Dick Vitale pointed out all the greats in the audience, from Magic Johnson to Jerry West to Bob Knight to Bob Cousy. Adrian Dantley remembered all the folks who shaped his game, including Elgin Baylor, Chet Walker and Red Auerbach.

Dantley shook his head over what a long road it was for him to find a place in the Hall. Finally he's in, 17 years after finishing a 15-year career that included five trades. "The road to the Hall of Fame has not been easy or smooth," he said. "I had to remain focused through the digs and the trades by constantly proving that I belong in this game."

There are many others who know how Dantley feels, and the way things are shaping up for the Hall of Fame Class of 2009, they will likely continue to know how he feels at least until 2010. That's because next year's class already looks pretty well crammed, with three Hall of Fame shoo-ins: David Robinson, John Stockton and, of course, Michael Jordan.

So it probably will be another year of disappointment for those who rank at the top of basketball's close-but-no-cigar list. Which is too bad, because just as things were finally made right for Dantley this year, there are five guys that simply must be in the Hall of Fame after a long history of snubs.

1. Dennis Johnson. Enough already. It's time to get D.J. in. His numbers don't pop off the page (14.1 points, 5.0 assists), but he was, arguably, the best defensive guard in league history. He won three NBA championships and was the Finals MVP in 1979. He's a Hall of Famer.

2. Artis Gilmore. Hall hopes have probably passed for Gilmore, who is not eligible for induction this year because the committee simply stopped voting for him. Which makes perfect sense. Because, why should the Hall of Fame want someone who averaged 17.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and nearly two blocks in his NBA career? And who also averaged 22.3 points and 17.1 rebounds in five ABA seasons? Oh, and who shot 59.9 percent in his NBA career, best ever?

3. Chris Mullin. OK, Mullin hasn't been waiting that long. But he has been eligible twice and will be up for his third bid. In addition to being one of the great shooters of all time, with a 50.9 shooting percentage and a scoring average of 18.2 points per game, Mullin was a dominant collegian with three All-American selections to his credit.

4. Bernard King. He worked his way back from a substance abuse problem in the early 1980s, then survived a major knee reconstruction that cost him two years of his career in the late '80s. Through his off-court struggles, King could score like few others on the court. He averaged 22.5 points on 51.8 percent shooting in his abbreviated, 14-year-career.

5. Spencer Haywood. Like Gilmore, he has pretty much given up on Hall of Fame ambitions, but that doesn't change the fact that he belongs there. Not only did he average 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in his pro career, but he also was a trailblazer -- it was his legal case that forced pro basketball to open up to undergraduate college players.

Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.

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Jerry Colangelo, take a bow for yourself. Now that Team USA has the Olympic gold medal firmly in hand after a difficult, 118-107 win over Spain, we can now say for sure that you were right.

From the first day USA Basketball put itself in the hands of Colangelo -- eschewing the discombobulated committee method, often spoiled by NBA politics, by which Team USA used to be chosen -- he identified the No. 1 problem faced by American teams playing in international tournaments. It was a lack of cohesion, a lack of familiarity with each other on and off the court. That led to a disjointed style that made Team USA's overall approach resemble that of an NBA all-star team.

The offense had consisted of a series of alley-oop attempts and clanging outside shots. The defense had been all futile waving hands, no moving feet and no communication. No one could shoot. No one filled roles. Players disliked teammates who dominated the ball. They didn't much like coaches who were struggling to find consistent combinations of players and messing with players' minutes as a result.

LeBron James savors his first taste of gold.

If the problem of cohesion could be fixed, Colangelo said, the United States would be restored to the top of the international basketball heap. So Colangelo did what most assumed was impossible: He made playing for Team USA a privilege. He refused to beg for players. He invited players to try out for the team with no guarantee of making it, and said he'd only take guys willing to make a three-year commitment. He completely turned around the perception of Team USA.

Colangelo made playing for Team USA something cool.

"Some people say this is going to be an awesome responsibility to get people to commit," Colangelo said in a press conference just after being named director. "I understand all that, but that's part of the responsibility. To now have an opportunity to represent your country in a time and place where the reputation we enjoyed as the pinnacle of basketball has been more than challenged, but taken away, it's a great opportunity to take back something we've taken for granted."

And now, here they are, gold-medal winners in the 2008 Olympics.

Not just gold-medal winners. This team was vastly different than any team of Americans we had seen since the original Dream Team. This squad -- until the challenge from Spain -- won its first seven games by at least 20 points. This team was facing very difficult international competition -- probably the best field ever assembled at an Olympics -- yet it still plowed its way to gold.

More on Team USA

Recap: U.S. team tops Spain for gold

Deveney: Give Colangelo his due

Weiner: United States back on top

TSB: Same ol' Team USA

This might not be the best version of Team USA, but it certainly played better defense than any previous team. It was also the first Team USA to truly understand and utilize the differences in international rules. It was also ego-free. There were important contributions from just about every player. In the eight games, the United States had five different leading scorers.

The team's unselfish attitude translated off the court, as well. The players acted like Olympians, not all-stars. They went to other venues to watch their countrymen compete. They went sightseeing. They were thrilled at meeting Michael Phelps. They admitted to goose bumps. They interacted with fans, even though they were fairly mobbed wherever they went.

It may seem cynical to get excited over basketball players who simply act like normal human beings, but, then, that shows how much USA Basketball had deteriorated. It shows, too, just how much Colangelo has accomplished in his tenure. Not only did this team bring home gold, but it brought home dignity. Once again, the standards for USA Basketball have been set high. Where they should be.

Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.

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If you think it's impossible for Team USA to lose after barreling through its first seven games unbeaten with an average margin of victory of 30.3, just remember that we all felt pretty much the same way about the U.S. softball team's chances against Japan on Thursday. The Americans hadn't lost in eight years, had outscored opponents 57-2 in these Olympics and had pitcher Cat Osterman on the hill against Japan's Yukiko Ueno, who had thrown more than 300 pitches in a span of a day-and-a-half. Still, it was Japan 3, United States 1, and a silver medal for Team USA.

Upsets happen. It is not a likely outcome for Team USA against Spain, which already lost to the United States by 37 points in a pool-play laugher. The Americans should plow their way to gold, and probably will. Observers and fans can say that. Team USA can't—it needs to recognize that upsets happen.

As coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Spain, "They're the world champions. We got a great game against them in pool play, but pool play does not win you a gold medal. It just gets you into the medal round."

Here at the Olympic climax, the United States still has to trouble itself with the messy little details of winning the game. Spain's coaching staff watched the U.S.-Argentina semifinal from the stands Thursday, and no doubt came away encouraged by what they saw in the second quarter. That was when Argentina settled into a zone, and the United States settled for jumpers that weren't falling. If Spain has a chance to beat Team USA in the gold medal game, it will need an inspired performance from Pau Gasol, but it will also have to play a ridiculously packed zone and hope the Americans take the perimeter route again.

For Krzyzewski, though, there's more to it than that. Like most everything in Krzyzewski's world, playing against the zone on offense comes back to how you're playing defense. "I think our defense leads to good offense, not just in turnovers but in an attack mode," Krzyzewski said.

"I thought we didn't attack the zone [in the second quarter against Argentina], but weren't attacking defensively, either. You've seen us play here the whole time, the real heart of our team is playing defense. In the second half, we attacked the zone very well and whatever, but in that second quarter, it showed that when we let up or just don't play well defensively, it has an impact on the other end of the court."

Spanish point guard Jose Calderon probably won't play, and guard Juan Carlos Navarro is struggling with injury issues, too. That leaves the bulk of Spain's guard duties to 23-year-old Rudy Fernandez and 17-year-old Ricky Rubio. Fernandez has been outstanding in the tournament, averaging 11.9 points per game. Rubio, though exciting at times, has shown his youth, shooting just 27.6 percent from the field. Both players are turnover-prone, so the U.S. guards must hound them, and also must apply that hounding to how they attack Spain's zone.

Krzyzewski has Team USA in the gold medal game, and no doubt his biggest pregame goal is to get his players to erase from their memory banks the pool-play blowout of Spain. Now would be a very bad time for this team to try to cruise to a win the way it did in the second quarter against Argentina in the semifinals. Team USA is so close to regaining basketball superiority internationally and honor here at home, but a letup tonight—however unlikely it seems—would squander that opportunity.

Remember: softball.

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Let's take the optimist's view on this one. Because, of all the games Team USA has played in the Olympics, this semifinal win over Argentina on Friday—by a score of 101-81, its tightest margin of victory of this tournament—was the biggest head-scratcher.

It didn't start that way. To open the game, the United States was sharp. The Americans played crushing defense, allowing just 11 points in the first quarter, and opened a 21-point lead early in the second. But then weird things started happening. Argentina guard Manu Ginobili, the Olympics' leading scorer, went out with an ankle injury and after that, Team USA played like a team that had better things to do.

For the second quarter, the Americans fell into every bad habit for which USA Basketball has been criticized over the past six years. They tried to make circus passes, as if they were playing against the Washington Generals. They failed to work for good shots against the zone defense, choosing to jack up the 3-point shots that are so fickle when they come from the red, white and blue. They eased up on the defensive throttle, most likely because they didn't feel Argentina had a shot without Ginobili.

Argentina is too good a team for that kind of nonsense, and that 21-point lead was whittled to six. The Argentines got 13 combined first-half points from Paolo Quinteros and Juan Gutierrez, who had accounted for just 22 of the 505 points Argentina scored heading into the tournament. Rather than a blowout at halftime, Team USA led by just nine.

But, again, let's be optimistic. We know that Team USA did not play very well after the first quarter here in the semis. They didn't force turnovers the way they'd been accustomed to doing. They didn't shoot particularly well, making 47.1 percent of their shots from the field overall and just 32.3 percent from 3-point range. Carmelo Anthony was just 3-for-14 from the field, and Kobe Bryant was 5-for-14.

Still, we've reached the point in the tournament where how you win doesn't really matter. It's whether you win. We've seen every team in this tournament, and Team USA is clearly the best. No matter who was injured, no matter how ugly the performance, Team USA beat one of the world's best by 20 points. The Americans are going to the final, after playing for bronze in their last two major tournaments, and playing for fifth in the tournament before that. They're poised to face Spain, the team the United States drubbed by 37 points in pool play.

Team USA does not have to be perfect to beat Spain. The Americans don't have to win by 37 again. They just need to win—it can be ugly, if that's what they need to do—and the gold medal finally will return to the United States.

Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.

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How about a tip of the cap to Argentina?

Argentina, you'll remember, holds the distinction of being the first team to crack the dominance of USA Basketball's NBA-infused run and ending a 58-0 streak. The Argentines celebrated madly when they knocked off a very dysfunctional Team USA gathering with an 87-80 win in the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis. As it turned out, that wasn't such a big deal. The U.S. lost two more times in that tournament and three times in the '04 Olympics, forcing the reorganization of the entire program.

If you're proud of this version of Team USA, thank Argentina, because they started it. Chances are, when the two teams meet in the semifinals Friday morning, they're going to regret what they helped push the U.S. to do.

Argentina is still a fearsome team. What often happens in international basketball is that a country will get a good batch of players who are about the same age, and those guys will win medals, pushing that country's hoops fortunes ever higher. But, when the group starts aging, there's not necessarily another great group behind them. That's where Argentina is. They've already lost Walter Hermann, Pepe Sanchez and Ruben Wolkowyski. They're down to, essentially, six players.

But those players are still pretty darned good. Pablo Prigioni has been a very efficient point guard. Manu Ginobili has been the leading scorer in the Olympics (20.3 ppg). Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Fabricio Oberto make up a smart, tough, talented front line. Carlos Delfino is a good defender and can be a hard-to-handle scorer when he's locked in.

And they know this is the team's last shot at Olympic glory. Ginobili is 31 and Oberto is 33. If they have one last strong showing in them, if ever there was a time to muster up everything they've got for the sake of their illustrious international hoops careers, this is it.

Having said that, let's be honest here: Argentina is facing a very large steamroller. The six-man lineup is good and can keep things close in the early going, but like every team before them, they just don't have the depth to maintain an extended fight against the Americans, who go 10 deep. Team USA will apply pressure from the beginning and will not let up.

Prigioni has been unflappable at point guard, and his 6.75 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the tournament. Ginboli is, of course, a good ball handler who will not fear Team USA's guards. But they'll face wave after wave of defense, picking them up full-court. They'll face Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant, they'll face Chris Paul and Deron Williams, they'll face different combinations of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and, possibly, Chris Bosh and Tayshaun Prince. The U.S. has an enormous array of defensive options it can throw at Argentina's ballhandlers, as Spain can attest. It's only a matter of time before they crack, start turning the ball over and give up game-sealing fast-break points.

There are other problems for Argentina. The U.S. has been suffocating foes with perimeter defense, allowing just 28.6 percent shooting on 3-pointers, a staple of the team's offense. Meanwhile, the Americans have been making their 3-pointers -- 37.2 percent is not great overall, but considering the way past Team USAs have shot the 3-ball, it's outstanding. And Argentina could not have been happy watching Kobe Bryant have a 25-point breakout game in the quarterfinal win over Australia.

Looking at what Argentina is up against, this should be a rout. But Argentina is a talented and proud team that knows this is its Olympic swan song. They'll go down fighting. That makes the team more dangerous than its personnel suggests.

Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.

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