The USA is ranked among the best in the basketball world. Sunday’s Olympic gold medal game against Serbia proved this right. This was made possible by Kevin Durant who is a well-known basketball player.  He managed to put the game away single-handedly and also scored 30 points.  USA team came close to losing the game but managed to win by 10 points or less in all their eight games. The USA basketball team was in competition with Australia, Serbia and Spain. The US had a very poor organization in terms of its defenders but Mike Krzyzewski who is their head coach managed to change this before the quarterfinals. Players like Andre Iguodala or Paul George are required to complement the guys who can score for the team.

Only teams that travelled through the U.S. on their way to Rio were able to play the game. This was after they fell victim to an exhibition schedule that was too easy. There is nothing that can be gathered from the U.S. team in the last 5 weeks even if they have so much talent. Teams that were not used to playing with one another have been playing their first elimination game less than a month after they began training. Two players from the U.S were back from the last Olympic team including four from the team that won the World Cup of Basketball in 2014. In 2014 Serbia’s team lost to the U.S. but the nine players returned to play in the Olympics this season.

The USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo has concerns about his team since they do not have enough time to prepare for the games. His major concern is that there are ten new players in the team but very inadequate time for them to prepare themselves. In this year’s Olympic there were two important basketball players; one was Durant and the other Carmelo Anthony who won three Olympic gold medals. The final games between Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker had their national team members in uniforms. There were 46 NBA players available in this year’s Olympics. This time round the US team which consisted of 12 members gave it their best and did not give up. They managed to go home with gold.

Anthony was satisfied that the US team won despite the difficulties the team members experienced in the game.  He finished by saying that he was confident enough that his team would win even though the journey was not as easy as he thought.

LeBron James is at the moment trying to chase the ghost of the greatest player in NBA history. He is however not talking about trying to match Michael Jordan’s accomplishments. According to Sports Illustrated interview with James, he had told young players in a camp in Los Angeles that he was focused in chasing Michael Jordan’s ghost. He made this statement shortly after he brought Cleveland their first title since 1964 after leading the Cavaliers to an NBA championship. The ghost that LeBron James is chasing is Jordan who led the Bulls in winning the six titles.

Jordan has been James’ idol since he was a kid and he has so much respect for him. James who is 31 years of age has been avoiding questions about his participation in Jordan’s influential company and he hopes to create an image using his very strong resume. In this statement that he made with SI’s Lee Jenkins he stated that he had a different career calling than Michael Jordan. He expressed disbelief in Michael Jordan’s abilities saying his performance was tremendous. James is only halfway in matching the number of titles that Jordan has won over the years. He however managed to beat Golden State in a 3-1 score and that was one moment that will always be remembered.

James agreed that that the match was the biggest he had played. He did not participate in the fourth U.S. Olympic basketball team during the summer since he spent his off-season at home carrying out various business activities back in L.A. “Let it go, play hard, be focused, follow my lead, and I’ll make sure you get home for a Game 6.” This is a text that James sent his teammates after they lost to the Warriors in Game 4. He is determined to bring a championship to his home state according to what he stated in the SI piece.

Kevin Durant is one of the best forward players this summer. The Los Angeles Lakers will be trying as much as possible to convince him to join their league during the tour. After Kobe Bryant retirement, Lakers are trying as much as possible to look for someone to take part of the forward position Kobe left. Even though their anticipation and regard to Durant, chances are very minimal that he will accept their offer. During the last seasons agents have been offering free tours to players in different teams. But according to Royce Young of ESPN it is likely Durant won’t comply. To him it looks like recruitment but he said that he isn’t that kind of a person.

Though it is certain that he won’t attend the tour, Matt Moore of CBS Sports put down assumptions how Durant’s agency operation will happen. He said because Kevin Durant hold a number of meetings in Los Angeles, he spends his summer and his home is situated in the same location hell try to make a lot of decisions. This would not be the case if he has already decided to go back to OCK. This will be so whether it’ll be based on a five or two year deal. This basically would make him not harbor such offers.

Over the seasons Lakers wait too long for players to make decisions about their recruitment. This isn’t so with Durant, though he may not make his decision as they expect, he’ll make it pretty fast. If maybe he refuses it’ll be fair because other players won’t wait too long or make commitments with other agencies because there won’t wait for long. If he rejects the recruitment, that won’t be a problem to the Lakers because they have enough salary to pay other players. This will be profitable because they won’t sacrifice a salary slot. The Lakers are planning to make it big this summer; this will be possible if only they convince the best player they’ll get to come to Los Angeles.

The long- awaited sports data and technology partnership between International Basketball Federation ( FIBA) and the Genius Sports Group has been extended for another two years as stated by FIBA. The extension period of the partnership will serve to allow Genius Sports to gain more additional elite rights to issue FIBA live data to gambling operators, and also in opening its information system to more than 2000 FIBA certified games. FIBA governance announced the renewal of the partnership in Lausanne Switzerland. It also named Genius Sports the Official FIBA Data and Statistics League and Federation Partner.

With the extension of the partnership the national basketball federations and leagues will continue to have an advantage. The FIBA LiveStats tool and related services will bring significant value in sport growth and fan supervision.  The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) and Argentina’s Association of Basketball Clubs is being aided by the Genius Sports in the monetization of their LiveStats data through the implementation of various data rights contracts. The FIBA Secretary General and International Olympics Committee (IOC) Member Patrick Baumann announced that they were happy to be in association with the newly- named Genius Sports.

He also added that he was also glad to be in collaboration with them in regards to their statistical and competition management tools for various federations and leagues worldwide. In addition to all that he said that the agreement was a sign that Genius Sports was committed to provide the FIBA family with the best technology solutions available in the market. The Genius Sports Chief Commercial, Nick Maywald also pointed out that the FIBA and IBF were totally committed to the growth of basketball all over the globe. He also said that they were looking forward to have more partnerships with other federal and leagues all over the world. This will make basketball one of the most popular sports in the community, Nick Maywald added.

The men’s basketball team captain was expelled from Ivy League School after the University conducted a sexual misconduct allegation.

A source close to the accused, Jack Montague revealed that that the captain had a consensual sexual relationship with a fellow student in 2014. One year later, Montague was summoned to appear before the University of Yale’s committee regarding the sexual misconduct, leading to his expulsion months later.

However, the university has not confirmed these details due to confidentiality. On the other hand, Montague has not played for the basketball for over five decades.

A university statement said that any Information regarding withdrawal of a student from the university is maintained as part of the student’s confidential record and that the university does not have distinctions in treating any confidential matter different even if you are withdrawn from the school. Bottom line is all students’ educational matters, be it disciplinary matters or educational performance, are considered private between Yale and the student. As such, the university will not disclose any information concerning the student to the public.

Jim Montague, the father of Montague said that his son has been expelled from Yale University and have received strict orders from their lawyer not to comment on the matter. However, he cannot wait to share the other side of the story.

The allegations against Jack Montague   generated a recent protest at the university, calling for greater awareness and actions on matters concerning sexual assault.

A childhood friend of Montague, Blake Thomson told the media that Montague’s goal at the moment is to clear his name.

The attorney representing the Montague family was not available to comment in response to the inquiry from the CNN.   On the other hand, the Yale and New Haven police departments have said there are no complaints regarding the matter.