sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (07/21/84)
Canada's Olympic basketball team has just won a 4-country round-robin warmup tournament by beating the Defending Olympic Champion, Yugoslavia, twice in two nights. Three times in a row, if you count last year's University Games. So who does Sports Illustrated think are the main threats at the Olympics (apart from the Americans)? Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia. Fine. Well, they won't be expecting us... SI didn't think Gaetan Boucher was a medal threat either. Anyways, obviously I'm not an impartial observer but I think Canada can do well this year. The team has been together for years, has 12 offenses and 13 defenses they can use and have to be buoyed by a big win in this recent tournament (which also featured Italy and Australia). All I've heard about the US team's tune-ups is that they beat the NBA "all-stars". Has the American team played any international games yet? It's not exactly worth taking a poll to see who everyone's favourite teams are, but I'll throw in my two cents worth by saying that the medal winners will be... Men's Women's Canada Canada USA China Yugoslavia USA Of course this is alphabetical order only :-) Other opinions? Steve Hayman University of Waterloo Warriors Band The Official Band of the Canadian Olympic Basketball Team (seriously!)
kovalsky@trwspp.UUCP (07/24/84)
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The Canadians winning the Gold in Basketball? Let's get serious! I would be
willing to bet a large sum of money that the Americans will win the Gold
*hands down*. I don't think any team they play will even come close to them
and look for some blowouts of 50-60 points in the opening rounds.
They have beat the NBA All-Stars 8 games in a row in exhibitions and most of
the time they have looked awesome. And for your information, the NBA has the
best players in the WORLD, by far. I agree that they should play some games
against international competition since the International Rules are quite
different in some cases, and they should get used to playing with these rules.
However, I think Bobby Knight is a good enough coach that he will have his
players ready for anything. They have so much talent they don't know what to
do with it (but somehow they will manage).
I have heard that Canada is good and I think they have a good shot at the
Silver or Bronze. I will be attending 2 Preliminary Round games on July 29
(Spain vs. Canada & Austrailia vs. Brazil) so I will be able to tell how
good these Canadians really are. I will post a report to the net after these
games. USA plays China on July 29 in an opening game also.
Go USA!
Bruce Kovalsky <!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!kovalsky>