Blogging the Journey: Coach K

Ready to Win: After three long years, Team USA's dedication is finally getting put to the test. Coach K talks strategy, and why his team is ready to take home the gold.

Finally, Olympic competition has begun and it is time to discover if we have done what is necessary to close the deal, to achieve our ultimate goal. Now we see if we have prepared properly and made ourselves worthy of winning. As I look back over the three-year process, this past month of training in particular, I feel good about where we are and confident that we have readied ourselves in the best way possible.

A key part of our time together has been the establishment of relationships. Our guys now know who each other are both on and off the court and have developed the type of friendships that foster communication and trust. We will need to rely on those relationships in the heat of on-court battle. We need to respond to one another at a moment’s notice, no questions asked. This type of trust doesn’t come about naturally. It takes time. Thanks to the new program for USA Basketball, we’ve had that time.

Another major part of our training has been becoming adept at the international game. In our training camp we worked with international officials and had them officiate our inter-squad scrimmages and those versus the Select Team. This allowed us to ensure that we could play the international game at game speed, not just in theory. We were able to further establish these habits in our five exhibition games.

Now we are putting our relationships and training to the test in Olympic competition. I couldn’t be more excited.

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