Shockers

Charles Koch Arena

Every year, there are a few individuals who thrive during the NCAA Tournament and ultimately help their stock. This year, one of those March Madness success stories happens to be a coach: Shaheen Holloway.
The 45-year-old head coach led the Saint Peter's Peacocks to the Elite Eight, which marked the first time in NCAA history that a 15-seed advanced that deep in the tournament. After becoming a household name in recent weeks, Holloway has inked a six-year deal with Seton Hall to become their next head coach.&nbsp;
From 1996 to 2000, Holloway played for Seton Hall and he still holds the school record for career assists (681). He was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. From 2010 to 2018, he was an assistant coach with the Pirates, and now he returns to run the team.
"Life has a way of coming full circle," Holloway said. "This is certainly a full circle moment for my family and I. Seton Hall is near and dear to my heart; it's where I became a man, where I met the love of my life, where I spent countless hours honing my crafts as a basketball player and a basketball coach. To say that I'm excited to get started as the head men's basketball coach at Seton Hall University would be an understatement. Thank you to President Nyre and Bryan Felt for this opportunity. It is a dream come true. Pirates fans, I look forward to seeing you all in the community, on campus and at the Prudential Center."
Holloway was named the 2020 MAAC Coach of the Year, and he led the Peacocks to the 2022 MAAC Tournament title and three straight campaigns with 10-plus victories in conference play (and three consecutive top-three finishes in the MAAC). Under Holloway's tutelage, Saint Peter's produced five All-MAAC selections, the NCAA Division I leader in blocked shots, the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, and 10 student-athletes that were named to the MAAC All-Academic Team.
"I am incredibly excited to welcome Shaheen Holloway and his family home to Seton Hall," said Bryan Felt, the school's athletic director. "Shaheen is a winner in every sense of the word, and he is not only an incredible coach, but also an incredible educator of young men. He works tirelessly to put his student-athletes in a position to succeed, and he makes them believe that they can achieve anything with hard work and determination. That is evidenced by his historic NCAA Tournament run this month. Shaheen made an unforgettable impact here at Seton Hall first as a student-athlete and then again as an assistant coach, and now we're ready to watch him take over our men's basketball program as head coach and lead our Pirates to further greatness. Welcome home, Coach Holloway!"
Holloway and Saint Peter's became this year's Cinderella story when they defeated 2-seeded Kentucky in the first round, 7-seeded Murray State in the second round and then 3-seeded Purdue in the Sweet 16. Saint Peter's is a very small school with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/putting-saint-peters-shocker-over-kentucky-in-historical-context" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a relatively miniscule budget</a>. so it was shocking to see them eliminating elite programs.
Holloway is a finalist for the Hugh Durham Coach of the Year award, Ben Jobe Coach of the Year award and Skip Prosser Man of the Year award.

After becoming a household name due to Saint Peter's tournament run, Shaheen Holloway accepted the head-coach job at Seton Hall.

Seton Hall hires Shaheen Holloway after Saint Peter's historic run

On Saturday, 15-seeded Saint Peter's defeated 7-seeded Murray State 70-60, becoming just the third 15-seed ever to advance to the Sweet Sixteen (joining Florida Gulf Coast in 2013 and Oral Roberts in 2021).
KC Ndefo led the way for the Peacocks, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks and 3 assists (while shooting 5-of-10 from the field). Doug Edert, who came up big in the team's upset win over Kentucky, had another strong performance off the bench with 13 points (on 4-of-6 shooting from the field).
Murray State had four players score in double figures (led by Justice Hill's 19 points), but it wasn't enough to hold off this year's Cinderella team.
As our Bryan Fonseca <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/putting-saint-peters-shocker-over-kentucky-in-historical-context" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote yesterday</a>, what makes Saint Peter's run so incredible is that this is a school with under 2,500 students and their sports program's budget ($7.2 million) pales in comparison to the team's they are defeating (Kentucky's is $138 million).
Peacocks head coach Shaheen Holloway earned $270,000 this season after bonuses, which is 30x less than Wildcats head coach John Calipari (before&nbsp;his bonuses). The Peacocks have had just four players go on to play in the NBA (and they played a combined 126 games).
The Twitter account for Saint Peter's men's basketball team wasn't even verified until they beat Kentucky!
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WE DID IT EVERYBODY!!! ☑️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrutUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrutUp</a>🦚 | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/rrrFIGznVg">pic.twitter.com/rrrFIGznVg</a>
&mdash; Saint Peter's Men's Basketball (@PeacocksMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeacocksMBB/status/1504831289664454657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Stories like this are why we love March Madness. We'll see if Saint Peter's can continue their improbable run when they face the winner of No. 3 Purdue vs. No. 6 Texas.

On Saturday, 15-seeded Saint Peter's beat 7-seeded Murray State, becoming just the third 15-seed ever to make the Sweet Sixteen

Saint Peter's becomes third 15-seed in history to make Sweet Sixteen

It was the upset that ruined the majority of March Madness brackets.
On Thursday night, 15-seeded Saint Peter&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/putting-saint-peters-shocker-over-kentucky-in-historical-context" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shocked the world</a> by slaying Goliath, the 2-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Many publications had Kentucky as 20-point favorites against the Peacocks, but as the Wildcats found out, seeds and favorites mean nothing once it&rsquo;s gametime.&nbsp;
Daryl Banks III led the way with 27 points, while Doug Edert poured in 20 off the bench to overcome a 30-point, 16-rebound explosion by Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe.
It&rsquo;s important to note that Kentucky had never lost to a team lower than an 11-seed in the history of the program. And they hadn't lost in the first round since 2008, when they were the No. 11 seed and were defeated 74-66 by 6-seeded Marquette.
In fact, the last time they lost in the first-round as a higher seed was back in 1987, when they came up short in a 8-seed vs. 9-seed game against Ohio State.&nbsp;
So yes, for Kentucky faithful, this upset was disastrous, cataclysmic, devastating, catastrophic and every other adjective fans have used since Thursday night.&nbsp;
I caught up with Derek Anderson &mdash; who helped lead Kentucky to a national championship in 1996 before becoming a lottery pick and 11-year NBA veteran &mdash; to get his thoughts on the upset.
Etan Thomas: "Okay, DA, the dust has settled a bit after the shocking loss. What was your reaction?"
Derek Anderson: "Well, as a fan, you&rsquo;re definitely disappointed. As a former player, you&rsquo;re hurt for various reasons &mdash; bragging rights being one of them. I had us going to the championship. But just watching the game, a lot of these young guys are just not being trained to make in-game adjustments and some of the decision-making was just frustrating. I mean, fans are upset, and they have good reason to be upset.
"As a former player, we would&rsquo;ve known to make certain adjustments because they were guarding [Sahvir] Wheeler differently. I don&rsquo;t know if you remember but with the San Antonio Spurs, when Avery Johnson couldn&rsquo;t shoot, they put him on the baseline. So when they were trying to match-up, they kept him down there, and that&rsquo;s where he hit his open shots. It was just frustrating. But the team played hard, no doubt about that. There was no quit in them. I love Oscar&rsquo;s work ethic. [Keion] Brooks did well. They gave it their all, so that wasn&rsquo;t the issue. But the adjustments just weren&rsquo;t there and that&rsquo;s unfortunate."
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Thomas: "In the postgame press conference, Coach Calipari pointed out that ya'll were up by six with three minutes to go. What do you think went wrong?"&nbsp;
Anderson: "Well, the team took a timeout and went zone. So they made the adjustment and to be quite honest, we didn&rsquo;t adjust. We were fortunate to send it to overtime. But if we would&rsquo;ve adjusted, had Oscar set some screens up and then hit the glass, had two guys up top and Oscar could&rsquo;ve filled the baseline and had Brooks or someone catch in that free-throw-line area and had those two guys crash and get in that lane, I think we would&rsquo;ve had a better chance. But we simply didn&rsquo;t adjust."
Thomas: "How impressed were you with Shaheen Holloway? I played against him for four years while he was at Seton Hall, and he used to always give us fits. He&rsquo;s been doing a phenomenal job coaching. I&rsquo;m happy for him."
Anderson: "I was super impressed. I&rsquo;m watching a lot of these young coaches do really well. He&rsquo;s a former player and he actually gets adjusting. He said, 'Hey, we gotta adjust. We can&rsquo;t guard Oscar one-on-one, so we gotta change it up.' And unfortunately, we didn&rsquo;t adjust to his adjustment. And that was the game. Shaheen did a great job. Even the body language; he never got down, so they never got down. His head was up, so their heads were up. He never panicked, so they never panicked. He did a tremendous job."
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Thomas: "I know a lot of people are upset about the loss and it's raw emotions, but a lot of Kentucky faithful are saying that there may need to be a coaching change with Calipari. What are your thoughts?"&nbsp;
Anderson: "Kentucky fans are passionate. They want to win. It&rsquo;s great that it&rsquo;s an amazing catapult to the NBA, but Kentucky fans want to see the team win, period. It was a tragic loss &mdash; the first time we have ever lost to a team that was the 15th seed. And that&rsquo;s absolutely no disrespect to Saint Peter&rsquo;s, because they&rsquo;re hoopers obviously, right? People get too caught up with rankings sometimes, but I think the raw emotions of the UK fans are more about winning than it is about the coach."
Thomas: "Okay, that&rsquo;s fair. But now that a little time has passed and the dust has settled a little, what does Derek Anderson say about whether there should be a coaching change?"
Anderson: "Well, I don&rsquo;t want to say anything negative about Calipari because it&rsquo;s still raw emotions; it hasn&rsquo;t even been 48 hours yet. But I will say: I wish he would&rsquo;ve made different adjustments, like we all do. I don&rsquo;t have any ill feelings towards him, I just wish we would&rsquo;ve made adjustments during the game."
Thomas: "So, what&rsquo;s next for Kentucky? I&rsquo;ve seen things written and comparisons to Virginia when they lost to a low seed and then came back and won the championship the next season. What are your thoughts about what to expect next year?"
Anderson: "I think TyTy is really built for the NBA. He's really good one-on-one in open space. I think Oscar has a great opportunity to pursue his dreams, help his Mom get here; he has other things he&rsquo;s thinking about to help his family and I don&rsquo;t blame him at all for that, and nobody else should either. So I think those two guys will probably leave, if anybody. I think the rest of the guys would benefit from coming back, staying, growing. I don&rsquo;t know how good we&rsquo;ll be; we just had a de-commit from one of the top players (Skyy Clark), so I&rsquo;m not sure.
"But we really need some leadership. I think we need to look into this transfer portal and get someone like Oscar who has been playing some basketball for a few years and can lead the team. Wheeler is a good player, just struggled with his shooting, but he did everything else really well. It all depends on who comes and then I can give you a better evaluation. But whoever we bring in, we have to be able to make adjustments during the game or it won&rsquo;t matter. Adjustments are what wins games."
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Kentucky alum Derek Anderson weighs in on the Wildcats' shocking loss to Saint Peter's, John Calipari's future and what's next for UK.

Derek Anderson on Kentucky's loss to Saint Peter's, Coach Cal's future

We made it through the first day of March Madness! Sixteen teams saw their dreams shatter while the other 16 teams advanced to the Round of 32. Let&rsquo;s see who remains&hellip;
UPSET ALERT&nbsp;
East Region: 15-seed Saint Peter&rsquo;s defeats 2-seed Kentucky 85-79 in overtime
Starting with the true bracket buster of day 1, the Saint Peter&rsquo;s Peacocks upset the Kentucky Wildcats. Oscar Tshiebwe gave everything he had (as expected) with a 30-point, 16-rebound performance, but Kentucky&rsquo;s perimeter players (TyTy Washington, Kellen Grady and Sahvir Wheeler) had trouble generating offense. The Peacocks shined behind Daryl Banks III&rsquo;s 27 points and Doug Edert&rsquo;s 20 points off the bench. The game remained tight the whole way through, staying within six points, and the game was tied at the end of regulation. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion pulled away with clutch plays and defensive stops that showed they weren&rsquo;t afraid of the highly decorated program. Saint Peter&rsquo;s will be taking on the 7-seed Murray State on Saturday. (For more on this upset, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/putting-saint-peters-shocker-over-kentucky-in-historical-context" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out Bryan Fonseca's article</a>).
Midwest Region: 12-seed Richmond defeats 5-seed Iowa 67-63
The annual bracket experts are well aware that the 12-5 matchup is always on upset watch, but since Iowa had a strong run for a Big Ten Tournament championship and one of the top NBA Draft prospects in the tournament in Keegan Murray, they felt like the pick here. But Richmond reminded the country that they too won a conference tournament championship last week and the Atlantic 10 knows them very well. Senior guard Jacob Gilyard played all 40 minutes and gave the Spiders 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Junior forward Tyler Burton and senior forward Nathan Cayo added 18 points and 15 points, respectively. Iowa&rsquo;s projected lottery pick Murray finished the game with 21 points and 9 rebounds, but there was a lull in his offense in the second half that could&rsquo;ve been the difference-maker. Richmond will face 4-seed Providence in the second round.
South Region: 11-seed Michigan defeats 6-seed Colorado State 75-63
In a matchup that many thought had upset potential, the Wolverines came away as victors over the Rams after a slow start. Colorado State jumped on Michigan in the first half and led by as many as 15 points, but Michigan proved their Power 5 experience had tested them enough to overcome the deficit. Hunter Dickinson ended as the game&rsquo;s leading scorer with 21 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Frankie Collins filled in at point guard for the injured Devante&rsquo; Jones and finished with a respectable 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Michigan finds 3-seed Tennessee waiting for them in the next round.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
West Region: 12-seed New Mexico State defeats 5-seed UConn 70-63
New Mexico State grabbed another win for the 12 seeds today as they knocked out UConn in the first round. This game was owned by Aggie guard Teddy Allen, who was locked in after starting the game 0-for-6 and finished with 37 points. New Mexico State as a team shot nearly 65% from three, which proved to be the difference-maker, with the Huskies only hitting 30% from deep. Allen looks to add another hot performance to his March Madness resum&eacute; on Saturday against Arkansas.
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GAMES OF THE DAY
West Region: 9-seed Memphis defeats 8-seed Boise State 64-53
The Memphis Tigers continued their strong play in the latter portion of the season and finished with a big win against Boise State. Memphis went into halftime with a 19-point lead, but a slow start by the Tigers led to the Broncos clawing themselves back into the game. DeAndre Williams ended the game with 14 points while projected NBA Draft lottery pick Jalen Duren had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. NBA executives and March Madness fans are getting the Duren-Chet Holmgren matchup they&rsquo;ve been clamoring for since Sunday night, as Memphis takes on Gonzaga this weekend. (This game also featured a surprise cameo from Emoni Bates, who finished with just 3 points in three minutes).
East Region: 7-seed Murray State defeats 10-seed San Francisco 92-87 in overtime
If you stayed up to watch one of the nightcap games of day 1, you probably watched Murray State and San Francisco battle it out. This game saw San Francisco guard Jamaree Bouyea score a career-high 36 points including some big shots to extend the game. However, it wasn&rsquo;t enough for the balanced attack of&nbsp; Murray State&rsquo;s KJ Williams, Trae Hannibal, Tevin Brown and Justice Hill with scoring totals of 18, 18, 17, and 15 (with Hannibal&rsquo;s 18 coming from the bench). The Racers' next test comes from the &ldquo;bracket busters&rdquo; themselves, the Saint Peter&rsquo;s Peacocks this weekend.
OTHER FIRST-ROUND RESULTS
Midwest Region
1-seed Kansas defeats 16-seed Texas Southern
4-seed Providence defeats 13-seed South Dakota State 66-57
9-seed Creighton defeats 8-seed San Diego State 72-69
East Region
1-seed Baylor defeats 16-seed Norfolk State 85-49
4-seed UCLA defeats 13-seed Akron 57- 53
South Region
3-seed Tennessee defeats 14-seed Longwood 88-56
West Region
1-seed Gonzaga defeats 16-seed Georgia State 93-72
4-seed Arkansas defeats 13-seed Vermont 75-71
East Region
8-seed North Carolina defeats 9-seed Marquette 95-63
5-seed Saint Mary&rsquo;s defeats 12-seed Indiana 82-53
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Sixteen teams saw their dreams shatter while 16 teams advanced to the Round of 32. Blake Hairston recaps day one of March Madness.

March Madness: Recapping Day 1 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament

Deep down, everyone knew.
All of you knew once you finalized your picks: The half-ass research, the questions to your even less knowledgeable friends, the &ldquo;expert&rdquo; analysis &ndash; none of it was going to matter. Your bracket was going to be busted by the end of the night. You didn&rsquo;t know how, you didn&rsquo;t know by whom, but you had an idea that even on day one of the men&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament, your bracket would get cooked.
You probably just didn&rsquo;t know it would be by Saint ******* Peter&rsquo;s University &ndash; against Kentucky, at that &ndash; who won 85-79 in overtime, destroying the evening of bracket-builders, parlay-players and spread-bettors alike.
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PEACOCKS. WIN. <a href="https://t.co/Jf10r5zyb4">pic.twitter.com/Jf10r5zyb4</a>
&mdash; Saint Peter&rsquo;s Athletics (@SPUAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/SPUAthletics/status/1504634900875550723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
If you don&rsquo;t know, Saint Peter&rsquo;s is a private Jesuit school in the middle of Jersey City, New Jersey. And if you&rsquo;ve ever been to the campus, you'd be even more surprised by this upset. Depending on who you ask, Saint Peter&rsquo;s could have either <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanFieldABC/status/1504645256586973185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2,300</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/GaryGrumbach/status/1504634530338160642" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2,600</a>, or <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanAGraham/status/1504634903484375043" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3,500</a> students; either way, we know the University of Kentucky likely has 10x that, if not more.
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How's that bracket looking??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrutUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrutUp</a>🦚 <a href="https://t.co/c5JXAN2kzb">pic.twitter.com/c5JXAN2kzb</a>
&mdash; Saint Peter's Men's Basketball (@PeacocksMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeacocksMBB/status/1504664039338782721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
The gap actually has nothing on the wage disparity between each team&rsquo;s head coaches. John Calipari reportedly banks in $8.5 million annually from Kentucky, which doesn&rsquo;t included bonuses of any kind. Shaheen Holloway was hired as Saint Peter's head coach in 2018, and he reportedly made less than $270,000 (including bonuses) in 2019. That means Coach Cal is paid 30x more than Coach Holloway before his first bonus check.
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St. Peter's men's basketball coach Shaheen Holloway made $266,344 in 2019, including bonuses paid and value of benefits, per school's most recent federal tax dox. John Calipari's basic pay from UK for this season -- not including bonuses, benefits and perks -- is $8.5 million.
&mdash; Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByBerkowitz/status/1504647038163726362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
More on the financial side, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/saint-peter-kentucky-win-marks-111130742.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Yahoo Sports report says</a>, &ldquo;In the 2019-20 school year, the most recent season unaffected by COVID-19, Kentucky outspent Saint Peter&rsquo;s $18.3 million to $1.6 million in men&rsquo;s basketball, per the U.S Department of Education. In terms of both expenditures ratio and raw difference between budgets, that is the biggest disparity since 2007, as far back as data is publicly available... Kentucky outspends Saint Peter&rsquo;s in basketball by a multiple of 11.7, just edging out the 11.5 ratio from CJ McCollum and Lehigh&rsquo;s win over Duke exactly 10 years ago.&rdquo;
Furthermore, Kentucky reportedly spent over $138 million for its sports teams in 2020. Saint Peter&rsquo;s? Only $7.2 million.
We&rsquo;ve watched the University of Kentucky become a factory for producing countless pros. And it's not just the high-level NBA stars we see thriving in the league today like Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo and Karl-Anthony Towns. On opening night of the 2021-22 NBA season, <a href="https://ukathletics.com/news/2021/10/19/mens-basketball-uk-mbb-leads-nation-with-27-players-on-nba-opening-day-rosters.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kentucky had 27 alums on rosters around the league</a>. In their history, they&rsquo;ve had <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=kentucky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">125 players appear in the NBA</a> &ndash; a number that's sure to increase following the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Draft</a>. The Wildcats have potential 2022 lottery picks in TyTy Washington and Shaedon Sharpe, and a possible late-first-rounder in Oscar Tshiebwe, among other expected NBA prospects.
Kentucky has the most wins, highest winning percentage, second-most national titles, most national-title-game appearances (tied with UCLA), most NCAA Tournament appearances, most <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-07-30/these-college-basketball-teams-and-conferences-have-most-nba-first-round-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first-round draft picks</a> and most NCAA tournament wins.&nbsp;
By the way, how many NBA players came from Saint Peter&rsquo;s program? <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.fcgi?college=stpeters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four. Just four</a>.
Bill Smith played nine NBA games in 1962. Harry Laurie played nine games in 1971. Elnardo Webster played 24 games in 1972. And Rich Rinaldi played 84 games between 1972 and 1974. That&rsquo;s it. Even Keydren Clark &ndash; who was the <a href="https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/keydren-clark-1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCAA's scoring leader in 2004 and 2005</a> while at Saint Peter&rsquo;s &ndash; didn&rsquo;t sniff the league after graduating in 2006.
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Four is also the number of NCAA Tournaments that MAAC Champion Saint Peter&rsquo;s has made in their history, with zero victories until last night. Their 85-79 win over Kentucky nuked all your hopes of a perfect bracket, and simultaneously reminded us why March is one of the best sports months on the calendar.
This only marked the ninth time in tournament history that a No. 15 seed knocked off a No. 2, and all of them have happened since 1991, including Oral Roberts taking down Ohio State &ndash; also in overtime &ndash; just last year. This one, because of the distinctions between the two institutions both in size, recruiting advantages, budgets and basketball history, could be the biggest upset we&rsquo;ve ever seen.
People love blue-blood programs, and in the case of Kentucky, love to hate them. But this is why people gather around TV screens this time of year, to see improbable stories like these unfold.
Others say they want the best facing the best with no upsets, and that&rsquo;s cool, but where&rsquo;s the enjoyment in that? If you only watch basketball for &ldquo;starzzzzz&rdquo; and &ldquo;hooperzzzzz,&rdquo; this probably doesn&rsquo;t excite you, but if this level of improbability can&rsquo;t resonate with you, why? That&rsquo;s strange. The fact is, in life, more people can and should be able to identify with the Saint Peter&rsquo;s element of this. Chances are, if you&rsquo;re reading this, you&rsquo;re closer to them than Kentucky, and that&rsquo;s OK. So don&rsquo;t be disappointed that Kentucky blew it. Embrace the uncanny underdog Peacocks from Jersey City, led by their badass head coach from New York City, who reminded you after the game, that it&rsquo;s just ball after all.
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Q: &ldquo;Did you ever get nervous.&rdquo; Shaheen Holloway after No. 15 Saint Peter&rsquo;s upset No. 2 Kentucky in OT &ldquo;For what? It&rsquo;s basketball.&rdquo; <a href="https://t.co/t0odjVyGWb">pic.twitter.com/t0odjVyGWb</a>
&mdash; George Balekji (@GeorgeBalekji) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeBalekji/status/1504637225685987342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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No. 15 Saint Peter's managed to beat No. 2 Kentucky in overtime. Bryan Fonseca explains why it may be the biggest upset ever.

Putting Saint Peter’s shocker over Kentucky in historical context

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/joel-embiid-calls-once-rivaled-boston-celtics-easy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
Someone should tell Joel Embiid that it&rsquo;s not fair to kick someone when they&rsquo;re already down &mdash; because after he led a blowout win over the bumbling Boston Celtics, Embiid dropped a truth bomb on the very team that sent him home in two playoff series.
Embiid is not impressed by the Celtics
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Joel Embiid, on their improved defensive execution tonight: "Charlotte, they move the ball extremely well and they have shooters all over the place, and they made a bunch of jump shots. Boston is more of an iso heavy team, so it becomes easier to load up and try to stop them."
&mdash; Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/DerekBodnerNBA/status/1482194963421138945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Does it hurt more for the fans of Boston that he was being brutally honest? If he was just trolling for a funny reaction, at least then you know the comment is a little distorted. Hell, you can ever fire a shot back. But in this instance, he&rsquo;s purely pointing out the harsh reality &mdash; leaving Celtics fans tongue-tied without a comeback.
Sitting at 22-22, just outside of participating in the NBA's play-in tournament, the Celtics have been a disaster, with blown leads (most in NBA), weekly vacancies due to health and safety protocols (most in league) and an onslaught of public inter-team callouts (their own coach leads this category).
The worst of these callouts came from their starting point guard, Marcus Smart, who expressed his displeasure about the lack of ball movement and reliance on isolation plays. Shocker, I know. &nbsp;
&ldquo;Every team knows we&rsquo;re trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen. Every team is programmed and studied to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody&rsquo;s scouting report is to make those guys pass the ball&hellip; They don&rsquo;t want to pass the ball. That&rsquo;s something that they&rsquo;re going to learn. They&rsquo;re still learning,&rdquo; said Smart after the Celtics became the first team ever to blow a 14-point fourth quarter lead. They would then lose by 14 points against the Bulls in an early November game.&rdquo;
Good to see they haven&rsquo;t changed!
No real synergy in the way they play
With the flames getting higher with each passing week, the Boston Celtics have made it clear they have no interest in <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-case-against-and-for-separating-jayson-tatum-and-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">splitting up the All-Star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/celtics-have-no-interest-in-trading-jayson-tatum-or-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Shams Charania of The Athletic</a>. No one is calling for that drastic move but, clearly, something needs to be done.&nbsp;
According to NBA advanced stats, the Celtics <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/isolation/?sort=POSS_PCT&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rank third in isolation plays</a>. They are also the only team in the NBA with three players in the top-45 most frequent iso players. Tatum is third. This makes their game not only stagnant and more easily defendable &mdash; it's also boring for the players. No one wants to commit to a spiritless system of waiting around for one guy to make his move. The fact that we know that means explosive free agents do, too.
There are a hundred different ways to explain why the Boston team that wiped the floor with Joel Embiid two playoffs ago is now a helpless second-rate team fighting for a play-in tournament chance &mdash; but the stylistic dynamic of Brown and Tatum, which is the reason for the predictable iso play, could be the biggest reason.&nbsp;
Their two best guys don&rsquo;t complement each other, past Tatum sometimes getting doubled and trying to find Brown. They share similar heights, so they don&rsquo;t benefit from swapping defenders. That&rsquo;s why they play like they're in a game of 21, because they have an understanding of that avenue as a way to work off each other.&nbsp;
They should start turning a corner a bit, since they now have the seventh easiest schedule <a href="https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Tankathon</a>. But their fundamental problem won&rsquo;t perish without a great point guard to create plays and get others more involved. Until then, this will likely not be the only rib shot the team and its fans must endure.&nbsp;
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Joel Embiid delivered a ruthless shot of truth about the Celtics' offensive style.

Joel Embiid calls once-rival Celtics 'easy'

The 2008 U.S. Olympic men&rsquo;s basketball team is regarded as one of the greatest collections of basketball talent ever assembled.
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony headlined the star-studded group. The &ldquo;Redeem Team,&rdquo; as it was dubbed, was expressly constructed to restore America&rsquo;s basketball glory after a disappointing bronze finish in 2004. The 2008 team achieved its objective, defeating Spain in the gold medal game to reclaim America&rsquo;s place atop the Olympic podium. Basketball fans were in awe of LeBron, Kobe, and the rest of the Redeem Team's dominance.
There&rsquo;s one detail, however, that gets obscured when recounting the United States&rsquo; brilliance in Beijing. With 2:15 to go in the gold medal game, the Redeem Team was only leading Spain by four points. In other words, despite having more talent than nearly any basketball team in history, Team USA was in danger of losing the gold on the biggest international stage.
While the current iteration of the U.S. men&rsquo;s national basketball team is not as lauded as the 2008 version -- the 2021 squad recently lost back-to-back exhibition games to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/shocker-us-falls-to-nigeria-in-preolympic-opener" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-falls-again-this-time-9183-to-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> -- the Americans still have the most talented group in the field, by far. Given the immense NBA firepower on the roster and its superb coaching staff, the U.S. should handily bring home gold. That doesn&rsquo;t mean it will.
(Editor's note: Team USA's <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/united-states-loses-to-france-83-76-25-game-olympic-win-streak-ends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25-game Olympic winning streak was snapped in an 83-76 loss to France</a> in the its opener on Sunday morning.)
The international game is just different, and that will organically create challenges for Team USA in subtle, yet significant ways. As soon as any U.S. Olympic basketball team steps foot on the floor, it faces headwinds that begin to mitigate its sizable talent advantage. That is something to monitor in Tokyo, where that advantage will <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/obn-founder-former-maryland-terp-obinna-ekezie-qa-on-nigeria-beating-us-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not be as insurmountable for other nations</a> as it&rsquo;s been in the past.
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The sounds of the gym &gt;&gt;&gt; 🇺🇸 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USABMNT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USABMNT</a> fellas got after it today 💪 <a href="https://t.co/S8ZqrUfzl7">pic.twitter.com/S8ZqrUfzl7</a>
&mdash; USA Basketball (@usabasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1416182106439495685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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One of the most basic factors that closes the talent gap between international teams and the United States is roster continuity. In formidable basketball nations like Spain, France and Argentina, top players make commitments to represent their countries over the course of their careers. These national teams are typically comprised of the same handful of elite players who grew up playing together and look forward to joining forces each summer to wear their country&rsquo;s colors. Because of this stability, the transition from pro competition to national team competition is seamless. Instead of spending time feeling each other out and learning how best to cooperate, these groups are fine-tuning their attacks and focusing on their goals.
The United States system, by contrast, has so many extraordinary talents in the pipeline and offers so many off-the-court opportunities, that star players tend to cycle through the national program with higher velocity. Team USA has worked hard to prioritize roster consistency in recent years, but it still can&rsquo;t match the commitment, unity and familiarity of its competitors. As a result, Team USA is usually at a connectivity disadvantage relative to its peers.
Another element that diminishes the United States&rsquo; talent edge is the natural unfamiliarity that homegrown NBA players have with the international game. Perhaps most notably, the spacing and physicality of FIBA competition are dramatically different than in the NBA. With a shorter three-point line that compresses the court, and no defensive violations to prevent defenders from packing the paint, there is considerably less room to maneuver in international play. And while officiating rules in the NBA protect offensive players, no such benefit is given by FIBA refs. Defenders are allowed to be more physical, which can be <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-is-going-on-with-the-usa-mens-national-team-in-exhibition-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jarring to NBA stars</a> who are used to going to the foul line after minimal contact.
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Since referees give more freedom to defenders to obstruct movement, and since there is less space to create opportunities off the dribble, the value of the pass increases. NBA offenses often rely on pick-and-rolls and dribble drives, so this tactical nuance aids Team USA&rsquo;s opponents, who are accustomed to playing the pass-first style that is favored internationally. On the defensive end of the floor, Team USA also faces an adjustment period; specifically, it needs to calibrate to the enhanced physicality of the international game. It&rsquo;s an adjustment that other international teams don&rsquo;t require, as all of their players developed in the FIBA system and have been programmed to know exactly how much defensive force they can apply in this setting.
Lastly, it cannot be overstated that each time Team USA takes the court at the Olympics and in other international competitions, it has a target on its back. The United States has been so dominant in basketball over the years that its losses are still newsworthy. The U.S. will always get its opponent&rsquo;s best effort, whether it&rsquo;s the gold medal game, the tournament opener or a closed-door scrimmage. There is never, if any, a margin for error, which week after week can create pressure on players as they fight to avoid upsets. If Team USA doesn&rsquo;t come to play or has an off night shooting the basketball, it might be vulnerable against motivated and cohesive competition. One thing is certain: the rest of the world will show up when facing Team USA.
As the Olympic basketball competition starts in Tokyo, I have every expectation that the United States will bring home the gold. They are determined, have an excellent coaching staff and possess the physical ability, basketball IQ and technical skills that are second-to-none. Still, there are factors working against Team USA that are largely out of its control.
The international game is unique, and it&rsquo;s played by teams who have passion, consistency and camaraderie. That combination helps create a series of small uphill battles for the Americans. Team USA&rsquo;s amazing collection of talent should be enough to overcome these challenges; we should just be prepared that it might not be.
If the incomparable Redeem Team could be pushed to the limits by a worthy international adversary, then this 2021 team can be, too. And with a slimmer talent gap than we&rsquo;ve seen in prior years, these external factors become particularly important.
In the end, they may just be a deciding factor when there&rsquo;s gold on the line.

Dan Grunfeld shares why the United States men's national team could be pushed to its limits in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Why Team USA’s Olympic climb is inherently uphill

USA Basketball finally made it look easy again.
Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal each scored 17 points and the Americans took control from the outset, beating Argentina 108-80 in Las Vegas on Tuesday to avoid what would have been the first three-game losing streak in this era of NBA players being able to represent USA Basketball on the international stage.
Zach LaVine scored 15 points for the U.S., which lost its first two games in Las Vegas to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/shocker-us-falls-to-nigeria-in-preolympic-opener" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria </a>and&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-falls-again-this-time-9183-to-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a>. The Americans shot 51%, scored 33 first-quarter points to get off and running and beat Argentina for the 10th-consecutive time since a loss at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
&ldquo;It was better,&rdquo; U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;Bit by bit, every day, I hope.&rdquo;
Damian Lillard scored 13 points and Bam Adebayo finished with 12 points, five assists and five rebounds for the U.S.
&ldquo;Just really locked in,&rdquo; Adebayo said.
Luis Scola, set to play in the Olympics for a fifth time, scored 16 points in 19 minutes for Argentina. Nicolas Laprovittola scored 13, Facundo Campazzo had 12 and Gabriel Deck added 10.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a big deal,&rdquo; Argentina&rsquo;s Luca Vildoza said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only a loss.&rdquo;
The U.S. played with only eight members of the Olympic team. Jayson Tatum was held out with right knee soreness and will be day-to-day going forward, USA Basketball said. The Americans also will be without Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker until at least this weekend because of the NBA Finals.
The back-to-back losses to start the U.S. team&rsquo;s stay in Las Vegas raised the possibility that the Americans might lose three in a row with NBA players for the first time.
If those thoughts truly existed, they didn&rsquo;t last for long.
&ldquo;Our biggest thing is we have to realize it&rsquo;s not the NBA and Coach Pop keeps re-emphasizing that every single day,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s way more physical. Guys are smarter. These guys have been playing together for five-, 10-plus years. So they have the experience and the chemistry and we&rsquo;re trying to develop that in a short period of time.&rdquo;
It was 15-4 USA before the game was even three-and-a-half minutes old, and the lead was as much as 17 later in the opening quarter &mdash; the biggest leads for the Americans in the first two games were 10 against Nigeria and 11 against Australia &mdash; and the outcome was never really in doubt.
&ldquo;The USA played great,&rdquo; Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. &ldquo;They played more aggressive defense than they had the last two games.&rdquo;
The Americans held a 58-42 lead at the half when Durant beat the buzzer with an 18-footer, a shot that Draymond Green was celebrating before the ball even swished through the net.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to make shots all the time,&rdquo; Durant said in a televised halftime interview. &ldquo;But if we continue to guard the way we are, it&rsquo;ll start to turn for us on offense... When we keep the ball in front and we get stops and rebounds, then we pretty much can play with a clean slate on the offensive side of the ball.&rdquo;
The U.S. won the rebound battle 40-34, committed only nine turnovers and held Argentina to 31% shooting &mdash; 9 for 29 &mdash; from 3-point range.
&ldquo;Today we got better,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;Still a lot we can improve on, but we&rsquo;re moving in the right direction.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Argentina: Campazzo was shaken up late in the first quarter after taking a hard screen, but was able to eventually return to the game. ... Argentina went 0-3 in Las Vegas, losing 87-84 in its opener against Australia on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Patty Mills and then falling 94-71 to Nigeria on Monday.
USA: The Americans used all 15 of their available players. ... Kevin Love, who played only 3:01 in the in the Nigeria game and didn&rsquo;t play against Australia, was among the first-quarter subs on Tuesday. ... Even after the losses to Nigeria and Australia,&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/basketball/international-friendly-men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FanDuel Sportsbook had the Americans as 18.5-point favorites</a>&nbsp;entering the game.
DOUBLING UP
The U.S. Olympic women&rsquo;s team begins taking the stage in Las Vegas on Wednesday, starting with the WNBA All-Star Game. The U.S. men and women both play Australia on Friday, before the men close their Las Vegas stay on Sunday against Spain and the women play Nigeria. The American teams will fly together to Tokyo on Monday.
POP TALK
Popovich is friends with Hernandez, and the two have spoken often during their stay in Las Vegas, and Hernandez said &ldquo;today was a special day&rdquo; as he coached against one of his idols. Argentina assistant coaches Silvio Santander and Maxi Seigorman have joined some of those postgame chats in Vegas with Popovich as well. &ldquo;Pop is a teacher for everyone. And an inspiration,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://twitter.com/cabboficial/status/1415024382292996099?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Argentine officials wrote on the team&rsquo;s Twitter account</a>&nbsp;while posting a photo of one of the get-togethers.
UP NEXT
Argentina: Expected to play Iran in Tokyo next week before the Olympics.
USA: Faces Australia in Las Vegas on Friday.

Kevin Durant and Brad Beal each scored 17 points and Team USA took control from the outset, beating Argentina 108-80 on Tuesday.

USA bounces back, tops Argentina 108-80 in pre-Tokyo tune-up

After another loss in exhibition play, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-falls-again-this-time-9183-to-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this time to Australia</a> following <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/shocker-us-falls-to-nigeria-in-preolympic-opener" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria&rsquo;s massive upset</a>, USA Men&rsquo;s Basketball is 0-2, sending fans around the United States into a state of confusion. The roster is full of star talent, and dominance in the past has seemed to be the norm, which begs the question: What the heck is going on?
There&rsquo;s probably more than one answer.
For one, the 12 players on the team haven&rsquo;t had all that much practice time. Training camp began less than a week ago in Las Vegas, meaning head coach Gregg Popovich and his staff might not have been able to institute their principles in such a rapid fashion. Remember, the individuals who are a part of the 2021 version of Team USA haven&rsquo;t played together before, while other nations&rsquo; teammates are more familiar from a togetherness standpoint, as well as a veteran-leadership standpoint.
Also, the majority of this Team USA group is coming off of a grueling 72-game schedule plus the NBA playoffs, meaning their bodies are likely a little more worn down than in the past.&nbsp;
We also can&rsquo;t forget that this is a roster featuring U.S. Select team members at the moment, with Darius Garland and Keldon Johnson seeing action as Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton take part in the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
USA players (and staff members) likely won&rsquo;t want to hear that, though, and could consider it an excuse. So, let&rsquo;s get to another point that might explain some things: the FIBA officiating. Referees at this stage thus far have allowed for a tougher, more physical game than a typical contest in the NBA.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s even a great thread from <a href="https://twitter.com/Tim_NBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cranjis McBasketball on Twitter</a>, who pointed out numerous occasions of foul-hunting that didn&rsquo;t fly with the international officials. Maybe we should keep an eye on that for the rest of exhibition play and the upcoming games that count in Group Play.
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These guys are STRUGGLING without NBA refs lol <a href="https://t.co/xK6hssOffC">pic.twitter.com/xK6hssOffC</a>
&mdash; Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tim_NBA/status/1414771791361462276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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On the floor, USA seems to be too content with the three-ball and going one-on-one. It&rsquo;s kind of reflective of the culprit that holds NBA teams back in stretches -- although when guys like Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum are on your roster, you&rsquo;re likely going to live with it by default. That has not been the case thus far, however, as international basketball preaches the fundamentals of the game with selflessness being the number-one priority. There's a commitment to making sure everybody touches the ball, and teammates play for one another and communicate on both ends.
In addition, perimeter defense is going to be paramount to keeping opposing countries from getting wide-open lanes to the basket. There are two &ldquo;bigs&rdquo; at Popovich&rsquo;s disposal in Bam Adebayo and Kevin Love, and the latter has played a total of four minutes to this point. If the competition is running layup lines and getting by guys like they&rsquo;re turnstiles, chances are things won&rsquo;t go well.&nbsp;
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While the trio playing in the NBA Finals offers a ton of pop at both ends of the floor, it&rsquo;s their collective playmaking ability that really could help this squad in terms of setting up their teammates and bringing some grit to the defensive end.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s been a long time since the USA Men's National Team has lost two games period. But consecutively? That&rsquo;s especially rare. Like, nearly-30-years-rare. Can it be rectified? Absolutely. As much of a fuss as we&rsquo;re making over these games, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/for-team-usa-losses-in-las-vegas-do-not-matter-2020-tokyo-olympics-exhibition-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they are exhibitions</a>.
Don&rsquo;t buy that they&rsquo;re meaningless, though. Nigeria and Australia were not intimidated; they expected to win those matchups and deservedly came out on top in their respective games. As our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/obn-founder-former-maryland-terp-obinna-ekezie-qa-on-nigeria-beating-us-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Etan Thomas put it in his interview with Nigeria-born Obinna Ekezie</a>, we need to give these countries credit for the great job they're doing at developing talent from a young age. There's a reason for all of this international representation in the NBA, and it's for the betterment of the game as a whole.
Team USA is now the one with a target on its back. This isn&rsquo;t the 2020 Tokyo Olympics quite yet, but if anything is clear, it&rsquo;s that the doormat days in global basketball are over -- and that shouldn&rsquo;t surprise anybody.

After its second-straight loss in exhibition play to Australia, Spencer Davies tries to get to the bottom of what's wrong with Team USA.

What's going on with the U.S. Men's National Team in exhibition play?

Etan Thomas speaks with Obinna Ekezie on Nigeria's massive win over Team USA over the weekend and the rise in talent in the nation.

OBN Academy founder, former Terp Obinna Ekezie Q&A on Nigeria beating U.S.

Gregg Popovich has been repeating a similar refrain ever since he got the job to coach the U.S. men&rsquo;s national basketball team. The world, he insists, is catching up.
He&rsquo;s not wrong.
The latest proof: <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/shocker-us-falls-to-nigeria-in-preolympic-opener" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria 90, United States 87</a>.
That was the way the U.S. team that departs next week for the Tokyo Olympics began its slate of tuneup games, a stunning loss on Saturday night &mdash; the end of a 25-game home winning streak for U.S. teams with NBA players, and the first time such an American team lost to any national team from Africa.
&ldquo;In a way, I&rsquo;m kind of glad it happened,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;That loss means nothing if we don&rsquo;t learn from it. But it could be the most important thing in this tournament for us, to learn lessons from this.&rdquo;
On the one hand, it doesn&rsquo;t count. The Americans will still be the favorites when they get to Tokyo and they have two more weeks before they open Olympic play against France. The team was missing three players who haven&rsquo;t come to Las Vegas yet because they&rsquo;re still in the NBA Finals. And it&rsquo;s not like U.S. teams, even loaded with NBA stars, haven&rsquo;t had trouble before &mdash; for example, the original Dream Team, 11 future Hall of Famers put together for the 1992 Barcelona Games, famously lost to a group of college players in their first scrimmage.
On the other hand, even though Popovich lauded the Nigerian talent multiple times on Saturday night, there was just no comparison between the resumes of the players who got into that game.
The Nigerian players who were on the floor had NBA contracts worth a total of $9.5 million this season, have combined for about 4,000 NBA points, zero All-Star selections and zero All-NBA selections. The U.S. players on the floor had NBA contracts worth $215.9 million, have combined for nearly 98,000 career points, plus 32 All-Star selections and 21 All-NBA selections.
&ldquo;There was a lot of doubt put on us, a lot of expectations for us to get blown out, for the game to get out of hand early,&rdquo; said Nigeria guard Gabe Nnamdi, who is known by Gabe Vincent when playing for the Miami Heat. &ldquo;And if anything, that just put a chip on our shoulder, bigger than we already had.&rdquo;
The Nigerians had been practicing for about three weeks. The Americans had been together for four days. Popovich pointed to that discrepancy as part of the reason why an early struggle for the U.S. shouldn&rsquo;t have been so surprising.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll just use this to bring us together,&rdquo; U.S. forward Jayson Tatum said. &ldquo;Tough times bring guys and teams and people together. It&rsquo;s not going to be easy. And we knew that coming in. This is just something to build off, spend some more time together and talk about things, because it&rsquo;s all about us.&rdquo;
The Americans were not practicing Sunday. They have back-to-back exhibitions next, facing Australia on Monday and Argentina on Tuesday. They close out their five-game warmup set in Las Vegas with another game Friday against Australia, then next Sunday against reigning World Cup champion Spain.
They&rsquo;ll be looking to shoot much better than they did against Nigeria, too.
Kevin Durant, seeking a third Olympic gold medal, shot 4 for 13; he&rsquo;s shot worse than that only three times in his last 244 NBA games. Bradley Beal shot 1 for 7; he&rsquo;s had only one NBA game out of his last 260 where he shot worse. The U.S. missed four shots in the fourth quarter Saturday that were for the lead; three of them were open looks.
Yet it also lost a game where it held Nigeria to 44% shooting and outscored opponents 25-6 from the foul line. The difference was 3s; Nigeria made 20 to the Americans&rsquo; 10. And when it was over, Nigeria coach Mike Brown made clear that his team played far from a perfect game.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play our best,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;I know, 100%, USA Basketball feels that way too.&rdquo;
If Nigeria &mdash; even not at its best &mdash; could still beat the Americans, that may be an ominous sign.
Popovich coached the U.S. to a seventh-place finish at the Basketball World Cup two years ago, the worst finish for an NBA-manned American roster in international competition. That result came after nearly three dozen players backed out of commitments; this team got many of the biggest names that it wanted.
Saturday was just an exhibition loss. Meaningless in some ways, full of meaning in others, and all of it underscoring the obvious &mdash; that a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal will not come easily for the Americans.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great group of guys, high character and we&rsquo;ll figure it out,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think anyone should act, nor will we act, like this is the end of the world. It&rsquo;s about how everybody else deserves a lot of credit, and we will have to play our (butt) off to do this.&rdquo;

Gregg Popovich has been repeating a similar refrain ever since he got the job to coach the U.S. men’s national basketball team. The world, he insists, is catching up.

Loss to Nigeria may become learning tool for USA Basketball

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<div class="embed-caption Component-root-0-2-49 Component-embedCaption-0-2-43" data-key="embed-caption">LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; This is not how USA Basketball expected to open its Olympic summer.</div>
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Nigeria probably didn&rsquo;t expect it, either.
If there was any expectation of invincibility for the Americans heading into the Tokyo Olympics, it&rsquo;s already gone &mdash; after Nigeria shocked the U.S. 90-87 on Saturday night.
Nigeria pulled off an international shocker with a roster primarily filled of little-known NBA players that found a way to beat a group of All-NBA, All-Star and max-contract performers.
&ldquo;I thought that the Nigerian team played very physically, did a great job in that regard and knocked down a lot of 3s,&rdquo; U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;Give them credit.&rdquo;
Gabe Nnamdi, who goes by Gabe Vincent when playing for the Miami Heat, led Nigeria with 21 points. Caleb Agada scored 17 points, Ike Nwamu added 13 and Nigeria outscored the U.S. 60-30 from 3-point range.
Kevin Durant, who had never before played in a loss for USA Basketball in 39 senior international games, had 17 points. Jayson Tatum added 15, Damian Lillard had 14 and Bam Adebayo 11.
&ldquo;Just goes to show that we have to play better,&rdquo; Tatum said.
The Americans had gone 39-0 in their last three Olympic seasons &mdash; including pre-Olympic exhibitions &mdash; on their way to gold medals and had been 54-2 in major exhibitions since NBA players began playing for USA Basketball in 1992. Plus, they&rsquo;d beaten Nigeria by a combined 127 points in their last two meetings, one at the 2012 London Games, the other a warm-up for the 2016 Rio Games.
Nigeria lost to the U.S. at the 2012 Olympics by 83 points. Lost to the Americans again four years later in an exhibition, that time by 44 points.
Not this time.
&ldquo;Nigeria&rsquo;s come a long way with their basketball,&rdquo; USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said.
Ike Iroegbu &mdash; a former Washington State player who some time in the G League &mdash; hit a 3-pointer with about 1:15 left to put Nigeria up 88-80. Durant scored the next seven points for the U.S.; a 3-pointer, two free throws following a turnover, then two more from the line with 16.5 seconds remaining.
Nnamdi made two foul shots with 13.2 seconds left to restore Nigeria&rsquo;s 3-point edge. The Americans ran 9.7 seconds off the clock on the ensuing possession without getting a shot off, and Zach LaVine missed a pair of free throws &mdash; the second intentionally &mdash; with 3.5 seconds left.
Precious Achiuwa got the rebound for Nigeria, and that was it. It&rsquo;s only an exhibition &mdash; but the upset was still of the massive variety, the 22nd-ranked nation by FIBA beating the No. 1-ranked team and three-time reigning Olympic gold medalists.
Popovich heard the final buzzer and shook hands with Nigeria coach Mike Brown, the Golden State assistant, as the Americans walked off stunned.
There was an injury scare for the Americans late in the second quarter, when LaVine got hurt on a play where he was closing out against Nnamdi. He went airborne after a head fake and came down awkwardly, grabbing at his left ankle before getting up and going directly to the U.S. locker room.
LaVine was fine and returned in the third quarter.
The bigger scare was the scoreboard. Nigeria trailed only 43-41 at the half, led for long stretches of the opening 20 minutes, and simply wasn&rsquo;t going away.
TIP-INS
Nigeria: Achiuwa had perhaps the night&rsquo;s top defensive play with 1:23 left in the first half, reaching with his left hand to block a Durant dunk attempt. ... Nigeria outrebounded the U.S. 46-34.
USA: Darius Garland and Saddiq Bey were Select Team players who got into the game. The Olympic team needed extra players because Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker are at the NBA Finals. ... The U.S. got 32 free-throw attempts to Nigeria&rsquo;s 10.
FREE THROW DEFENSE
Nigeria&rsquo;s Chimezie Metu had a brilliant play in the third quarter &mdash; committing what would be goaltending in the NBA. Durant was taking a free throw, and as his shot bounced on the rim Metu reached up and knocked the shot away. That&rsquo;s a legal play under FIBA rules.
UP NEXT
Nigeria: Face Argentina on Monday in Las Vegas.
USA: Face Australia on Monday in Las Vegas.
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Nigeria upset Team USA in a pre-Olympic exhibition.

Wichita State Shockers