Aug. 2, 2004

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Halifax, Nova Scotia - The gold medal was the first goal.

The NCAA title is next.

Justin Gray and Chris Paul aren't exactly lowering their sights for 2004-05.

The Wake Forest backcourt might be the best pair of running mates in this election season.

They don't just politic. They produce.

And if this keeps up, Wake Forest, ESPN.com's selection as the No. 1 team in the Summer Sizzling top 50, should be one of the most-feared teams in the upcoming college basketball season.

Gray scored 13 points and Paul added eight assists and eight points to help lead the U.S. to a 97-86 gold medal win over Puerto Rico on Sunday night in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Tournament of the Americas.

Puerto Rico wasn't a pushover. Puerto Rico outscored the U.S. 26-17 in the second quarter to trail by four at the half.

The Puerto Ricans were led by Washington Wizards draft pick Peter Ramos' 34 points, Northeastern point guard Jose Barea's 27 points and Arizona-bound Jesus Verdejo's 12.

The U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Argentina advance to the global tournament in Argentina next summer.

The U.S. earned a forfeit over Venezuela (failed to show for the game in time) and beat Brazil and Puerto Rico in the preliminary round before taking out host Canada in the semifinals Saturday.

"This is the biggest thing I've won in my life," said Gray, a rising junior at Wake Forest, by telephone from Halifax after receiving his gold medal. "This is like the national championship for me. After we won, I told everyone, 'I'll see you all next at the Final Four.'"

North Carolina's Sean May scored a team-high 18 points and eight boards; Charlotte's Curtis Withers added 17 points; and Arizona's Hassan Adams chipped in with 12.

But make no mistake, the Demon Deacon guards were the leaders of this team throughout the tournament.

Gray averaged 14.3 points in 28 minutes a game (he played 34 Sunday). Paul's numbers were simply sick: 7.8 assists (31 total in the tournament), 2.25 turnovers (nine), 1.8 steals (seven) and 10.5 points in 33 minutes a game (he played 38 out of 40 Sunday).

"If I have to face them next year in St. Louis [site of the Final Four], then that would be a lot of fun, but I wouldn't want to do it," said U.S. coach Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma. "I'm not sure there is a better point guard and shooting guard tandem in the country. It's hard to single out two guys, but they played a lot of minutes together the last 19 days."

The amazing thing about Gray is that he was hardly a consensus to make the team going into the trials when 22 players assembled at the New Jersey Nets' practice facility July 16.

Sampson was blunt with Gray. He told him that he was on the bubble to make the team. The squad needed shooters and had players such as Indiana's Bracey Wright ahead of him. Michigan State's Shannon Brown seemed even more of a lock than Gray before he eventually was cut.

Yet, by the end of the nearly three weeks together, Gray was just as valuable as Paul.

Gray was 7-of-15 on 3s in the two medal-round games over the weekend.

Gray's production shouldn't be a shock. He was first-team all-ACC. He was named one of the five best players in the top league in the country after averaging a third-best 17.2 points a game in the league. Paul, who was on the all-freshman team and the all-defensive team, was a third-team all-ACC member, even though he is easily the more recognizable face of Wake Forest.

"People in our league recognize how important he is to our team," said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser on Sunday night after hearing the U.S. had won the gold. "This is not a shock that he played this well. Justin never lacked for confidence, but Chris has had the lion's share of notoriety since the season ended."

Gray said that his confidence did receive a boost in this tournament because he was playing against global competition. And it didn't hurt that he wasn't handed a spot on this team. He earned one.

"I'm feeling pretty confident right now," said Gray, who will join Paul on a flight Monday to Santa Barbara, Calif., for Michael Jordan's basketball camp to work out with some of the top college players in the country the next 10 days.

"This reiterated that Chris is the best point guard in the country and in the world," Gray said. "He was taking over games."

Sampson said the Wake guards would be tougher on the road because of this experience. The U.S. was the decided road team in a semifinal game Saturday against Canada. Yet, Gray scored 18 points and Paul led the team with 19 points, eight assists and two steals. The two were a combined 9-of-15 on 3s.

Prosser said his only regret was that forward Eric Williams wasn't on the team, too. He likely would have made the squad, but he came down with an extreme case of dehydration during the trials and was hospitalized briefly. He has since recovered, and Prosser said Williams is in Las Vegas this week at Tim Grgurich's camp.

Still, Prosser knows the gold medal will be a springboard for Paul and Gray when they join the rest of their teammates (everyone returns from the Sweet 16 Demon Deacons) in the fall.

Prosser was thrilled Gray and Paul experienced the grueling three weeks under the tutelage of Sampson. Defensive-minded Sampson drilled the Wake guards into the appreciation of defense. Prosser said Wake stresses on-the-ball defense, but clearly it took an experience with another coaching staff for Paul and Gray to really understand how important defense is to winning a championship.

"We're going to pick up full court now," Paul said. "We learned how to play in different situations and environments that will only help us in our race to win the NCAA title."

Sampson should be proud of his efforts, along with assistants Tom Crean of Marquette and Dan Monson of Minnesota.

The U.S. hadn't won a gold medal in men's basketball since a Jim Boeheim-coached team won the gold in Japan in 2001. NBA and college players in USA Basketball competition the previous two summers failed to win gold and actually didn't medal at the Pan Am Games (fourth in the Dominican Republic) and World Championships (sixth in Indianapolis) in 2003 and '02, respectively.

"We set the tone from the first day that we weren't going to send the best players but take the best team," Sampson said.

Sampson said he used inspirational words from Detroit Pistons and current U.S. Olympic coach Larry Brown. He told his team that winning the right way was the most important way in this tournament. Stressing defense worked for the Pistons and ultimately would win out for the U.S. in this event.

Sampson even had daily talks with Brown and Olympic assistant Gregg Popovich of the Spurs.

"In the past, the U.S. hasn't always sent the best teams," Sampson said. "We had to change that. Every kid here added something that will help them in their development."

Sampson cited May, who he said will have a "monster year at North Carolina," after playing with so much confidence. His attitude paid off, too: May averaged a team-high 16 points a game.

The coach said Wright -- who struggled to make 3s, going 1-for-12 in four games -- learned how to be a sound defender.

"We told him not to let his jump shot define him, and he didn't," Sampson said.

He said Withers was a "man," who wouldn't be in the top seven or eight talent-wise on the team yet was one of the most important players (averaging nine points a game). Adams was a constant presence around the basket.

Connecticut's Charlie Villanueva and Louisville-bound forward David Padgett had tremendous attitudes off the bench and contributed with a key block or board.

Texas' P.J. Tucker was a solid garbage man inside, scoring seven points and grabbing seven boards in 12 minutes Sunday.

Gonzaga's Adam Morrison started off the tournament hot, scoring 23 points in the first two games but then scored only two in the third and hurt his knee (not seriously) and couldn't play in the final.

Even Mustafa Shakur, Arizona's stellar point guard, apparently had a great attitude about being Paul's backup.

"But I learned early that he was our best on-the-ball defender," Sampson said. "He's going to be a very good NBA player."

Sampson said he's close to this team, closer than he ever could have imagined.

"It may sound corny, but winning this gold medal will link all of these kids and this staff together for the rest of their lives," Sampson said.

"I learned a lot from our court coaches Bennie Seltzer [Oklahoma], Jerry Wainwright [Richmond] and Tom Herrion [College of Charleston] to Tom Crean, the most organized human being I've seen, to Dan Monson, who was bright and cerebral," Sampson said.

"This was a 19-day coaching school, watching Argentina run the flex, and see how Puerto Rico isolates its post guys in a motion offense. The culmination of it all was the gold medal and listening to our country's national anthem while standing on the podium. It was all very fulfilling."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com