Bet On USA

[Raji]

If this keeps up, maybe Charles Barkley can press a few bets and make some payments on the tab he runs in Vegas.

The U.S. Olympians are flying, and is there anyone this side of Pete Rose who won't take the Americans and give the number (31) before they take the court Wednesday against the Australians?

The Americans' average winning margin was 32 points as they skipped through Pool B unblemished. Mike Krzyzewski's troops have been so dominant that they might as well have been playing Duke's preseason schedule instead of the best the rest of the world has to offer.

Handicapper Steve Merril at ProSportsInfo.com says that he believes the Americans are simply wearing out other teams.

"The USA is extending margins in the second half, which is something they did not do as well as in earlier games," says Merril. "Their depth is starting to take a toll on other teams that have now played four games in eight days."

Merril also sees what other see: a determined focus that has been lacking in other U.S. teams that have competed in international competition. He cited the Americans' wire-to-wire blowout of Germany.

No matter that Australia gave the U.S. some matchup problems in a pre-Olympic scrimmage. The line has been holding at 31 and the O/U remains firm at 178.

You wonder if there is any number high enough to contain the Americans, who seems bent on duplicating - and perhaps even leapfrogging - the accomplishments of the original 1992 Dream Team in Barcelona.

The comparisons between the Dream Team and the Redeem Team have already started. The talent is comparable, but this group thankfully doesn't have the arrogant edge that Barkley and a few others brought to the 1992 team.

Simply put, the 2008 team is focused, enjoying itself immensely and is prepared to swat away any team that gets in the way.

Into this maelstrom wander the Australians, led by a hyperactive, obsessive-compulsive coach named Brian Goorjian. Goorjian is noted for never sitting down during games and for making sure (make that damn sure) that all details are taken care of. He is so paranoid about forgetting carry-on luggage on a flight that he takes off one shoe and puts it in the overhead bin with his belongings.

He is ever alert, but 15 cups of coffee a day would make Sam Perkins alert. Besides, it's never a bad idea to be wide awake in a country that contains seven of the world's 10 species of the most venomous snakes.

Goorjian can call on Andrew Bogut, whose reward for being the top overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft is to play out his career on losing Milwaukee Bucks teams and watch faster players whiz by him night after night. The Aussies fill in around Bogut with a bunch of big guys that no one has ever heard of outside of New South Wales.

But none of that really matters. The Americans have decided that they will win the Gold this time, and that it's just about time that people who follow this sport - both in the United States and out - understand that maybe the 2006 World Championships were an aberration and the Europeans and the South Americans and the Far East have not only not passed the U.S. on the court, they still have a long way to go to catch up.

Raji