Team USA Basketball

Colangelo gets basketball ‘fix’ from U.S. hoops squad: Monday, July 27, 2009; Team USA basketball: Coach K credits him for keeping continuity with Team USA; By Rob Miech; In the alley behind his home on 22nd Street in Hungry Hill, on the south side of Chicago, someone tossed 7-year-old Jerry Colangelo a basketball. “Just the smell of that ball meant so much to me,” he says of that moment in 1946. “It was the beginning of a love affair. Been that way ever since.”

Experience of a lifetime for high school basketball players: Monday, July 27, 2009; TEAM USA BASKETBALL: Trio from Boulder City work as ball boys for U.S. national team; By Ray Brewer; Boulder CIty High basketball players Joey Felsenfeld, Chris Leach and Ryan Bowen worked the last three days as ball boys for the U.S. national team during its mini-camp in Las Vegas.

Grizzlies forward battles for spot on national team: Sunday, July 26, 2009; Team USA basketball: Rudy Gay hopes he showed enough at Vegas mini-camp to make it; By Rob Miech; It wasn’t just a middle-of-the-summer pick-up basketball game with some friends and a few acquaintances to Rudy Gay. Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, the former Connecticut star and forward for the Memphis Grizzlies showed how much he wants to be part of the U.S. senior national team.

Players clamoring to play for the red, white and blue on Team USA: Saturday, July 25, 2009; Team USA basketball:; By Rob Miech; Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James made wearing the red, white and blue cool again, and it helped that those colors have been trimmed in gold since August. Colangelo assembled the U.S. national basketball squad, coached by Duke boss Mike Krzyzewski, that defeated Spain for the title at the Olympics last year in Beijing. It took a few years, but young elite players are now clamoring to be a part of Team USA and play with Bryant, James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.

Randolph reports for duty — on U.S. national basketball team: Friday, July 24, 2009; By Rob Miech; Anthony Randolph Jr. got the call to serve his country the other day and quickly called his parents. Anthony Sr. and Crystal served in the U.S. Army. “They both cried,” said Junior, who parlayed a blistering NBA Summer League performance into a spot on the U.S. national basketball team.

Boulder City coach has special bond with Duke basketball: Monday, July 13, 2009; By Ray Brewer; Boulder City High assistant basketball coach John Balistere has worked Duke's summer camp the last eight years. His relationship with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski opened the door for Boulder City players to work as ball boys last summer for the Krzyzewski-coached national team when they trained at Valley High.

Colangelo looking forward to Vegas mini-camp: Friday, June 12, 2009; basketball: Team USA chairman expects Rose, Durant and Mayo to participate; By Rob Miech; Jerry Colangelo left a Phoenix barbershop Thursday afternoon with a spring in his step, but not because he was just a tad lighter. The architect of USA Basketball has been gliding since Team USA captured Olympic gold in China last summer.

Team USA likely to keep calling Las Vegas home: Thursday, October 16, 2008; BASKETBALL: Colangelo says he'll probably keep managing the team; By Rob Miech; Odds are that Jerry Colangelo will return to manage the U.S. national basketball team and that Team USA will continue to use Las Vegas as its summer training site.

Summer is basketball season in Vegas: Monday, July 28, 2008; By Rob Miech; A guy walked by the high-roller lounge at Wynn the other night, with his four kids in tow, and stopped in his tracks when he saw who was playing blackjack at the $500-minimum table.

Team USA knows its Achilles’ heel: Thursday, July 24, 2008; Using the pick-and-roll, international teams hope to force the Americans into an Olympic checkmate; By Rob Miech; Greece, Spain, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Lithuania and Puerto Rico are not the words around Team USA, despite beating the Americans in recent major international tournaments. No, the dirty words are the ones in pick-and-roll.

Team USA's Canada tune-up won’t be much to talk a-boot: Thursday, July 24, 2008; Ron Kantowksi foresees gold, even if observers are tuning in for an implosion; By Ron Kantowski; Our Olympic basketball team is going to play Canada at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday night in an exhibition game that might be interesting only if the Canadians were allowed to play on skates and Wayne Gretzky weren’t busy.

It’s U.S. against the world: Tuesday, July 15, 2008; American team has a lot to prove in Beijing; By Rob Miech; Doesn’t FIBA watch its own sport? The international governing body of basketball lists the United States atop its latest world rankings. To whom it may concern in Switzerland: The Americans are mired in their worst international slump.

Culture as part of the game: Friday, July 4, 2008; Kobe Bryant’s international background and curiosity are assets to Team USA as it prepares for the Summer Olympics; By Rob Miech; Kobe Bryant leaves the Thomas & Mack Center court after a FIBA Americas basketball game and speaks Spanish to his wife, Vanessa, whom he calls Mamacita, and two young daughters.

Team USA, if we were in charge: Saturday, June 21, 2008; To regain world glory, we’d invite a few Celts and youngsters, give Melo the summer off; By Rob Miech; For the first time, the Americans have not played in three consecutive international finals. With that in mind, who should be a part of Team USA at the Beijing Olymics in August? The Sun offers its own 12-man roster.

Vegas quietly removed from consideration: Monday, June 9, 2008; THE OPENING LINE:; By Rob Miech; USA Basketball nixed Las Vegas from its list of potential sites for a new headquarters in March and didn’t tell many about it.