ISTANBUL — Mike Krzyzewski’s college kids were overmatched, his NBA all-stars a bit unready. Now he will try with a team that’s somewhere in between.
An 0-for-2 showing in the world championships is the only real blemish in Krzyzewski’s resume, something he gets to work on starting today, when the Americans open against Croatia.
The U.S. has won the world championships only three times, a stunningly low total for a country that has dominated Olympic play.
“I think the world puts such an emphasis on it, and we send different teams all the time. Their countries send their main teams,” Krzyzewski said Friday. “For a long time it was just the college players competing and then internationally for us it wasn’t always that competition that brought everybody wanting to play for it like the Olympics.”
Krzyzewski coached the last U.S. team composed of college players, winning a bronze in 1990. He got another shot four years ago and ended up with bronze again after a team that included Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade was stunned by Greece in the semifinals.
“It just tells you how good international basketball is now, and you can’t just put a team together and go over and expect to win every year,” guard Stephen Curry said. “It’s a tough thing to do, and it’s going to make it that much more special if we take care of business and get it done.”
