The basketball venue entered the quarterfinals, and it proved to be more interesting. The U.S. team beat Russia 85-70 and once again showed that I was so far off base of my original evaluation of this team that it makes me wonder if I understand anything about basketball.

I felt with the likes of three NBA first-team defensive stars -- Alonzo Mourning, NBA defender of the year; Gary Payton, a former defender of the year; and Kevin Garnett, All-NBA first-team defensive player -- plus Jason Kidd, one of the best defenders in the last few years in the NBA, that this team would create defensive intensity unlike anything that these international players had seen.

A referee holds Russia's Evgueni Pachoutine (10) after a scuffle broke out with the U.S. team at the end of the first half.(AP)

Unfortunately, my theory only works if basketball is an individual game; it obviously is not, it is a team sport. This team designed a press defense that was intended to create havoc all over the floor, provide turnovers that would lead to easy baskets and establish a tempo that the international teams would be unable to handle.

Well, as of the start of the second half against Russia, Rudy Tomjanovich abandoned the press, realizing it was totally ineffective as his players never were truly able to play it as a team. The Russians jumped off to a 14-4 lead, making it the sixth consecutive game that Team USA found itself behind in the first half. The Russians gained their advantage by constantly breaking out for uncontested layups on missed shots by the American team.

With the score at the end of the first half 46-41 in the Americans' favor, our team was involved in an ugly incident that could have been predicted, because our players are becoming edgy with their inability to blow away opponents. In this case it was Vince Carter -- obviously annoyed by the physical contact he received during a drive -- who tried to retaliate; fortunately, with some fine officials who held Evgueni Pachoutine, the Russians' outstanding point guard and leader, the incident never truly exploded.

However, the fans made it clear that with the exceptions of those wearing red, white and blue, this U.S. team will receive little or no support. Tomjanovich not only abandoned the press for the second half, but it looks as if he is going to eliminate the substitution pattern that he had, trying to create equal minutes for all players. As an example in this game, Garnett played 32 minutes and was outstanding with 16 points and 11 rebounds. His work inside, along with Alonzo Mourning's eight points, four rebounds and three blocks, created the stability that allowed the Americans to pull away with a 15-point victory.

Russia played with great confidence, a confidence we are seeing in the eyes and attitude of all the teams that remain ahead for the Americans. The Russians also showed their future in outstanding 6-10 forwards Andrei Kirilenko and Andre Fetissov. None other than the great Russian coach Alexander Gomelski forecast that Kirilenko, 19, will become the greatest Russian player of all time. Gomelski -- who coached what was then the Soviet Union to the 1988 gold medal -- did not bat an eyelash when he also stated that that gold medal team would beat this year's Americans edition as well.

In the other games in an exciting night of basketball, the U.S. team's next opponent, Lithuania, upset Yugoslavia 76-63. Sarunas Jasikevicius lead the way with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists in a great display of point guard leadership. You may recognize the name; he played at the University of Maryland, and despite that exposure, was never drafted by the NBA. You can also remember that in the last game Lithuania played against the U.S. team last week and lost by just 11 points, they were led by rising senior Darius Songaila from Wake Forrest. Lithuania is superbly coached and probably plays better as a team than anyone in the tournament.

In the other bracket, it will be France against Australia. France finally found a way to slow down Canada's Steve Nash. And after Australia's victory over Italy -- Andrew Gaze went 7-for-10, 4-for-5 in threes, and scored 27 points to lead the way -- it is not hard at all to forecast a gold medal game in both the women's and men's brackets to be the United States vs. Australia. If that's the case, we are destined to see one of the all-time great home-team crowds in basketball history.

More from Sydney:

I hope that all Americans are as annoyed as I am with the uniforms worn in track and field. What ever happened to the colors red, white and blue? The Nike swoosh is more recognizable than the initials USA, and I never knew our colors included Carolina Blue. If we are going to accept sponsorship dollars, let's demand that the uniforms are dominated by our nation's colors.

At these games in beautiful Sydney, no story is bigger than that of Marion Jones, an incredible athlete. The pressure of going for five golds and those outside pressures created by husband C.J. Hunter and the drug allegations make her accomplishments even more amazing. For all of us who say we put in long days, let me give you Marion Jones' day as she began the quest for the 200-meter gold and the long jump gold. Not telling what time she got up for breakfast, but at 9:45 a.m. she began her warmups for the first round of the 200-meters. By 11:09, she won the 200-meter first heat. At 11:25, she started her run cool down. At 1:30, she broke for lunch. At 5:30, she started the warmups for the second round. At 7 p.m., she won the second round. At 7:30, she began to warmup for the long jump. At 8:05, she began long jump qualifying. At 11:25, she began long jump warmdown, press conferences and a massage. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a full day's work.

Her reward in the Australian newspapers the next day was a picture of Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, who pulled ahead of Marion to win the second-round 200-meter heat. She was shown in the picture of the photo finish, and it took eight paragraphs in the accompanying story before they mentioned that Jones put on the brakes with 50 meters to go in a 200-meter race. Marion got her due by blasting the field in the 200-meter final to win her second gold in what sets up an incredible quest for five golds. She is not only some athlete, but must be an incredible human being to be handling the pressures on and off the track so well up to this point.