The US basketball team will play on Tuesday, July 31 against Tunisia in a game that is considered purely procedural. The NBA starts showed their authority and superiority against France (98-71) and now they will play against weak Tunisia that lost in the first game against Nigeria (60-56).

US is the favorite to win the gold and in this game they can ratify the image showed in the first Olympic games. Today’s game will be a good opportunity to correct some of the mistakes made against France, such as the series of triples that were missed at the beginning of the game (first six were failed). LeBron James was one the players that showed his nonconformist face and showed his wanting to improve: “It wasn’t perfect. We’ve still got room for improvement. We had too many turnovers, too many fouls and we had a couple of defensive rebounds we could have come up with.”

This game will also bring the opportunity to adapt to the meticulous referees. US players complained about how the ref whistled during the meeting with France. “There were calls being called that didn’t seem right,” said the NBA star Carmelo Anthony.

On the other side of the field will be Tunisia, which will aim to lose the less amount of points. They might make the surprise of the Olympics, but it will be tight, especially taking into account that from the 12 teams in the Olympic basketball tournament, they are the only country that that does not have at least one current NBA player.

Although winning it is important, the US also has the obligation to play like any team could ever do. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that playing well creates good habits: “It’s about our performance,” he said. “We should beat Tunisia, but we want to play well against Tunisia. When you play games in your pool and you’re a significant favorite, you don’t want to just win, you want to maintain and build good habits. We don’t want to overlook anybody because then we overlook ourselves. And in short period of time you can fall into a bad habit that will have its impact on a game where you’re not a significant favorite.”

The US and Tunisia have only played each other once in their histories. It was in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey and the US won by a clear 92-57.

Kobe Bryant said that this US team could beat the Dream Team from 1992. Today’s game could be a great chance to play like angels and show that this team has nothing to envy from the team from ’92.

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The jam-packed Madison Square Garden crowd erupted as the two winningest coaches in NBA history met up center-court to celebrate. Coach Mike Kryzyzewski had just passed his long-time mentor, former coach and good friend, Bob Knight, in the record book as the coach with the most wins in NCAA history.

Carlos Boozer, Grant Hill and with several former Duke Blue Devil basketball stars came out to watch Coach K grab win number 903, and enshrining himself as the greatest coach to ever step foot on a college basketball court. But Tuesday night’s win wasn’t a joyride.

The Michigan State Spartans gave Duke a run for their money, rallying back from double-digit deficits several times. Cutting the lead down to single digits, Sparty kept Duke on their toes to the very end. But the high-powered Blue Devil offense overpowered Michigan State, as G Andre Dawkins put up 26 points, five rebounds and two steals, leading the his team to a 74-69 victory.

Duke G Seth Curry, brother of sharpshooting NBA PG Stephen Curry, had a great game, as well,  dropping 20 points (10-12 FT, 2-4 3PT), five steals, five rebounds and three assists. For Michigan State, G Keith Appling gave his all to keep Sparty in the game. Scoring State’s final four buckets, Appling cut the lead down to five points, but couldn’t do it all on his own.

Finishing with 22 points, Appling was extremely efficient at 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-3 from downtown. With win number 903, Coach K is on pace to crack 1000 wins within the next few years. An astonishing accomplishment, one can only speculate as to how many wins he’ll retire with.

Boston Celtics’ Head Coach, Doc Rivers, came out to watch his son, Austin Rivers, play, but he struggled from the field. Rivers shot 1-of-7, scoring five points and dishing out three assists. As sweet at win 903 was, Coach K must prepare to take on Jared Sullinger and the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes on November 29 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. And that game will be much more of a challenge than Michigan State.

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