force turnovers to create easy baskets, you're going to see them struggle to put away opponents like Germany, Argentina, and Spain. We'll have to see if the opposing countries try and slow down the game of the Americans to force them into a half-court set. The ROAD TO THE GOLD has only just begun for "The Redeem Team."

USA Basketball: Red, White, and Dunk?

Team USA stroke again with the help of LeBron James back off of injury as USA defeated Turkey 114-82 on another dunk fest tune up game before the team heads to Shanghai for their final two of three games. James scored 20 points and was a defensive force Thursday night in his exhibition debut, helping the U.S. Olympic basketball team overcome some early sloppy play.

At the end of the first quarter USA lead by a very skinny point, 31-30. That means there was zero defense by either team which you won't see in the Olympic Games in Beijing. Here is the key for TEAM USA Basketball and help me out here with this one if you agree? There is a difference in playing unselfishly and playing as a TEAM. (Together Everybody Achieves More). Granted the team is playing unselfishly and that is a plus, and it's really leading to some great 1 on 1 highlight dunks. Awesome! But I believe it's breeding false confidence within the team and the fans here in the United States who may not be watching these exibition games.

Just because were playing unselfishly doesn't mean were playing World-Class basketball as a team. Winning the Gold medal this year at the games is going to take a total team effort. Team USA's full court press last night was a joke and even to Team Turkey who were able to expose the gigantic holes in our press defense. I hope over the next 2 games Coach K is stressing Red, White, and Blue which defines TEAM USA and continuity. Right now were playing Red, White, and Dunk basketball which will prevent us from getting to the Medal stand if we continue this 1 on 1 mentality.

Having said that Turkey pretty much gave up in the quarter and the United States went on for the easy victory. They improved to 2-0 in Olympic tune-up play and face Lithuania here Friday before moving on to Shanghai for their remaining two games.

James was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with six rebounds, five steals and four assists in 23 minutes, sitting out the fourth quarter. James had 12 points in the half and added eight more and some of the game's highlight plays in the third. Following a basket by Turkey, he took the ball out and whipped a pass to the other end of the court to a streaking Dwyane Wade for a dunk. A minute later, James had another steal and passed ahead to Kobe Bryant, who bounced it in front of the basket to Anthony for a dunk.

Turkey didn't qualify for the Olympics and has an automatic berth into the 2010 world championships as the host country.

Game Highlights (USA vs. Turkey)

All eyes will be on the USA Basketball Team this Friday night when we play Canada for an exhibition game before they head to Beijing. (8 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360.com) Team USA is finally back together for a four-day U.S.-based portion of training camp in Sin City. It would be a sin, in the minds of many Americans, for the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team to return home from Beijing on Aug. 25 with anything less than the gold medal.

The Americans have two more workouts before facing Canada in an exhibition on Friday. Then the squad leaves for Macau, where it opens a four-game exhibition tour. The Olympic opener is Aug. 10 against host China in Beijing. They are working out against the USA Select Team which his headed up by Kevin Durant. Coincidently LeBron James suffered a mild ankle sprain when he landed on Durant's foot yesterday in a workout. He may miss the game Friday vs. Canada, but expected to be ready by August 10 in the opener against China.

For many Americans Friday night will kind of be the cartoon before the movie if you ask me. The whole country will be able to see potentially how well this year's team will do in the Olympic Games by getting a test drive against Canada.

"We're a team already," Coach Krzyzewski said. "One key word that we couldn't use in the past, continuity -- we have that. And we have relationships, too. As a result, we're hitting the ground running."

We'll all be watching for the sneak preview this Friday night against Canada!

Exactly 96 years ago, on July 15, 1912, Jim Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics and, in the closing ceremony, Sweden's King Gustav proclaims Thorpe the world's greatest athlete.

The 1912 Olympic decathlon has become legend because of the presence of Jim Thorpe. Jim had a terrific 1912 spring track season, winning as many as six events per meet. Thorpe made the U.S. Olympic team in four events: decathlon, pentathlon, high jump, and long jump. The Russian czar donated a Viking ship as a prize for the decathlon champion. Thorpe won the decathlon by almost 700 points over his closest opponent, Hugo Wieslander of Sweden. Because of the unexpected large number of entries, the decathlon was held over 3 days. The first day they held the 100 m run, long jump, and shot put. The second day consisted of the high jump, 400 m run, discus, and 110, hurdles. The third and final day consisted of the pole vault, javelin, and 1500 m run. Thorpe's 8412 points converts to 6564 points on the current tables, still a very respectable score three quarters of a century later. On this day today, exactly 96 years ago, Sweden's King Gustav proclaims Thorpe the world's greatest athlete.

As the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing get closer you can feel the excitement and anticipation start to heat up everywhere. The Olympic Games is a spectacle of an event that will have over 200 Countries represented. The Olympics are one of the largest media events. In Sydney in 2000, there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watched the games on television.

I've been reading numerous articles on the Olympics this year and last night as I was doing my normal web surfing at some of my favorite web breaks, I thought I would share a couple things that reminded me of how exciting it is every 4 years when we get to experience the Spirit of the Games.  

Since July 13, 2001, when Beijing won the right at the 112th plenary meeting of the International Olympics Committee to host the 29th Olympic Games, Chinese people under the auspices of the Chinese government have been endeavoring to make the 29th the best games ever. In publicizing the Olympics background information, the construction of the Olympics venues and other aspects, there are many moving stories.

Following are some of them.

To publicize the Olympic spirit, five men cycled around China

To welcome the coming of the Beijing Olympic Games, a group of four Chinese senior citizens and a Korean cycled 180,000 kilometers around China to publicize the Olympic spirit. When arriving at a city, they enthusiastically brought the Olympic spirit to local citizens. They handed out leaflets to citizens in different cities in China inviting them to watch the sailing competition in Qingdao. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they will cycle in other countries to publicize the games.

English Speaking Contest held to support Olympic Games

In Beijing, host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, an English Speaking Contest was held featuring the Olympic Games. Participants from 12 colleges in Beijing showed their enthusiasm for the Beijing Olympic Games through their brilliant speeches. Speech titles such as 'Olympic Games in My Heart' and 'One World One Dream' demonstrated participants' excitement about the Beijing Olympics.

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Tom Pappas of the United States is the first ever U.S. decathlete to qualify for three Olympics. Is that simply amazing or what? First off all, you have to be insane anyways to compete in 10 events just to win once, but I guess that's why whoever wins the decathlon is dubbed the World's Greatest Athlete.

Monday at the 2008 Olympic Trials Pappas, 31, used a first place in the pole vault (17-0¼ ) and a second place in discus to become the first U.S. decathlete to qualify for three Olympics. Over a decade of training 6 days a week, 5-6 hours daily, with double sessions twice weekly.

Basically over the last 12 years, which is 4,380 days...Pappas trained 3,744 of those days! And I'm not talking about trained as he went for a run, stopped by the weight room, did some sit-ups, or some intense stretching. Decathletes are the best trained physical and mental species you have ever seen. Hands down.

Pappas won the gold medal at the 2003 World Championships held outside Paris, France, and was rated number 1 in the world that year by Track & Field News. He is a four-time US champion (2000, 2002, 2003, 2006) and was the 1999 NCAA champion while attending the University of Tennessee. He finished fifth at the 2000 Olympic decathlon, and competed in but did not finish the decathlon due to a foot injury at the 2004 Olympic Games. His personal best in the decathlon is 8,784 points while winning the 2003 US championships held at Stanford University, CA.

Now Tom Pappas will have an opportunity to possibly help the USA sweep the decathlon event with his veteran swagger next month at the Olympic Games in Beijing.  At the age of 31 Tom is not your favorite to win the gold or maybe even metal for that matter, but what is more impressive to me is the solid commitment he has given to his family, the decathlon, and the United States of America. Congratulations Mr. Pappas I wouldn't be surprised to see you come home from Beijing with a little hardware!

In Success,

Coach Corey

Biography is courtesy of USTAF.Org

Pappas claimed his fifth U.S. Outdoor decathlon title and second in a row in 2007 before traveling to Osaka, Japan, for the World Outdoor Championships, where he dropped out of the competion after six events due to an injury. Following an injury in 2005, he bounced back to win the 2006 USA Outdoor decathlon title and showed up again in the world rankings (#7 in world, #2 U.S.) by Track & Field News.

Pappas had surgery in March 2005 for a torn labrum in his shoulder and was unable to compete that year, though he did continue training in all events except the javelin and pole vault. After winning the 2003 World Outdoor crown, Pappas, who is of Greek heritage and has a large Greek fan base, was a gold-medal favorite in the decathlon for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Unfortunately, Pappas was forced to drop out of the Olympic competition after he hurt his left foot on his first pole vault attempt at 4.61 meters/15 feet, 1 inch. Pappas was diagnosed with an acute strain in his left foot.

In 2003 Pappas became the only American other than the legendary Dan O’Brien to win World Championships gold in the decathlon…had minor surgery on his right shoulder on January 27, 2004 to remove cartilage…throws left handed…Pappas established himself as one of the greatest decathletes in U.S. history with his winning total of 8,784 points at the 2003 USA Outdoor Championships, making him the then #2 American of all-time and setting a meet record.

Pappas beat the world’s finest to win gold in the heptathlon at the 2003 World Indoor Championships...participated in football, baseball, wrestling and basketball in high school and was Junior class president. His grandfather was a professional wrestler who encouraged him to try the sport as well. His father, Nick, constructed a full-size wrestling ring in their basement so Tom and his two brothers could take turns body slamming each other. Pappas’ competitive nature comes from his father, who has dealt with paralysis most of his life after becoming a victim of polio before age two. Despite being physically challenged, Nick Pappas became the family’s first world record holder when he and a partner claimed a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a vehicle that achieved a top velocity of more than 700 kilometers per hour... In 1995, Pappas began training as a decathlete, winning his first-ever decathlon with 6,746 points...Married to heptathlete Kim Schiemenz.