Beijing 2008 - Round 2

We had two good days of training (pretty light) - just going over and refining little things that we can do better. We switched over to more of an evening schedule today (we were in the water from 6 – 8 pm) because I wanted to get the guys moving and working at close to the same time that we will be playing tomorrow. After training tonight we had dinner together at BNU and then went over video with Serbian tendencies. They have there vulnerabilities. We certainly can not get into a static vertical game with them. We need to set the tempo and we need to make them move and play defense.

After the video session, I shared a personal story with the guys from my Olympic experiences. In 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, Russia lost a game in the last game of the preliminary round so that they would match up with us rather than Yugoslavia in the semi-finals. We were pissed off. They wanted us and they got us. I think it was one of the best games that a USA team that I played on ever played. We beat them handedly and moved onto the finals. Kind of an interesting parallel wouldn’t you say…

This has truly been a team effort and I want to let everyone know how much I appreciate my staff. They have all worked hard to make this possible. Robert and Ryan have been great assistants – both adding critical pieces to what we needed and complimenting me well. Rick has worked hard to insure that we were all taken care of as much as possible. Most of all I want to say thank you to all the guys who were a part of our program this year. We started out with 24 players and only 13 made the final team. As I told the guys when they were let go, each of them has helped this team to become more successful. They all worked hard and challenged one another to be better and we are where we are today (final four) largely because all of these guys that did not make the team made the final 13 work that much harder.

Before we made our first cuts I had all the guys sign one of our USA team banners and at dinner that night (of the first cuts) I told the guys that we let go that they were part of this team and that I would bring that signed banner with me to Beijing and hang it on our room wall to remind everyone that they are here with us. So attached is a picture of that signed banner – it has hung on our wall here in the Village since day 1. You guys are here with us. Thank you for all that you have done for this team. Your time will come and you will all be an important part of where the USA Men’s program goes in the future.


Here is our schedule for tomorrow.
9:30 am - wake up
10:00 am - breakfast
11:00 am - light swim at the Village pool
12 – 2:30 pm down time (nap)
3:00 pm - lunch
5:15 pm – team meeting
6:00 pm - Bus
7:40 pm – Beat Serbia

OK – I am getting this sent off and then it is time for one more showing of “Miracle”. Tomorrow it is our time to make some magic happen for ourselves. We can beat these guys – it is our time.

See you at the pool!

Go USA!

Coach