So the U.S. finished off its redemption and once again topped the world in the Olympics for the gold medal.  Before I start ranting here, let me say, I think it's great.  We've got the most talent in the world, had by far the deepest team in the tournament and are back where we belong, at the top. 

But, to me, the one negative in all of this is the continued celebration and idolization of Mike Krzyzewski.  It may not be the politically correct thing to say, but I absolutely, unabashedly hate that arrogant SOB.  Now, admittedly, I'm a Maryland Terp fan, and if there is one program in the country above all others that we, as Terp backers, can't stand, it's Duke.  Maryland could go 2-14 in the ACC, but as long as those two wins are against the Blue Devils, it's a successful season.  Some would say we're just jealous, but  we've got a more recent National Championship Banner than Mr. Gold Medal Coach does. Hah!

Maybe I'm biased (yeah, just maybe) but I've always felt that Coach K was one of the most over rated coaches in the country.  Don't get me wrong, he's a great recruiter.  Over the past 20 to 25 years, he's brought in as much or more talent as any program in the country.  But his teams have a tendency of falling flat when the big game comes around.  It started early on with upset losses year after year in the Final Four before finally breaking through in 1991 with a team loaded with talent that upset a then-undeafeted UNLV team that had stomped the Blue Devils the year before.  I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories, but I have no doubt that UNLV threw that game.  The photo that circulated later of the Running Rebels best players hanging out in a hottub living it up with a notorious gambler and game fixer was all the evidence I needed.

They won again in 1992, but only after beating Kentucky on a miraculous buzzer beater by Christian Laettner that was helped by the fact that the clock didn't start ticking off the 2.2 seconds left in the game until Laettner had caught the ball, came down to the floor, dribbled once and spun to face the basket.  I think Kentucky fans will tell you that those were the longest 2 seconds in the recorded history of mankind.  Duke violated the laws of Quantum Mechanics to win that game.

Coach K got his third title in 2001, a particularly painful one for me to see at that.  My Terps pulled a (gasp) choke of epic proportion against the Blue Devils in the Final Four, blowing a 22-point lead.  Basically, my point is that Duke shouldn't have won any of those titles, and Coach K should still be the coach who can't win the big game.  He lost his other four NCAA finals.

But even at that, the Blue Devils played the game right.  They had great point guards, played a solid inside-out game and always played defense.  But sometime in the mid '90s, that changed.  The Duke teams of the last decade or so consistently play soft, regardless of personnel, and have a tendency to jack up tons of ill-conceived threes.  Sometimes, when they're making them, it works, but against genuinely good teams, it doesn't.  That's why the Duke teams of today aren't really legitimate championship contenders, despite consistently high seeds and ridiculous regular season records.  Coach K seems unwilling or unable to get his teams out of this trend, ever since 1993, when he let notorius gunner Jeff Capel run wild without consequence, throwing up shots that even Allen Iverson would think twice about taking.   Since then, Duke has been known more for producing an array of vastly over-rated shooting guards, from Capel to Trajan Langdon to J.J Redick, than any real championship-level success.

But perhaps the worst thing of all about Coach K is his arrogance.  You'd think the guy was Patton or somebody instead of a college basketball coach.  I ran across some old video tapes the other day, and one of them was Game 7 from the Heat-Pistons Eastern Conference Final a few years ago, and during one of the commercial breaks, wouldn't you know, there was an American Express commercial with none other than Mr. All-Time Leader of Men.  At the end of the commercial, Coach K actually said, in his usual humorless tone, "I don't think of myself as a basketball coach.  I think of myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball."  Gag.  That's a helluva noble sentiment to utter, especially when you're hocking credit cards.  What a guy.

Anyway, now he's the guy who saved American basketball.  And wasn't that image of the entire team draping their medals around his neck just oh so sweet?  I know it brought a tear to my eye, despite the fact that any #### off the street could have won a gold medal coaching that team.  All the talk about how miserably Larry Brown failed in 2004 and how Coach K stepped in to get the guys to play the right way again is so much bluster.  Compare the rosters of the 2004 team and the current model.  The 2008 champions are light years better and more experienced than the ill-conceived collection of inexperience and selfishness that took the floor in 2004.

So Coach K is now an American hero.  Yah!  Just what I always wanted to see.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a bad taste in my mouth.   I'll think I'll  go suck on a lemon.  I don't think I'm quite bitter enough.