Final thoughts on London

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's London Calling) - The Olympics are done and dusted.

Looking back, almost every team in the Men’s Tournament had something to be happy about in London.

Only China, who lost all five of their games, looked completely overmatched.

The United States beat Argentina in the Semi-Finals and then Spain in the title game for the second Olympics in a row.

Remember Athens 2004, when the Americans lost to Puerto Rico, Lithuania and Argentina?

The days of the American national team crisis are long gone.

All hail USA Basketball President Jerry Colangelo, the managing director who had a vision of creating a national team program for the Americans before the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

The only loss for the USA since Colangelo’s involvement remains the 101-95 setback to Greece at the Worlds in Japan six years ago.

We haven’t seen the last of the USA v Spain rivalry, either.

The Americans have qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup as Olympic champions while Spain will compete as the host nation.

Don’t bet against these sides meeting in the Final of that event.

Team USA’s Kobe Bryant and Spain’s Felipe Reyes have retired from international basketball but everyone else should be available for 2014.

The biggest challenge for both teams will be which players to include.

Spain’s Ricky Rubio will be fit again after missing this summer with a knee injury.

There is a tantalizing prospect of having both Rubio and Sergio Rodriguez in the Spanish squad.

Derrick Rose will be back for the Americans at the point, possibly replacing Chris Paul.

Neither USA coach Mike Krzyzewski nor Spain boss Sergio Scariolo has ruled out remaining with the teams in 2014.

In London, Russia reached the podium in a Men's Olympic tournament for the first time.

David Blatt’s team had to beat a veteran-laden Argentina, 81-77, in a thrilling Bronze Medal Game to do it.

The Argentinians, eight years removed from their gold-medal win in Athens, had plenty of highlight reel plays with 35-year-old Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni and Luis Scola (both 32) strong.

As Scola said after Argentina's 82-77 Quarter-Final win over Brazil: "To be in the Semi-Final stages of the Olympics can never be a minimal aim, but rather the maximum.

"It's something great to reach the last four."

He knew how difficult it was going to be for Argentina, bronze-medal winners in 2008, to get back to the podium for a third Olympics in a row.

The question for Argentina now is how to move forward.

Olympic rookie Facundo Campazzo, the point guard who drew the ire of Team USA by hitting Carmelo Anthony with what the Americans called a “cheap shot”, will be a part of the Argentinian future.

For Russia, the main objective has to be to keep Blatt involved but that may prove difficult.

He took over the Russia team in 2006.

London may have been his swan song.

Brazil didn't capture a medal but did come in fifth in their first Olympic experience since 1996.

All signs point to Ruben Magnano's team being a force at the World Cup in Spain, and in 2016 when Brazil host the next Olympics.

France appeared in their first Summer Games since 2000 and came in sixth.

Les Bleus should use their gritty and determined effort against Spain in the Last Eight as a launch pad for bigger things.

The only two defeats for Vincent Collet's team came against sides that played in the title game, and the future is bright with a vast pool of talent to draw from.

Australia battled back from a second consecutive 0-2 start at an Olympics to reach the Quarter-Finals and might have done even better had they not continued their tradition of taking on the USA in their first knockout game of a major tournament.

In 2006 at the World Championship, the USA beat Australia in the Last 16 and at the last two Olympics, the Americans beat the Aussies in the Quarter-Finals.

The Boomers introduced youngsters Pat Mills and Joe Ingles to the world in Beijing and they were twice as good in London.

Mills had a buzzer-beating shot at the death to down Russia in Australia’s last Preliminary Round game and Ingles was a star in the defeat to the USA.

Don’t be surprised if Ingles joins San Antonio guard Mills in the NBA in the near future.

Lithuania had their string of Semi-Final appearances, which dated back to the 1992 Games, snapped with a hard-fought defeat to Russia in the Last Eight.

But the Baltic side did well just to reach London.

They had to pull out all stops at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela to claim one of the three spots on offer.

Great Britain claimed just a single win against China.

The host nation of the Olympics nearly upset Brazil and never quit against Spain, losing by just a single point to Scariolo's team.

The Brits will compete at the EuroBasket in Slovenia next year and will hope to have the solid nucleus of Joel Freeland, Dan Clark, Eric Boateng, Andrew Lawrence and Devon van Oostrum in the squad.

Britain’s Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls is in his prime but was non-committal about next summer after the Olympics.

Maybe the chance to play at the first World Cup in Spain will provide him with the incentive of staying involved.

London marked the first time two African nations competed in the Men’s Tournament.

They were Olympic newcomers Nigeria and Tunisia.

The former can remember its successful qualifying campaign in Caracas when it knocked out Greece in the Quarter-Finals and claimed one of three spots for London.

Had the Nigerians not lost point guard Ade Dagunduro to a knee injury in just their second game at the Olympics, maybe they would have scraped another win or two and progressed to the last eight.

The Africans were much better than their historic 156-73 drubbing to the United States indicated.

The Americans' tally was a record number of points scored by a team at an Olympic Games.

Tunisia are in unchartered territory.

They have played at a World Championship, won an African title and completed at an Olympics in a three-year spell.

Injuries limited their point guard Marouan Kechrid to just two appearances.

When all of the games had been played, and the Americans stood atop the podium, there was no doubt about the dominant side in the world.

They hold the number one spot in the FIBA Men's Ranking and deserve to as well.

What the London Olympics proved more than anything else is that international basketball continues to grow, with seemingly tougher competition around the world than ever before.

In two years, at the 24-team FIBA Basketball World Cup, the United States will once again start as favorites.

At no time can you expect them to take any opponent lightly.

To do so would be asking for trouble.

The biggest certainty of all is that the FIBA Basketball World Cup is going to usher in a new era of the sport, and it’s going to happen in a country with a huge appetite for the game.

The Americans and Spaniards will be there, but who will join them?

It’s going to be an exciting two years finding out.

See you in Spain.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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