Big East All Stars win Gold at University Games

Jay Wright coached a solid team full of seniors to the gold metal of the world university games. The last two games were shown live on Fox College Sports with boring commentators who apparently never left the midwest before this event ;-)

The team played solid most of the time (in the two games I watched on TV). The prime-time rotation consisted of Randy Foye, G-Mac (Gerry McNamara), and Chris Hernandez at guard, Vincent Grier as a wing/forward, and the two space-eaters (Craig Smith and Shelden Williams) were complimented by the inside-out game of Stanford's Matt Harycz. The other teams (Russia and Ukraine) were really helpless in the paint with Craig Smith and Shelden Williams being "bulls in a china shop".

About half of the players on this team were from the ....Big East. A more appropriate name would be "Big East All-Stars". Did I mention Jim Boheim was in charge of selection and Jay Wright coaching? Coincidence? I think not!

Granted the US team has an inherent advantage in the University games (aka Universiade) because college basketball is nowhere near as strong in Europe. The top players there sign with club teams in their early teens and stay there until they are ready for prime time.