The United States' gold medal parade started early, with the national baseball team and World Championship for Young Men qualifying basketball team each winning their tournaments over the weekend.
USA basketball won the FIBA Americas World Championship For Young Men qualifying tournament in Halifax, Canada. USA baseball won the FISU World University Baseball Championship in Tainan, Taiwan.
Arizona junior forward Hassan Adams and sophomore point guard Mustafa Shakur were on the 20-and-under American men's team (5-0 in the tourney). Adams tallied 12 points, had three rebounds and two steals in the 97-86 win over the Puerto Ricans and UA freshman Jesus Verdejo.
"I heard (Adams) played really well," said UA assistant coach Josh Pastner. "International competition is good for he and Mustafa, Jesus played in it as well as Ivan in the European Championships. It gets you good experience because you are playing against the best players at your age group around the world; it gives you more confidence."
In addition to his 12 points, Verdejo had one rebound and one assist in 34 minutes for Puerto Rico (3-2). Puerto Rico outscored the U.S. 26-17 in the second quarter to trail by only four at the half of the gold-medal game.
Verdejo will enter a year older than average freshman, after playing for PR last year.
"With Jesus, it is like we are getting a junior college kid, he is older, he went to prep school, he has played in a lot of international competitions, so he'll be ready when he gets here," Pastner said.
In four starts, Adams averaged 24.8 minutes, .474 from the field, 10.8 points and scored in double figures in three games. Shakur averaged 9.3 minutes and three points in backing up Wake Forest's Chris Paul
"Hassan did a nice job, he really did," Pastner said.
In the other games of the tournament, the USA beat Venezuela 20-0 (the forfeit margin); Brazil, 87-64; Puerto Rico, 92-79 and Canada, 86-63.
The U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Argentina advance to the world championship tournament in Argentina next summer.
Last year, the Junior World Championship Team and Shakur finished fifth despite having a 7-1 record.
In the European Championship for 20 -and-under men, Arizona sophomore forward/center Ivan Radenovic averaged 10 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game for fifth-place Serbia and Montenegro.
On the diamond, the USA national team won the FISU World University Baseball Championships, going 8-0 in the tournament after going 10-7 before it. USA baseball came back to beat Japan 4-2 in the title game.
While he cooled down after a torrid start, Arizona junior outfielder Trevor Crowe knocked home the game-winning run with a double in a 4-3 win over Korea and had a double and triple in a 10-0 win over Mexico.
Crowe ended up batting .295, had a .321 on-base percentage, was second on the team in doubles, had a .923 fielding percentage and tied for a team-high five stolen bases in 24 games.
In the first game, the USA avenged a series tie at home to Chinese Taipei, winning 2-1, then beat Canada 15-1 in seven innings off of the mercy rule, edged Korea 4-3, beat Mexico 10-0, the Czech Republic 7-0 and Japan 5-3 in pool play.
In the semifinals, the USA took out Taipei 5-2 before again besting the Japanese in the gold-medal game.