OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 6:41 p.m. ET July 12, 2009

Mike DeCourcy

The pictures beamed from the other side of the world arrived in the middle of the night and were condensed to a small segment of a 17-inch computer screen.

For that, FIBA charged $8, but it was worth much more to see the 12 members of the United States junior national team pass along the trophy — from hand to hand as they stood atop the medal stand — that they'd earned for winning the U-19 World Championships.

As puny as the images were, they told their story in striking detail. The U.S. players all left New Zealand as big winners. They join the likes of Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade as active American gold medalists in a major, FIBA-sanctioned tournament. That's a smaller club than it used to be.

Some members of the U.S. contingent, however, flew home with extra cause to celebrate.

Tyshawn Taylor, guard, Kansas
The leading scorer in the 88-80 title game victory over Greece early Sunday, Taylor was the one U.S. player with the attacking ability to take advantage of an officiating crew that called fouls on nearly every successful penetration of the lane.

Taylor wound up leading the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game. This was striking, because the nature of the Americans' attack meant they rarely ran plays for him. This is a lot like the situation he will face as he returns to KU, which will get shots for Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins and probably Xavier Henry before turning to Taylor.

Taylor also led the team in assists, though he did not regularly play point guard. He showed how brilliantly he can perform, how big a difference he can make, even when he is not his team's featured player. This is extremely promising for a Kansas team that will be favored to win the 2010 NCAA championship.

"I think some people thought we were going to come out here and be selfish because we're from the USA and we play for different colleges," Taylor said. "I think we shared the ball well for a team that had only been together for three weeks."

Gordon Hayward, forward, Butler
How good was Hayward in this championship? Though he didn't score in the final, he still was named to the all-tournament team.

Hayward ranked among the team's best in nearly every major statistical category. He rescued the team in a tight semifinal against Croatia with a 3-pointer, a baseline drive and dunk and clutch foul shooting.

He does not play for a BCS basketball power, but he plays for a power, and one of the reasons Butler earned that status is its ability to continue finding and developing players such as Hayward.

Seth Curry, shooting guard, Duke
This will be his last serious competition for more than a year, so it didn't hurt to enter his hiatus with a triumph.

Curry wasn't uniformly excellent. He was huge in the quarterfinal victory over Canada, breaking open the game with his 3-point shooting, and he averaged 9.0 points and 39.6 percent long-distance shooting.

But in the last two games, he showed he still has a bit to learn about shot selection. It's not his fault. As a freshman at Liberty, his job was to shoot everything he could. He'll become more discerning during his year in residence at Duke.

Arnett Moultrie, center, UTEP
As a freshman at UTEP, Moultrie averaged 8.8 points and 8.2 rebounds without really making a name for himself. Well, make sure to spell that name correctly now.

If he's ever going to be a big scorer, that's a ways off. He doesn't have a face-up game or a go-to move inside. But he is an excellent athlete and willing competitor. When the more skilled Howard Thompkins of Georgia was limited in the gold medal game because of fouls, Moultrie gave the U.S. an essential inside presence.

Jamie Dixon, head coach, Pitt
His heart was broken in March by a coast-to-coast Scottie Reynolds drive that allowed Villanova to walk over Dixon's Panthers and into the Final Four.

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But Dixon was smiling at the end of this one. Unlike the Olympics, they give the head coach a gold medal, and he certainly earned it (with considerable help from assistants Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois and Matt Painter of Purdue).

With no international experience and late notification he'd be needed, Dixon took a near-starless team to New Zealand. The biggest name player probably was Curry, who would have been an obscure, low-major scoring demon without his impressive family tree.

"This team was unique as far as U.S. teams. I think it was better suited for international," Dixon said. "We may not have had as many name guys as other teams, but I really thought it was suited, and I think we selected guys that were suited to the international game and the FIBA rules.

"We really shot the ball well, we were skilled, we were a good free throw shooting team and I think that was something that was beneficial to us."

In fact, it was golden. You could see that from 8,000 miles away.

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