Dream On

Before the first Dream Team was put together, the U.S. used to rely on the top returning college basketball players to play in international competition.

But since NBA players were given the green light to compete against the world in 1989, U.S. teams made up with college players have taken on a different look.

That was evident Saturday night when the USA’s 22-and-under World Championship team lost, 111-94, to the Lakers in a Fila Summer Pro League game before a capacity crowd of 4,204 at the Long Beach Pyramid.

With underclassmen such as Chauncey Billups, Ron Mercer and Tim Thomas following the lead of many before them in opting for the NBA draft early, the U.S. team featured many little-known players, who practiced for the first time together Tuesday.

They were no match against the Lakers, who raced out to an early lead and never looked back. With Kobe Bryant, who at 18 is younger than any player on the U.S. team, exciting the crowd with several acrobatic moves, the Lakers were the most impressive team on the four-game opening day of the Summer League.

Rookie James Forrest from Georgia Tech led the Lakers with 20 points and eight rebounds. Fellow rookies Paul Rogers and Shea Seals added 17 and 13 points respectively. Bryant finished with only nine points but had five rebounds and four assists.

Brad Miller, a 6-foot-11 center from Purdue led the U.S. team with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Mike Doleac added 10 and nine.

But that doesn’t mean that the 14 players competing to make the 12-man team that will play in next month’s 22-and-under World Championships at Melbourne, Australia, lacked ability or effort.

Whether it was a strong inside post move by center Mike Doleac of Utah or relentless defensive pressure from guards Tyronn Lue of Nebraska and Corey Brewer of Oklahoma, U.S. players made their presence felt with their defensive aggressiveness in the normally offensive-minded Fila Summer League.

“We only met four days ago, I don’t even know all of their names,” said Utah’s Rick Majerus, coach of the U.S. team. “We had seven practices in four days and our guys are beat down pretty well. But, I thought that we played pretty good. I mean there’s a reason why Kobe is getting paid all of that money.”

One of the team’s top players, Cory Carr of Texas Tech, played on the USA Select Team last summer that gave the USA National “Dream Team” a good run before losing by only six points. He also is the only returning player from last summer’s USA 22-and-under team that went 5-0 to qualify for this year’s World Championships.

Carr, who declared hardship and then withdrew his name before this year’s NBA draft, said he and his teammates are looking forward to representing the United States despite their lack of notoriety.

“I don’t think that [college players only] teams have lost their luster because everyone knows that our pro players who played on our Dream Teams are the best in the world and should play in the Olympics,” said Carr, who averaged 23.1 points and 4.6 rebounds last season as a junior. “We’re here to get better and to work as a team. Playing in the Summer League is a terrific challenge for us to match up against so many talented players.

Under Majerus’ guidance, the U.S. team is quickly taking the shape of his tough-nosed Utah squads, with defense and fundamentals a priority.

“In the short time we’ve been together, every day has been intense and very educational for the players,” said Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar, an assistant with the USA team.

That’s why it was not uncommon to find U.S. players diving for loose balls or working hard to get around picks late in the fourth quarter Saturday despite trailing by double digits for almost the entire game.

“All the players on the team know about playing basketball but a lot of us don’t know the fundamentals,” guard Tyson Wheeler of Rhode Island said. “We’ve been working hard because we all want to do well.”