USA Basketball vs. Tunisia Recap

Well, there's not a lot you can take from Team USA's win over Tunisia on Tuesday. Tunisia competed for the U.S. were overwhelmingly more talented. It was disappointing that they got off to such a lackluster start. And I loved what Coach K did by putting five subs in (Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Iguodala, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams), and keeping them in when they stretched the lead in the second quarter.

The difference in the game again was the depth for Team USA. The reserves were outstanding, shooting a combined 31-44 from the field, including a perfect 5-5 for Anthony Davis and 6-6 for Anthony.

I'll go back to shot selection. Against Tunisia's zone early, they failed to attack the interior and settled for jump shots that weren't going down. The second half was much improved as they outscored Tunisia by 25 points in the third quarter.

Here is the bi-daily LeBron highlight, this off a nice Kevin Durant pass on a 2-on-1 fast break: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwXmDtT8C1s

Up next is a matchup with Nigeria at 5:15 EDT today. Nigeria is 1-1 at the Olympics, beating Tunisia and falling to Lithuania. They reached the Olympics by winning a qualifying tournament, including a championship victory over the John Calipari-coached Dominican Republic team.

The Nigerians have a lot of familiar names. Their leading scorer is former Pac-10 Player of the Year Ike Diogu (Arizona State). Diogu has played for several NBA teams and spent some time overseas last year.  Al Farouq-Aminu was a standout at Wake Forest and will be a teammate of Anthony Davis with the New Orleans Hornets this year.

You may also remember Tony Skinn, who was one of the George Mason stars that led them to the 2006 Final Four. Other Nigerians who played collegiately in the U.S. include Alade Aminu (Georgia Tech), Koko Archibong (Penn), Derrick Obasohan (Texas-Arlington), and Chamberlain Oguchi (Oregon).