Having never been the sort to place more emphasis on the downside than potential reward, Mike Krzyzewski didn’t look around for a grassy-knoll conspiracy when he was selected for – and quickly accepted – the head coaching job of the United States’ 2008 Olympic men’s basketball team.

I did, though. Hey, somebody has to search through the shadows.

The coaches certainly won’t. They are born with visions of trophy cases dancing in their eyes. Left to their own devices, they would sign on to lead a team of miniature French poodles against the Boston Celtics.

That’s the problem with coaches, and particularly lifelong college coaches. They think anything is possible. Give them a pile of horse manure, and they’ll be fully convinced that there’s an award-winning pony at the bottom of the mess.

That’s why you see so many college coaches with tears dripping from their eyes each March during the NCAA Tournament. Broken dreams go hand-to-brow with broken hearts.

In that sense, Krzyzewski was not the logical choice to coach a team of hardened pros. He’ll get all of the blame if the USA team again fails to win the gold and very little of the credit if the team succeeds.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m fully convinced that the USA will prevail in China, and with relative ease. For the first time since it became evident that America couldn’t just show up and dominate each game by default, there has been an emphasis placed on assembling a team with the proper mentality and court skills to successfully compete under international rules.

But it still seems strange that Krzyzewski, a Duke fixture for almost three decades, was picked to coach this team. That’s hardly a knock on his qualifications, preparations and rsum. There’s not a more highly respected basketball coach in the world.

None of that, however, changes the fact that Krzyzewski has never been in a charge of a professional team during such a high-stakes competition. That alone puts an inordinate degree of the pressure to win on him.

To a degree, it’s a no-win situation. If the USA team wins it all, most of the credit will go to Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, LeBron James and the remainder of a team with too much raw talent to lose. But if the team comes up short, Krzyzewski will be blamed as the college coach who was incapable of communicating with the pro superstars.

The selection of Krzyzewski to lead this team was a tribute to him personally and to the collegiate division in general. No one has to be concerned that he will take either honor lightly. He’ll put as much effort into winning the gold as most of his team.

Olympic basketball was a lot more interesting in the days when the entire world understood that American college players were regularly beating professionals from other countries. But since 1992, the Olympic team has become the NBA’s domain. To put a college coach in charge of an NBA All-Star team is putting the pressure in the wrong place.