USA - Angola next opponent for U.S. men
Most Americans may only remember the Charles Barkley elbow incident from the 1992 Barcelona Games when they think of the Angolan national basketball team in the context of Olympic basketball history. But Angola, which will face the U.S. on Tuesday at 8 a.m. at Beijing Olympic Gymnasium in Pool B play at the Beijing Games, has been the class of the African continent for nearly two decades.
From www.bnd.com
Download source here
Most Americans may only remember the Charles Barkley elbow incident from the 1992 Barcelona Games when they think of the Angolan national basketball team in the context of Olympic basketball history.
But Angola, which will face the U.S. on Tuesday at 8 a.m. at Beijing Olympic Gymnasium in Pool B play at the Beijing Games, has been the class of the African continent for nearly two decades.
For years, Angola was built around stars such as Jean- Jacques Conceicao and won eight of the past nine FIBA Africa Championships.
Conceicao has since retired so the team the U.S. will see on Tuesday has a new look and a balanced attack with younger players like forward Olimpio Cipriano, power forward Joaquim Gomes, and U.S. head coach Mike Krzyzewski's favorite name-drop, power forward Eduardo Mingas.
That group led Angola to ninth place at the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan, the highest finish for any African nation in nearly 50 years.
That group also nearly took down Germany in Japan, eventually losing in triple overtime with German and Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki scoring 47 points. Angola then won gold at the 2007 FIBA Africa Championships to qualify for Beijing.
The U.S. (1-0) took Monday off after thrashing China, 101-70 on Sunday. The Americans had played, and won, six games in the past 11 days.
Keep an eye on USA guard Dwyane Wade, who scored 19 points against the Chinese.
Wade looks fit and devoted to this mission coming off a slow 2007-08 season that started late after left shoulder and left knee surgeries and ended early with knee problems.
"Dwyane I think is at a level that he was when Miami won the championship," Krzyzewski said. "The confidence he has, you've seen highlights of some of the plays he has made that were so instinctively athletic. Those shows at that moment he has confidence in that body. He's played as well as anyone."