7/25 - Gold Medal ReviewOn Saturday the United States took on and defeated Argentina 92-81
(15779) after a riveting 2nd half comeback by the Americans. Foul trouble and a key injury left the Argentinians overmatched at Center with 6'10'' Harris Carson
(14602295) matched up against 6'5'' Shooting Guard Juan Jose Benitez
(14608501) for the final 8 minutes of the match.
Simultaneously the undefeated Brazilians continued their impressive streak by handily defeating the overmatched Chileans 89-62
(15780). Chile went with the 2-3 zone in an effort to stymie Brazil's impressive inside attack but it was no use.
USA and Brasil then faced off in an early gold medal match-up on Monday with both teams having clinched a spot in the Worlds after their semifinal wins. The game pitted two behemoths down low for Brasil in Armando Branquinho
(14626464) and Danilo Martinello
(14626703) against Harris Carson and the young Mike Merrill
(16433183).
The game was back and forth the entire way with 18 lead changes and 14 ties! The US fell behind by as much as 10 points after a pass from José Firmino Corsini
(14624782) led to a thunderous Branquinho dunk with 7:41 left in the second quarter. The dunk clearly lit a fire under the team and did not require me to call a time-out so that special junior deputy assistant coach jfarb could attempt a speech. Mike Merrill hit a fade-away followed by a Chris Wilburn
(14595028) steal and a Harris Carson hook shot to bring it back to within 6.
The game continued this way for the next 2 quarters with the USA taking a late 1 point lead with 0:43 left in the game as Dean Beverly
(14601580) hit Mike Merrill for an inside shot. However, Dean Beverly almost went from Hero to Goat as his 4 missed free throws in the final seconds coupled a Rampelotto 3 allowed the Brazilians to get within 1 point at the buzzer. Fortunately Chris Wilburn's steadiness allowed him to hit a free throw with 7 seconds remaining to stretch the lead to 4.
As a result of hard work from all the coaches and players, the USA was able to hoist its third Americas Tournament Gold Trophy ever in the six seasons it has existed. There were a lot of deserving candidates but the game ball goes to Mike Merrill for his 24 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks (all game highs) and his 3 assists and 1 steal for good measure.
We will all be excited to have Mike return to the team next season for the World Championship tournament alongside teammates Merrill Clement and Jimmie Brown. Unfortunately we must bid adieu to the rest of the 17 man team, all of which played crucial parts at some point or another.
Special thanks to all the people who helped out along the way specifically: darkjester11, BFiddy, panic129, Korey, jfarb, Jelme. Thanks to everyone for the advice and participation on the offsite and in chats: FatCurry, Coco, Wozz, brian, namssor, Azariah, Peluin, oriolekid, stauder, smallfrie09.
Finally the biggest thanks goes to all the managers out there who made my job easy by both training their players exceptionally well and keeping them in great game shape the entire way, specifically:
Anthony Edwards Sr. - Cleveland Ballers - Harris Carson
(23440)magicmike - Crazy Kangaroos - Merrill Clement
(34332)Hamstar - Hamstar Hoopers - Mike Merrill
(28670)King Donkey - Donkey Punchers - Darrick Hayes
(23496)J Dizzle - West Lawn Mowers - Jimmie Brown
(23207)LH Fosse - Fosse Designs - Ben Jack
(23497)zekemcdiller - Shameless - Chris Wilburn
(28212)moflaffle - Mof State Squizzes - Hubert Douglas
(30462)are318 - Wall Street Wizards - Forrest Machado
(30986)blid - Swamp People - Dean Beverly
(29378)and again, a hearty amount of praise goes to Jelme
(23174) for his success last season which I will try to build upon and for the foundation he helped build at the U21 level.
Last edited by Rambo at 7/25/2011 5:01:10 PM