USA Men playing Poland for seventh place
By Alex Bozek
Sports Editor
The USA Men’s basketball team is playing Poland in the seventh
place game of the FIBA World Cup. The FIBA World Cup is an interna- tional tournament between countries men and women’s basketball teams. FIBA, the International Basketball Federation has been holding this tournament since 1950.
The USA men’s team is known to be historically good in this tournament. Their record to date from the 1950 inaugural season is 122-27. Over the past 69 years, they have only lost 27 times. Their main losses have been to France in the quarterfinals 89-79 and Serbia in the Consolation Bracket 94-89. That means that they will be playing the Polish team for seventh place.
The #1 ranked team in the world is now, at best, going to finish in seventh. If they win against Poland, then they will finish the tournament with the worst finish achieved by an NBA roster.This year’s FIBA roster was one that caused debate. The US team was the favorite to win the whole tournament. In the beginning, Westgate Sportsbook in Las Vegas put the odds at -175 towards the Americans.
In the last summer Olympics, 2016, USA had five all-start guards on the team. This year, they only had one, Kemba Walker. The one debate that has come up due to the team’s recent downfall is why all of these NBA stars leaving the roster? Some of the league’s best, such as Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, James Harden and Kyle Kuzma are all withdrawing from the roster.
All of these players, along with others, have publicly announced that they were leaving the team. That has analysts wondering why. Is it something on the inside? Is it being caused by something the public does not know about?
A possible explanation for their resignation is because of their health. Much like college football, players will sit out the last game to avoid risking injury before the NFL draft. All of the players on that list, above, have signed massive contracts with their respective teams.
If this is the case, it would raise questions about what the priorities of these national basketball players should be. Should they be focused on patriotism or their own personal success?