Ugggghhh. What else is there to really say? America will not leave the Olympics with a gold medal in Men’s Basketball. Let that sink in for a minute. Everyone has their own opinions on why we lost, everyone has a radical solution (most of which are ridiculous), and everyone loves to point the finger. Here’s the deal: Straight up, practice or no practice, this was not the best team the United States could have put on the floor. Who should have been on this team? The best players in this country, T-Mac, Shaq, Kobe, Kidd, KG, Ray Allen, Duncan, Pierce, AI, and Steph. Then we’d throw in Ben Wallace and Ron Artest for some D, and Brent Barry or Michael Redd for one more shooter. That team doesn’t lose one game. Easy to say? Sure. But nobody should disagree with that. … We take nothing away from Argentina, their country’s best players got on the flight to Greece to play ball. All that being said, props to the American players who WANTED to represent their country and travel to Greece. You can point the finger in a lot of places , but you can’t single out the players for not giving it their all. If you watched the games, you should know that every player who stepped on the court for the U.S. gave it their best. We just got beat by a better team. … Don’t think for one second that we are going to let the refs off without giving them the Smack down. Seriously, two blind schoolgirls could have done a better job. This is the frigging Olympics, how are these jabronis even allowed whistles? … We feel a little better after saying that. … Something tells us that John Paxson and the Bulls were smiling for much of the US loss. That kid Andres Nocioni can ball. … How many points you think Melo drops the first time the Nugs plays the Pistons? … When did Nomar Garciparra start playing hoop for the Argentinean National Team? Nomar looks a ton like Manu Ginobili. … Argentina will face Italy for the gold. Italy got 31 from Gianluca Basile to beat Lithuania in their semi’s. The US will try to get both revenge and the Bronze against Lithuania at 8 pm tonight. …

Please move to the OFFICIAL: USA Basketball thread.