Naismith Player of the Year: 3 (Ralph Sampson, 1981, 1982, 1983)
John R. Wooden Award: 2 (Ralph Sampson, 1982, 1983)
Oscar Robertson Trophy: 3 (Ralph Sampson, 1981, 1982, 1983)
AP Player of the Year: 3 (Ralph Sampson, 1981, 1982, 1983)
NABC Player of the Year: 2(Ralph Sampson, 1982, 1983)
Sporting News Player of the Year: 1 (Ralph Sampson, 1982)
AP All-Americans: 11(last = Kyle Guy & De’Andre Hunter, 2019)
ACC Player of the Year: 5(last = Malcolm Brogdon, 2016)
Virginia head coaches:
Coach
Tenure
Record
Conf. Titles
NCAA Apps.
Nat. Champ
Tony Bennett
2009-Pres
316-117
5
8
1
Dave Leitao
2005-09
63-60
1
1
0
Pete Gillen
1998-2005
118-93
0
1
0
Jeff Jones
1990-98
146-104
1
5
0
Terry Holland
1974-90
326-173
3
9
0
Bill Gibson
1963-74
120-158
0
0
0
Billy McCann
1957-63
40-106
0
0
0
Evan “Bus” Male
1951-57
67-88
0
0
0
Gus Tebell
1930-51
241-190
0
0
0
Red Randall
1929-30
3-12
0
–
–
Henry Lannigan
1905-29
254-95
1
–
–
Key: Conf. Titles= Regular Season only, NCAA Apps= NCAA Tournament Appearances, Nat. Champ= NCAA Tournament Champions
NOTE: Overall program records on this page do not include anything later vacated by the NCAA.
Virginia Won the National Title When It Learned to Stop Fearing Death
Virginia beat Texas Tech in a very important basketball game on Monday night. In doing so, it all but ensured that its March 16, 2018, loss to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will forever be remembered as the greatest upset in college basketball history.
After the final buzzer sounded in that game last year, the Cavaliers became the first no. 1 seed ever to lose to a no. 16 seed, snapping a streak of 135 consecutive 1-over-16 NCAA tournament victories. The Cavaliers’ coaches and players had to know that they would always be linked with that failure. But they also knew that failure didn’t have to be the whole story. What if the UMBC loss was Virginia’s last major letdown before the dawn of a dynasty, the fuel for a fire that burned brighter than any other in college basketball? What if that was the moment that freakishly bad things stopped happening to Virginia in March and freakishly good things started happening instead? What if the Book of Job ended with Job dunking while Satan wept during the “One Shining Moment”montage? (Job’s garbage friends, who argued that God would not punish an innocent man and therefore that Job must have sinned to deserve so much pain in life, wrote the original “Virginia’s system explains why they lost to UMBC” takes. )
If Virginia’s loss to UMBC would have been the last that we’d ever heard of the Cavaliers, the luster of the upset would eventually fade. Instead, Virginia guaranteed that we will never forget how historically strange that result was. UMBC wasn’t just a no. 16 seed that beat a no. 1 seed. It was a no. 16 seed that beat a group of coaches and players who one year and 23 days later would be crowned national champions.
In 2018, Virginia lost by 20 points as a massive favorite; in 2019, it pulled off miracle after miracle as the outside world waited for it to crumble. The Cavaliers proved that college basketball’s greatest fluke might be when the sport’s best team wins six consecutive single-elimination games to become national champions.
Virginia was the best team in college basketball this season. According to Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, the Cavaliers held that distinction for most of 2019, sitting atop KenPom from January 15 through February 9, and then again from February 23 until now. Virginia had only two regular-season losses, both against Duke, as the Blue Devils were really the only team that had any claim to the throne alongside the Cavaliers. But Duke looked deeply flawed in Zion Williamson’s absence and in its subsequent NCAA tournament run.
Of course, Virginia was also the best team in college basketball last season. It likewise had two regular-season losses, a 68-61 defeat at West Virginia, which went on to make the Sweet 16, and a 61-60 overtime loss against Virginia Tech, which went on to become a no. 8 seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament. The Hoos held KenPom’s top spot from February 7 through the end of their season—which, for some reason, was a 20-point loss to a UMBC team far worse than the dozens of the squads they effortlessly demolished all year.
I always believed that someday a no. 16 seed would upset a no. 1 seed, but I never thought it would happen the way it did. I thought it would be some improbable triumph clinched via controversy or buzzer-beater. But no—UMBC came out and straight-up trucked Virginia 74-54.
Virginia could have panicked. Some schools might have fired their head coach after such a gruesome, historic tournament failure. Players could have transferred out in shame, seeking to restart their basketball lives somewhere less cursed. Many fans and media members blamed the loss on the Hoos’ style of play, as Virginia coach Tony Bennett favors a slow, methodical approach that many felt gave an underdog a better chance of keeping pace. Remember, Bennett’s Cavaliers also suffered tournament disappointments in 2017 (losing by 26 points against fourth-seeded Florida), 2016 (falling in the Elite Eight to 10th-seeded Syracuse), 2015 (losing to lower-seeded Michigan State), and 2014 (also losing to lower-seeded Michigan State).
But Virginia didn’t panic. Of course Bennett wasn’t going anywhere—he’s the coach who built these Hoos into a perennial powerhouse, capturing at least a share of four ACC regular-season championships after the previous two Virginia coaches, Pete Gillen and Dave Leitao, combined to notch just two NCAA tournament bids. The only players who left were graduates. And Virginia didn’t just retain its style in 2018-19—it got slightly slower than it was the season before, preserving its status as the slowest team in college basketball while increasing its average offensive possession length from 20.9 seconds to 21.0.
Virginia also had ample opportunity to panic in each of its final three NCAA tournament games this year. It could’ve panicked in the Elite Eight against Purdue, when the Cavaliers trailed by two points with five seconds left in regulation and Ty Jerome missed a free throw. Yet instead, Virginia pulled off the play of the tournament, a frenzied, madcap scramble executed so calmly that you’d think the Hoos practiced it daily.
Every part of this play was perfect. Jerome’s miss, which popped up just the right amount in the air. Mamadi Diakite’s back-tap, which would have been a failure if it hadn’t cleared Purdue’s rebounders or if it had flown too far into the backcourt. Kihei Clark’s scramble to chase the ball down and then his gorgeous, stunning, 40-foot pass back to Diakite. And of course, Diakite’s buzzer-beating shot. It was pinpoint, unwavering precision. And it allowed Virginia to survive long enough to pull out an 80-75 win.
Virginia could have panicked against Auburn in the Final Four, when it blew a 10-point lead in the final five minutes, eventually falling behind by four with less than 10 seconds to go. But Kyle Guy drilled a 3-pointer from one corner and was fouled shooting a 3 from the other. He drilled all three free throws. He didn’t even hit rim.
And Virginia could have panicked against Texas Tech on Monday, once again blowing a 10-point second-half lead and trailing late. The Cavaliers almost threw their whole redemptive run away—literally!—when a botched attempt to call a timeout at the end of regulation allowed Texas Tech to get the ball back with a second to go in a tied ballgame.
But they didn’t panic. All five Virginia players on the court scored in overtime as the Hoos won 85-77. A year after making the bad kind of history, the Cavaliers brought home the program’s first national championship.
Virginia didn’t just win a national title—it did so by completing the most daring tightrope walk imaginable. This team learned it could survive any fall after last year. But could guys live with themselves if they changed the way they operated? They chose to keep on being Virginia. Cue the confetti.
Bad things happen to good people and, in some cases, good sports teams. And sometimes when your worst-case scenario comes to life, it brings not only shame and sadness but also a strangely massive sense of relief. You wake up the next morning to find that the sun hasn’t exploded.
Virginia had its worst-case scenario happen last year. It lost the biggest upset in college basketball—and maybe sports—history. So this year, when the trickster gods of March Madness kept opening up doors to death, the Hoos repeatedly scoffed at them. What fate could this tournament hand them that they hadn’t lived through already? What did they possibly have to fear? The Cavaliers’ road to a championship featured dozens of ludicrous hairpin turns, and yet the team never faltered. It just kept driving at the same speed it always does—and yes, that speed is incredibly slow.
The Cavaliers’ national championship will forever remain linked with their loss to UMBC. Those two moments explain each other, and magnify each other. The glory of Virginia’s championship is more meaningful now that it’s clear how easy it is for a great team to lose; the sheer randomness of Virginia’s loss is heightened now that it’s clear that the team was good enough to win the national title. Virginia’s 2018 catastrophe is no longer a mark of shame for the team’s players, coaches, and fans—just an unerasable part of a unique story. Nobody has ever been in the valley that Virginia fell into. The Cavaliers climbed out and smiled.
90,000 72,062 spectators at the final. How collegiate basketball is taking the NBA down in popularity
These players don't even get paid. But such a fiery final as "Virginia" - "Texas Tech" is for life.
These players don't even get paid. But such a fiery final as "Virginia" - "Texas Tech" is for life.
How can college basketball be more popular than the NBA?
The USA is a sports-obsessed country. Even those who prefer hamburgers and beer to jogging are happy to watch some baseball or American football under this meal. And the cult of student sports in the USA can be explained by the desire to cheer for your own. Outback Omaha doesn't have a professional team in the four major North American sports leagues, but the University of Nebraska has the best women's volleyball team in the country. Therefore, even at ordinary matches of the NCAA student league, a full hall gathers here. And so you understand - the hall in Omaha for 18 thousand people. Not just big, but modern. It is even possible to hold a world championship here - at least in volleyball, even in basketball, even in handball.
But 72 thousand spectators! How?
If the whole city gathers to cheer for the university team at regular matches, then even more space is needed for the playoffs. The main matches of the season in American college basketball even have their own special name, almost a brand - "March Madness". In English, it is also written beautifully: March Madness. It is said that the use of alliteration (this is when words begin with one letter) increases memorability and sales. The NCAA has embraced this theme to the fullest and uses alliteration even in the names of the March Madness playoff rounds: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four.
But the secret of the popularity of college basketball, of course, is not in this. In total, there are three divisions in the NCAA basketball tournament with two hundred teams. 68 of them get into the playoffs of the first division. And no streaks up to 3-4 victories: in each round, everything is decided by one match. Of course, this increases the element of chance, and this only raises the rating of the tournament. The second point: in just 13 days, from March 19 to March 31, there are four out of 68 applicants for the championship title. Madness!
The Final Four is a different story, and on the day of the match for the championship title, the NBA regular season is even interrupted. This is the only sporting event due to which the world's major basketball league takes a break.
72062 spectators gathered at the 2019 final - it was legendary.
There is also a Final Four in the Euroleague. Why is it worse than the NCAA?
The fact that in professional basketball the favorites have been the same for many years. CSKA has reached the Final Four of the Euroleague 15 times in 16 years, and it has gotten to the point where the fans no longer perceive the very fact of getting into the top four as a success. Student teams are a completely different matter. The term of study at the college is four years, and it is not a fact that you will get into the university team from the first year. So it turns out that in two or three years the league is updated almost completely, so every season the favorites are different.
Even 1/8 or 1/4 finals matches often take place in large football arenas with a capacity larger than the standard basketball 10-20 thousand. But the Final Four stands out even against this background. This year, the decisive games were held in Minneapolis, in a huge American football stadium. The season in the NFL goes in the fall-winter, and Minnesota is a northern state, the weather here is about the same as in the Russian taiga. The obvious solution is to roof the stadium.
US Bank Stadium can't be called the coolest arena in the NCAA, it can't even be called the coolest arena in the NFL. Because it is the most modern, most beautiful and most sophisticated arena in all of American sports. It is mainly for American football (the Minnesota Vikings NFL club plays here).
But capable of hosting any competition, from biathlon to motocross.
And who became the champion?
In general, Duke was considered the main contender for the title, which included three ready-made stars for the NBA at once. 18-year-old Zion Williamson is just finishing his freshman year, and is already considered the reinforced concrete first number of the 2019 draft.
But in the end, Duke stopped a step away from the Final Four. Features of "March Madness", nothing can be done.
The Final Four, despite the March name, takes place already in April and seems to be separate from the rest of the playoffs. But all in the same crazy format: two days, two games in a row, the loser goes home. And no matches for third place! Because there are only two types of places: the first and all the rest.
Virginia became the champion, and both of its Final Four victories were epic. In the semi-finals, the Cavaliers defeated Auburn University with a +1 difference. And the next day, in the final, she pulled out the ending with the Texas Tech University.
A year ago, Virginia was also seeded in its conference under the first number (that is, it was considered a clear candidate for the Final Four), but was eliminated in the first round. Now fate has returned. The future champions had -3 before the last attack, but with 13 seconds left, Deandre Hunter threw the most important three-pointer of his life. And immediately moved up a couple of positions in the draft. This was the first overtime in the NCAA Finals in 11 years.
In the extra five minutes, Virginia was on fire again, but in March Madness it means nothing. In the end, the best player of the March Madness was not Hunter (27 points and 9 rebounds in the final), but another Cavaliers guard, Kyle Guy. But that doesn't even matter. Now it’s still impossible to guess which of today’s champions will light up in the NBA, and who will end their career in a couple of years. For example, Anthony Davis became the NCAA champion, James Harden did not rise above the 1/16 finals in March Madness, and Stephen Curry's best result is 1/4.
In the student league, teams are not allowed to pay player salaries. This is also why NCAA basketball is the most sincere.
Each of this champion team has a lot of work ahead of them and a hard path to the strongest league in the world. But it will be tomorrow. And tonight is the best party in the world. After all, no one knows how to have fun like students.
CSKA will come to the Final Four capital twice! In the playoffs, he again got to the Basque Country
150 days before the 2019 World Cup. What awaits the Russian team in China
Euroleague Playoffs, in which even Zalgiris has a chance. How it will be
"There will be ups and downs, but you hold on." NBA superstar addresses fans from Russia
* A social network recognized as extremist in Russia
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Hole-tim. Why did the US team fail the World Cup
The World Cup in China ended with the victory of Spain and turned into a fiasco for the United States. The American team produced the worst result in its history, taking a modest seventh place! The Bolshoi Sport correspondent reflects on how this happened.
No other country has as many basketball stars as the USA. Theoretically, if desired, the Americans can put up three or four excellent teams - and each could fight for gold at least at the Olympics, at least at the World Cup! But it was the fifth, if not the sixth squad that went to China for the World Championship. ..
Weak composition
There are many reasons. Here are the main ones.
1. Injuries . At the end of the NBA season, many top players broke down, including Clay Thompson, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins. Kawhi Lenard, who decided the outcome of the final series in favor of Toronto, also had to be distracted by a sore hip - he already pays a lot of attention to it, dispensing the load during the regular season, and the trip to China did not fit into the schedule of the star forward. The same was true for a number of other players who did not tear crosses (like Thompson) and Achilles (like Durant), but still faced health problems that required rest. Here and Kyrie Irving, and Kyle Lowry, and Damian Lillard, and many others ...
2. Preparation for the fight for the rings. Summer in America turned out to be hot, and the weather had nothing to do with it - we have never seen so many transitions of top stars in such a short period of time . .. Never! Anthony Davis went to the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Lenard and Paul George went to the Los Angeles Clippers, Russell Westbrook went to the Houston Rockets, Chris Paul went to the Oklahoma City Thunder, D'Angelo Russell went to the Golden State Warriors (we're talking about Durant and Irving in the Brooklyn Nets are silent, since they were already eliminated for reason "number 1"). The balance of power in the NBA has seriously changed, several new superclubs have appeared, the main goal of which (and, accordingly, the main goal of their stars) is to prepare as best as possible for the season and compete for the title. The ring of the NBA champion is more important for most Americans than the gold of the World Championship. Therefore, all the guys mentioned did not even think about going to China. So is LeBron James, and Stephen Curry, and James Harden.
3. Personal circumstances. For example, Bradley Beal initially wanted to help the national team, but found out that at the end of August he would become a father for the first time. Then he decided to spend this period of his life at home, in the company of his beloved wife. And not in the company of sweaty, athletic guys on the other side of the world, in hot, stuffy China.
4. FIBA calendar. The postponement of the World Championship to odd years has led to the fact that the championship of the planet and the Olympics will be played in a row. For a player brought into the national team, this, in fact, means two years without a normal vacation! The NBA season ends in June-July (if the team plays in the playoffs). The World Championship starts in August. Olympic Games - in the same July. In fact, you leave the club and almost immediately start working in the national team. Then you have a big tournament. And then you return to the club and start preparing for the season. It is almost impossible to keep such a schedule! At least without serious consequences, in the form of various injuries or psychological fatigue. Of course, the Olympic Games are more important for NBA stars. And those who plan to compete in Tokyo have reasonably decided that it is definitely better for them to skip the Chinese World Cup.
5. Confidence in the team's victory. Conditional Aleksey Shved knows for sure: his absence from the Russian national team will hurt our chances of success. The Americans are a different story. LeBron James is sure that if he does not come to the team, she will do just fine without him. Everyone else thinks the same. Which, in general, is logical. Refusing to be called up to the national team, they understand that they have a replacement. After all, the choice of super-players is huge! So, do not worry that you are letting the country down. But sometimes this factor leads to such consequences ...
With all of the above, the final Dream Team line-up included only two players who played in the 2019 All-Star Game (Kemba Walker and Chris Middleton, and Brooke Lopez, who once also participated in such a match, but even he forgot about it). One and a half players who played the role of leader in their clubs (still the same Walker and Donovan Mitchell with a huge stretch). And only one person who won something at the professional level (Harrison Barnes is the 2015 NBA champion). The names of most of the rest will say little to inexperienced fans. Jason Tatum, Joe Harris, Marcus Smart, Mason Plumlee, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Miles Turner are great guys. They are part of the backbone of their teams. Young. Undoubtedly talented. But never a star. And without obvious prospects to become them in the near future (perhaps with the exception of Tatum). Let's not argue - each of them could seriously strengthen any other team. But it was from the US team that we expected more! And instead of "Dream-Team" they got "Dir-Team".
No experience, no victories
Here's why. It's not the names that win. Not letters on T-shirts. Not a list of names in the protocol. Teams still win. And, of course, the US had a chance at gold. It was this team that remained the favorite. Main. Unconditional. But the main problem of the team was not just the lack of superstars. And a number of factors that prevented this particular composition from working together.
1. No teamwork. All the rest of the strongest teams have been playing - plus or minus - with the same squad for many years. And often play! The championships of the continent, the world, qualifications for them, the same Olympics ... Yes, there are also changes in the rotation, but only in the US team, each squad is assembled from scratch, for a short period, literally a couple of weeks before the tournament! Players from the D-League (read - NBA farm clubs), or even students, are sent here to the qualifying tournament for the planetary championship (as well as the championship of the two Americas). People here are used to believing that everything is decided by personal skill, which, on average, is two or three heads higher for dream-team basketball players than for their main rivals. So, it makes no sense to waste time and energy on trying to “run in” a specific composition. Two or three weeks at the training camp in Las Vegas - and forward, for the well-deserved gold! As a rule, this works. When the top stars really come. But in a particular case, a misfire occurred ...
2. Lack of experience. And it's not about experience as such (the same Brook Lopez has played in the NBA for 10 seasons!). Namely, about the experience of big victories. Yes, Harrison Barnes took NBA rings as the third star of the Golden State Warriors in 2015. But only. Kemba Walker's accomplishments are limited to college. A trio of the Boston Celtics (Tatum, Brown and Smart) could have made it to the finals in the East a year ago, but the merits of that team were precisely in teamwork - none of the three guys dominated the court as a leader. And the rest of this team never, in principle, fought for rings. The guys simply could not withstand the pressure of such a tournament. Because they had no idea what it was.
3. Holes in the composition. Assembling a team according to the principle "Who is too lazy to fly to China", Gregg Popovich faced the fact that there is simply no balance in his team! There is no bright leader (Walker was supposed to be like that, but in the end he could not). No snipers (with the exception of Middleton, but Chris let us down). There are no effective post centers (Brook Lopez in Milwaukee was increasingly pushed to the arc, and Mason Plumley is ... Mason Plumley). There are no nimble, quick and sharp defenders - "kids" capable of speed, dribbling and persistence to open the defense of opponents with their solo pass (okay, there was Kemba, but that's all). The US team appeared in the form of players of the same type, where both the pluses (physical form, athleticism, individual skill) and the minuses (mentioned above) were approximately the same for everyone. And this is a coaching nightmare. Because it doesn't give you variety. If the game is on, it's on. And if not, you simply have nothing to correct the situation.
In China, as you already understood, the United States "didn't work out."
Another basketball
And here the reasons are not only in the composition. There are also several others.
1. The competition in world basketball has seriously increased! Now about a dozen national teams are able to demonstrate the game of the highest level on any day - they are allowed by the composition, the coaching school, and the presence of their own NBA stars. Only in China, Spain (in the end it is the champion), Australia, France (bronze), Serbia, Greece, Lithuania could compete for medals. Another Russia (if we had not lost all the leaders due to injuries). As it turned out, Argentina (and they have silver!). And this is without taking into account Croatia and Slovenia, which did not make it to the tournament (why is a separate issue). Of course, no one could stop a real “dream team” (with all the top stars) (most likely). But that “hole-team” that we saw in China could be stopped by many. As a result, both the French and the Serbs coped with this.
2. European regulations. In FIBA tournaments, the court is smaller, the three-point arc is closer (6 m, not 7 m), the quarter is shorter (10 minutes, not 12, as in the NBA). So, here is another basketball! In which the Americans, accustomed to space, isolation, emphasis on the game one-on-one, are simply cramped. Interactions at the team level come to the fore, personal skill - to the second. Everything can be solved by the presence of snipers and super-athletes. Monsters a la LeBron James or Kevin Durant. But if there are none, and the opponent is strong enough, prepared and sophisticated (like the French), problems inevitably arise. It becomes difficult to solve which without experience, without coordination of actions, without a bright leader. And sometimes it's impossible.
3. Tight defense and tough refereeing. In the NBA, this is gone. The league is more important than the show, so many beautiful passes, dunks and points. It does not play the "zone", straying into one-on-one actions. There is no really tough fight in it, when you are beaten under shields, like the Crimean Tatars in the Molodinsky battle. As a result, the guys from the US team simply did not know how to deal with it. Even worse - even Popovich did not know this! And by the way, it's not just about the "dream team". Almost all NBA stars performed poorly in China. From Giannis Antetokounbo (the MVP of the regular season hindered the Greek team more than it helped, eventually not making it to the playoffs with it), to Nikola Jokic (the Denver Nuggets center fell apart in the quarterfinals with Argentina and became one of the reasons for the defeat of Serbia). It's just that in other teams there were enough guys ready for such a tight fight (as a rule, due to experience in the Euroleague). But in the US there were none.
Summary
All of these problems, from the lack of superstars to the unpreparedness for a tough fight on defense, surfaced already in the group stage. When the Americans almost lost to Turkey. And they would have lost if the Turks had not arranged a giveaway game, missing four free throws in the last seconds! Surely Gregg Popovich (and Stephen Kerr, who worked as his assistant) then already realized that things were not right. They just couldn't fix it.
The French, thanks to the actions of Rudy Gobert under the shields (who probably spent the match of his life), the attacks of Evan Fournier and the free throws of Nando De Colo, did what was read in advance - they confidently dealt with this under-dream-team, stopping her in the quarterfinals. Thanks to teamwork and well-coordinated work on both halves of the site. A little later, the Serbs did the same. Interestingly, the defeat (and even failure!) of the United States, oddly enough, did not become a sensation.
Titles= Regular Season only, NCAA Apps= NCAA Tournament Appearances, Nat. Champ= NCAA Tournament Champions
)
Virginia had only two regular-season losses, both against Duke, as the Blue Devils were really the only team that had any claim to the throne alongside the Cavaliers. But Duke looked deeply flawed in Zion Williamson’s absence and in its subsequent NCAA tournament run.
But no—UMBC came out and straight-up trucked Virginia 74-54.
The only players who left were graduates. And Virginia didn’t just retain its style in 2018-19—it got slightly slower than it was the season before, preserving its status as the slowest team in college basketball while increasing its average offensive possession length from 20.9 seconds to 21.0. 
Kihei Clark’s scramble to chase the ball down and then his gorgeous, stunning, 40-foot pass back to Diakite. And of course, Diakite’s buzzer-beating shot. It was pinpoint, unwavering precision. And it allowed Virginia to survive long enough to pull out an 80-75 win.
It lost the biggest upset in college basketball—and maybe sports—history. So this year, when the trickster gods of March Madness kept opening up doors to death, the Hoos repeatedly scoffed at them. What fate could this tournament hand them that they hadn’t lived through already? What did they possibly have to fear? The Cavaliers’ road to a championship featured dozens of ludicrous hairpin turns, and yet the team never faltered. It just kept driving at the same speed it always does—and yes, that speed is incredibly slow. 
Nobody has ever been in the valley that Virginia fell into. The Cavaliers climbed out and smiled. 
Outback Omaha doesn't have a professional team in the four major North American sports leagues, but the University of Nebraska has the best women's volleyball team in the country. Therefore, even at ordinary matches of the NCAA student league, a full hall gathers here. And so you understand - the hall in Omaha for 18 thousand people. Not just big, but modern. It is even possible to hold a world championship here - at least in volleyball, even in basketball, even in handball. 
CSKA has reached the Final Four of the Euroleague 15 times in 16 years, and it has gotten to the point where the fans no longer perceive the very fact of getting into the top four as a success. Student teams are a completely different matter. The term of study at the college is four years, and it is not a fact that you will get into the university team from the first year. So it turns out that in two or three years the league is updated almost completely, so every season the favorites are different. 
Because it is the most modern, most beautiful and most sophisticated arena in all of American sports. It is mainly for American football (the Minnesota Vikings NFL club plays here). 
But that doesn't even matter. Now it’s still impossible to guess which of today’s champions will light up in the NBA, and who will end their career in a couple of years. For example, Anthony Davis became the NCAA champion, James Harden did not rise above the 1/16 finals in March Madness, and Stephen Curry's best result is 1/4. 
What awaits the Russian team in China 
.. 
.. Never! Anthony Davis went to the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Lenard and Paul George went to the Los Angeles Clippers, Russell Westbrook went to the Houston Rockets, Chris Paul went to the Oklahoma City Thunder, D'Angelo Russell went to the Golden State Warriors (we're talking about Durant and Irving in the Brooklyn Nets are silent, since they were already eliminated for reason "number 1"). The balance of power in the NBA has seriously changed, several new superclubs have appeared, the main goal of which (and, accordingly, the main goal of their stars) is to prepare as best as possible for the season and compete for the title. The ring of the NBA champion is more important for most Americans than the gold of the World Championship. Therefore, all the guys mentioned did not even think about going to China. So is LeBron James, and Stephen Curry, and James Harden. 
Then he decided to spend this period of his life at home, in the company of his beloved wife. And not in the company of sweaty, athletic guys on the other side of the world, in hot, stuffy China. 
Of course, the Olympic Games are more important for NBA stars. And those who plan to compete in Tokyo have reasonably decided that it is definitely better for them to skip the Chinese World Cup. 
One and a half players who played the role of leader in their clubs (still the same Walker and Donovan Mitchell with a huge stretch). And only one person who won something at the professional level (Harrison Barnes is the 2015 NBA champion). The names of most of the rest will say little to inexperienced fans. Jason Tatum, Joe Harris, Marcus Smart, Mason Plumlee, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Miles Turner are great guys. They are part of the backbone of their teams. Young. Undoubtedly talented. But never a star. And without obvious prospects to become them in the near future (perhaps with the exception of Tatum). Let's not argue - each of them could seriously strengthen any other team. But it was from the US team that we expected more! And instead of "Dream-Team" they got "Dir-Team". 
It was this team that remained the favorite. Main. Unconditional. But the main problem of the team was not just the lack of superstars. And a number of factors that prevented this particular composition from working together. 
So, it makes no sense to waste time and energy on trying to “run in” a specific composition. Two or three weeks at the training camp in Las Vegas - and forward, for the well-deserved gold! As a rule, this works. When the top stars really come. But in a particular case, a misfire occurred ... 
Because they had no idea what it was. 
If the game is on, it's on. And if not, you simply have nothing to correct the situation. 
Of course, no one could stop a real “dream team” (with all the top stars) (most likely). But that “hole-team” that we saw in China could be stopped by many. As a result, both the French and the Serbs coped with this. 
And sometimes it's impossible. 
But in the US there were none. 
