Istanbul – Another game, another championship for USA National Team coach Geno Auriemma who happens to be the women’s head coach at National Champion University of Connecticut. Oh yes, he is also the women’s Olympic coach in 2012 London. Where does this fit in?
“They’re all fun in a certain way, some are more fun than others along the way,” said Auriemma. “This group was really a fun group, really great to work with. I enjoyed being around them, they have a lot of great chemistry going on between them.”
As noted yesterday, after watching all the teams come through to the medal rounds of the 17th FIBA World Championships here in Istanbul, it was clear there would be no heavy competition for the reigning World Champions, even from Spain which fell to mighty Team USA 77-64 in the gold game.
Leading the USA was all-tournament selection and MVP Maya Moore (game high 18pts, 11 pts in the 1st quarter) in a game which saw Spain’s big semifinal star Alba Torrens (who had 28pts) fail to score until 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter down 60-39. If it wasn’t Diana Taurasi (6 pts, 8 asst) covering Torrens, it was either Moore or Seimone Augustus holding her in check. Torrens shook off the defense enough in the 3rd quarter to get a team leading 10 points in 10 minutes but still trailed 67-48 at the end of the period. If there was any fault with Team USA it was giving up so many offensive rebounds (11-3) at halftime, 20 over the course of the entire game.
Follow the link below to the complete box score on the FIBA web site.
http://www.fiba.com/world/women/2014/0510/Spain-USA#|tab=boxscore_statistics
“We went into the game understanding obviously that Alba (Torrens) and Sancho (Lyttle) (All-Tournament) were going to really be the key to everything Spain would accomplish throughout the game,” said Auriemma who now has two FIBA World Championships (’10 & ’14) to go with his Olympic (’12) gold in London. “And we also knew they were a great offensive rebounding team, maybe the best offensive rebounding team in the entire tournament. In the first half we did a great job guarding those two guys but we didn’t do a great job keeping them off the glass.”
“Today was a great win for us,” said USA point guard Sue Bird who became the most decorated FIBA World Championship player, male or female, with 4 medals (3 gold, 1 bronze). “We had one goal the entire time the team has been together and that was to win a gold medal. Coach Auriemma said it best in the locker room, a lot of people look at this team and see all the talent and think it’s going to be easy, but it’s not. Whenever you can win a gold medal, and it’s been a tough journey, you’ll even feel better at the end. Everyone’s really excited about the medal and I am definitely proud of it.” Bird has 3 Olympic gold medals (’04, ’08, ’12) and 3 FIBA World Championships (’02, ’10, ’14) plus a bronze in 2006.
GENO ON FINISHING FIRST
“In the end when you win, it’s rewarding because there’s an awful lot of people involved, everybody on my coaching staff and everybody at USA Basketball. They have high expectations for themselves and they have high expectations for you. When you’re the coach you feel that you’re responsible in making sure that your team lives up to those expectations. And that can be hard at times because the expectation for the United States is different than it is anyplace else when it comes to basketball. But there is no hiding from those expectations when you put that USA basketball jersey on. You know going in if you win anything other than the gold medal it’s a huge disappointment and it’s a major, major letdown. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are no parades in America if you finish third so if you want a parade you have to finish first.”
OTHER FINAL DAY ACTION
The mostly Turkish, pro-Spain crowd who was here to see their home team try to claim the bronze, stuck around most of the game to witness the USA win their 9th FIBA World Championship gold medal and their second in a row.
That crowd were treated to a similar fate the USA gave Spain as Australia claimed the bronze beating Turkey 74-44 in their first World Championship appearance. The Aussies jumped out so big and quick, 17-0, it was over before anyone could catch a breath. The first quarter score of 17-4 was the start and finish of this game.
The best game of the day was the 5th place battle between Canada and China, both of which sport young, up and coming rosters of talent. China kept it close of most of the game before Canada’s more physical play pulled them to 61-53 victory and their best finish since 1986. Their hashtag #AheadOfSchedule says it all. In the 7th place game, a Sandrine Gruda-less France team dispatched Serbia 88-74. The loss to Turkey put them into a quarterfinal and medal ending trip for this team that was expected to be one of the best here.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
All-Tournament: Alba Torrens ESP, Penny Taylor AUS, Maya Moore, USA, Sancho Lyttle ESP, Brittney Griner USA
Most Valuable Player: Maya Moore, USA
