Team Usa

USA's final roster for FIBA World Basketball Championships: Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), Derrick Rose ( Chicago Bulls), Rudy Gay ( Memphis Grizzlies), Lamar Odom (Lakers), Chauncey Billups ( Denver Nuggets), Danny Granger ( Indiana Pacers), Russell Westbrook (Thunder), Eric Gordon (Clippers), Stephen Curry ( Golden State Warriors), Kevin Love ( Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyson Chandler ( Dallas Mavericks) and Andre Iguodala ( Philadelphia 76ers).

He's a one-named wonder in the women's basketball universe, tantamount to Pele, Magic and Michael in their domains. Geno doesn't need the last part of his name for identifying purposes, but it's Auriemma, for the record. These days, only one thing still pushes him outside his comfort zone. "I have never felt more pressure in my life than coaching an Olympic gold-medal game for the U.S.," said Auriemma, who was an assistant coach in 2000 when the Americans won gold and is charged with heading the 2012 Olympic women's team.

The names of the 23 members of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team were announced almost too fast to grasp what was happening. But when the list went from Chris Drury to Patrick Kane without stopping at Scott Gomez or Bill Guerin, and when Ryan Malone's name was followed by Zach Parise's without mention of Mike Modano, it became clear the U.S. team in Vancouver will represent a changing of the guard and of strategy. Modano, Gomez, Guerin, Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk, mainstays of countless U.S. teams, were passed over in favor of youngsters with lesser credentials but more specialized assets such as faceoff dexterity, penalty killing and toughness.

The U.S. women's soccer team dominated the first round of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver, Canada, outscoring its three opponents 31-0 and rolling into the semifinals undefeated. But that won't mean anything if the U.S. does not beat Costa Rica on Friday, since the winner advances not only to the tournament final Sunday, but to the London Games this summer as well. "We always throw those statistics out. We need to bring it," U.S. captain Christie Rampone said.

Team USA is down to its final 12 players for the World Championships, for better or worse. Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo asked to leave the team Tuesday, according to a Team USA news release, though earlier Rondo said he was on the "bubble" to make the squad. That left Lakers forward Lamar Odom, Clippers guard Eric Gordon and 10 other players on their own for the tournament that starts Saturday in Turkey. Team USA wasn't exactly a world-beater in two exhibitions last weekend, struggling most of three quarters before beating Lithuania, 77-61, and then barely fending off Spain, 86-85, which played without Pau Gasol.

The panel of general managers who built the U.S. Olympic team knew what they didn't have at their disposal. They didn't have a game-breaker like Canada's Sidney Crosby or Russia's Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. They didn't even have at their disposal what's considered the best generation of American players, since Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, Doug Weight and their contemporaries have aged or retired. But they made sure they had one asset in ample supply. "One thing we said about this team is that it would play hard," said Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi, who was an advisor to Team USA General Manager Brian Burke along with Nashville's David Poile, Pittsburgh's Ray Shero, Atlanta's Don Waddell and Philadelphia's Paul Holmgren.

Troy Glaus of UCLA and Matt LeCroy hit home runs and all nine starters reached base as Team USA routed Australia, 11-3, at Tampa, Fla., to extend its winning streak to 39 games. The United States opens a five-game series with Olympic champion Cuba tonight at Zebulon, N.C.

With 53 games behind him and the first Olympic faceoff only four weeks away, Team USA Coach Tim Taylor remains concerned about his hockey players' defensive shortcomings. "In selecting this team, we looked for speed, skill and hockey sense, and in doing that, we perhaps did not look at the defensive end of the game," he said. "We ended up with a team with a lot of players who are skilled and gifted offensively. In losing to San Jose (5-4 last Saturday) we took 38 shots and held them to 18.

Cal State Fullerton pitcher Kirk Saarloos said he has accepted an invitation to try out for collegiate Team USA. Saarloos, a junior, will leave today for training camp in Tucson, Ariz. Trials begin tonight. Saarloos will join Titan sophomore Mike Rouse, who was invited earlier. The 22-man roster will be selected from 35 players. The team, coached by USC's Mike Gillespie, will play about 30 exhibition games around the nation and finish the summer at a tournament in the Netherlands.

The Kings' Craig Conroy and Aaron Miller have secured spots on the United States' Olympic hockey team, a source familiar with the Team USA program said. Conroy, a 34-year-old center, was considered a longshot last summer, but his play this season has impressed Team USA officials. He has displayed considerable offense, with 11 goals and 29 points in 31 games, as well as being a strong defender and penalty killer. He played for Team USA in the 2004 World Cup.

Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said he is aware that Lakers Coach Mike Brown wants the NBA to review power forward Blake Griffin's two-handed shove of Lakers guard Darius Morris late in the first quarter of Saturday night's game. Del Negro said Griffin's act was not "malicious. " Morris was going up for a dunk during a dead ball after being fouled by point guard Chris Paul when Griffin extended both hands and pushed the Lakers rookie while he was in the air. Brown had to be restrained by Lakers assistant coaches from coming onto the court.

Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge made it very hard for Team USA officials. It was deemed too difficult to select only 18 finalists for the U.S. Olympic team, so 20 were unveiled Monday. Griffin and Aldridge jumped onto a short list of players trying to represent the U.S. in London this year. They had not been included in Team USA's plans until this month. The addition of Griffin symbolizes his growing acclaim as a player and personality for the Clippers. At age 22, he is the youngest finalist.

Blake Griffin has been mentioned as a candidate to be invited to try out for the U.S. basketball team that will play in the London Olympics this summer. The Clippers star said after practice Saturday that if he gets the call he gladly would participate in tryouts. Jerry Colangelo, director of USA Basketball, has been talking to several NBA players about playing in the Olympics. He has to announce the 18 candidates for the team by Jan. 18.

Whether it was mysterious misdirection or merely deft handling of the media, there was no doubt about meeting soccer coach Bora Milutinovic for the first time. The man was an original in every sense of the word. A couple of us soccer newbies had driven to Mission Viejo to what was then the training headquarters of the U.S. men's national team in 1994 to gather material for the upcoming World Cup. (So long ago that it was a soccer world not yet dominated by AEG and so long ago that Alexi Lalas was still playing and defending, not commentating and tweeting.)

All those empty seats at the Women's World Cup semifinals Wednesday stirred visions of Dodger Stadium. … The play of Abby Wambach and Team USA did not. … ESPN's Ian Darke , alluding to the last time the U.S. won this competition, said the Americans hope to "party like it's 1999," which surely brought a frown from goaltender Hope Solo . … "To be honest," she says, "we're tired of hearing about '99. It's time for a...

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have become friends since winning a gold medal together at the 2008 Olympics, two of the NBA's biggest stars on solid terms with each other. But their friendship took a detour during the Miami Heat's 96-80 drubbing of the Lakers on Saturday. It might be only a temporary flare-up, but Bryant and James engaged in trash-talking in the fourth quarter after Bryant was called for an offensive foul for charging into James Jones . It didn't last long, barely one trip down the court, but the fact the Lakers were trailing, 89-70, likely had something to do with it. "Just asked him what he got for Christmas," Bryant said after the game, without a trace of humor.

Mike Lambert's 12 kills and three blocks helped Team USA to a 15-8, 15-7, 15-6 victory over Bulgaria in Tucson in the final exhibition match before the Olympics. Team USA (18-5) won its third consecutive match for the first time since beating Greece in April. * The teams of Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes and Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh easily advanced in the Miller Lite/AVP Championships of New England at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, in the final tournament before their participation in the Games.

The United States advanced out of pool play and will face the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals of the inaugural World University Baseball Championships today at Messina, Italy. Team USA won three of its four games to tie Italy at the top of Pool A. The Americans defeated Italy, Korea and Canada and lost to China. Cuba won all four of its games in Pool B. In other quarterfinal games, Cuba will face China, Japan plays Korea and Chinese Taipei meets Italy.

Through much of this fall, as she has been all over the place playing for two soccer teams, Alex Morgan often wished she could be in two places at once. The irony is Morgan is spending Thanksgiving week in the one place she would have preferred not to be. Chicago. That's where the U.S. women's soccer team found itself because of a stunning loss to Mexico last month that kept it from the final of the regional qualifying tournament for the 2011 World Cup in Germany. The regional finalists were guaranteed World Cup spots.

Team USA got a fairly good player to commit to the cause in 2012. Guy by the name of Kobe Bryant . The Lakers' shooting guard green-lighted another run at the Olympics, committing to it Tuesday on Mike Krzyzewski's Sirius XM radio show. Krzyzewski coaches Team USA and Duke. "You guys want me there, I am there and I'm ready to defend," Bryant said. "And then when you guys need me to put some points on the board I'll do that too. " Bryant was a key player on the gold-medal effort by Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, averaging 15 points a game.