Soviet Coach Believes U.S. Can Be Beat : His Basketball Team Goes 7-0 in European Qualifier to Advance to Seoul Games

Look who’s coming to dinner again, Olympic basketball heights and style:

It’s those wild and crazy comrades of the Soviet Union men’s team, undefeated champions of the European qualifying tournament. The possibility of the first U.S.-Soviet meeting in the Olympics since the infamous upset in Munich in ’72 is alive.

The Soviets dumped Italy, 107-86, Sunday to finish with a 7-0 record and qualify for Seoul along with Yugoslavia (6-1) and Spain (4-3).

The Soviets may not have their best player, Arvidas Sabonis, but that didn’t stop that cocky colonel from the Red Army, Coach Alexander Gomelsky, from announcing he thought he could beat the United States, anyway.

“I think so,” he said. “I hope so.

“Many people feel U.S. has great team. But I know, U.S. lose Pan-American Games, Brazil. Brazil good team but not great.”

Let’s just say that put the comrade colonel in a distinct minority even here, in the center of Euroball.

“I think U.S. the winner,” said Spanish Coach Antonio Dias Miguel.

Easily?

“Yeah,” he said.

Before the ’84 Games, the Italian coach, Sandro Gamba, announced, “We must give U.S. gold and play only for silver.”

Does Gamba think anything has changed? “I don’t think so,” he said Sunday.

“In talent, USA here (holding his hand above his head) and other teams here (lowering it to his waist).”

Let’s just say that the U.S. coach, John Thompson, here scouting, didn’t want to hear about it.

“They sound like Big East coaches on press day,” Thompson said, laughing. “Along with high fives and all that other stuff coming over here comes the rest of that B.S.”

This tournament came down to a few games:

--Soviet Union 86, Yugoslavia 83 Wednesday, after the Yugoslavs blew a 15-point lead in the last 11:04.

The Yugoslavs are young and huge with 20-year-old 6-11 Vlado Divac (pronounced Dee-vots), who has a chance to become the first European National Basketball Assn. lottery pick when he becomes eligible in 1990. Considered the favorites here, they played no recognizable defense and outscored everyone until wilting down the stretch against the Soviets.

“I thought Yugoslavia would win it all,” Thompson said. “Yugoslavia gave me the impression of being the best team. Russia had the best experience. When the Yugoslav players come of age, they’re going to be very dangerous.”

--Greece 91, Italy 88. The Greeks, ’87 European champions, didn’t play well here, but ambushed the Italians who were just about to waltz off with the third berth. The Greeks, Italians and Spaniards all finished 4-3, but Spain advanced on the basis of having the best shooting percentage in the common games.

This isn’t considered the best Soviet team ever. Since ‘84, it has lost the 7-3 Sabonis, who is trying to come back from two Achilles’ tendon operations, and 7-4, 290-pound Vladimir (Cha Cha) Tkachenko.

Tkachenko is listed as 31 but may be closer to 41. He is out for the campaign with a bad back. When he was first injured a year ago on a trip, according to the story a Soviet referee told a Canadian scout, he wasn’t even able to sit in an airline seat. So they took him home in the cargo section, with enough pain-killer in him for four men.

The last decent Soviet 7-footer is Alexander Belostenny, who is generally available. Belostenny missed two games here after breaking the nose of Yugoslavia’s Zarko Paspalij in a fight. After that, Belostenny made an obscene gesture to Paspalij from the bench; the network televising this tournament throughout Europe liked that one so much, it showed it again in pregame highlights.

Just as they were, the Soviets played well enough.

They led all teams here in two-point field-goal percentage (62%) and three-point percentage (46%). Against Spain Saturday, they went 17 minutes before they missed their second shot.

Valdemaras Khomichus shot 64% from three-point range in the tournament. Sharunas Marchulenis, the Soviets’ 6-5 point guard, was named the tournament MVP and he and 6-9 forward Alexander Volkov made the all-tournament team.

“Can you name a 6-9 guy in the NBA who runs the floor better than him?” asked Philadelphia 76er Coach Jimmy Lynam.

“I’ll name you one--Magic Johnson.”

Seventeen NBA coaches, scouts and GMs were here, a suggestion that if the Europeans aren’t catching up, they’re certainly making progress. There was no one from the NBA at this tournament in ’84.

But progress isn’t revolution, yet. Olympic men’s basketball got its last three qualifiers Sunday, and its last three underdogs, too.