You know, every true Houston basketball fan knows about Guy V. Lewis, one of the greatest coaches who ever lived. And we all know that, despite his greatness, he has not been placed among his peers in the basketball Hall of Fame. And when you ask why, his pundits will tell you that, in all of his trips to the Final Four, he never won the big game... Now, if the sheer greatness of Guy V. can be eclipsed by his inability to seal the deal, then a far, far greater shadow should fall on these names: Brand A. Davis B. Davis Finley LaFrentz Marion A. Miller R. Miller J. O'Neal Pierce B. Wallace AND Karl If Guy remains marked after all of these years, these losers should be shamed for all time. Wherever they go, whatever they do, they should be seen as the failures they are. No one can say that Argentina and Yugoslavia possessed more talent. But what those teams did have is more practice, more determination, and more guts. Remember, this didn't suddenly rush up on us. We've known for years that that the rest of the world was catching up. There have been close games, a few down to the wire, before. Team USA had to know that they couldn't win on talent alone, not anymore. Especially not with this team's sub-allstar cast. No, in order to assure victory, this team was going to have to practice hard and prepare themselves both mentally and physically for the tournament. And I doubt they did any of that. Instead, they treated the whole experience like Allstar Weekend and so fell flat on their faces. I bet while the other teams were planning and practicing offensive and defensive schemes, our guys were working on their full-court passes and dunking routines (for just a few hours a day, of course, before hitting the clubs). What we saw was superior talent being beaten for a lack of teamwork and strategy. There's nothing wrong with the team that can't be fixed with a little dedication and a lot of humility - at least we have one of those now. I'm brought back to Guy Lewis and one of the great champions he produced - Hakeem Olajuwon. It was Hakeem who coined the phrase "stay humble and stay hungry". The US team lost because it was neither and Hakeem triumphed because he was both. These losers aren't even good enough to polish his medal, much less win one of their own. Last, but not least, I lay most of the blame at Karl's feet. The days of Chuck Daley simply rolling out the ball for Michael, Magic, and Larry are long gone. Coaching and leadership have now become essential to winning on the international stage. If Karl didn't know that, then he's an idiot. And if Karl did know, but wasn't capable, then he shouldn't have tried to step into Rudy's shoes. If I was the Bucks, I'd be looking for a way out his contract right about now.
