Team USA Basketball continues its quest for gold today at 2:45 p.m. ET when it takes on Serbia for the second time in the Olympics and third time since July. Team USA is a 16-point favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook going into today’s game.
Assistant coach Mark Few joined Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr. on Thursday’s edition of GoJo and Golic to talk about preparing for Serbia again, the challenges of managing a rotation full of All-Stars and more.
Senior asks about the preparation for facing Serbia for the third time in such a short period. Few says at some point you try to prepare for anything, but Serbia obviously has one of the best players in the world in Nikola Jokic. Few also says Serbia is full of players comfortable in their roles and know what they’re expected to do on the court. Few also says in both games against Serbia, Team USA has had great shooting performances from Steph Curry (first game) and Kevin Durant (the Olympic opener) with tight games going into the half before breaking it open in the second half.
Playing time has been something of a story throughout the Games, with conversation going on about the rotation especially after Jayson Tatum was a DNP-CD in the previous outing against Serbia. So how difficult has it been to manage the minutes for a team this chock full of superstars? Few admits it has garnered a lot of conversation in the Team USA coaching staff meetings. Few thinks head coach Steve Kerr has done a masterful job, even if no one is going to feel sorry for Team USA having TOO many good players and too few minutes to go around.
GoJo notes that coaches are always looking for those teachable moments. Is there a moment or concept from his time with these all-time greats that Few has filed away for use when it gets back to his team at Gonzaga? Few vividly remembers from the first practice, which has continued on throughout, LeBron James constantly talking. Calling out defenses, calling out what the team should be doing on offense. LeBron is constantly communicating, and Few thinks over the last several years it has been “harder than heck” to get the college players he’s seen in his program and others to talk. So Few can’t wait to get back to his program and share how one of the greatest players of all-time is one of the all-time great talkers in all the right ways.
Team USA plays Serbia today at 2:45 p.m. ET and the game can be seen live on USA Network.
Watch or listen to the full show below and make sure to tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
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Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
