With an impressive win over Tony Parker’s French squad right out of the gate, the Americans have gotten off to a good start on their campaign for a second consecutive gold medal.
After dispatching France, Kobe Bryant and company will face off against Tunisia on Tuesday, July 31, followed by three more games against Nigeria, Lithuania and Argentina in the preliminary round.
It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Team USA won’t have much trouble with these four teams mentioned above and will advance to the next round. Once advancing, the consensus is that only Pau Gasol’s Spanish squad will stand in their way of another gold medal.
If Team USA is able to win a second consecutive gold medal, the attention will turn to whether or not Coach K will return for the 2016 Olympics and if the a new age limit of 23 and under will go in affect.
As of right now, it appears that Coach K doesn’t intend on returning for another run at a gold medal. The longtime Duke head coach has said that this will most likely be his last time on the sidelines for Team USA, but nothing is set in stone in terms of him officially calling it quits on the international level.
Apparently, USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo was able to convince Coach K to come back for the 2012 Olympics after a conversation over pizza and wine. Colangelo hopes he can do the same to convince him to come back for 2016 according to The Associated Press via ESPN.com:
“We’ll have pizza and wine again,” Colangelo said. “We’ll see if it works a second time.”
Coach K. talked about being pitched for a second time by Colangelo:
“I’ll still grab a pizza from him. Any time I can get free food and wine from him, I’ll milk that offer,” Krzyzewski joked. “But let’s win first and then be put in the position where I can get free pizza and wine.”
So even though all indications point to Coach K calling it quits on the international level, there seems to be a chance that he’d be back for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.