User:Mikeefarrar/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
United States men's national basketball team

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because I am very big sports fan. As a student athlete sports are a very important part of my life. I chose this particular article because I love the Olympics and Team USA for basketball has to be one of my most favorite things to watch come summer. olympic time. My impression was that it should provide facts about the current and past teams. Also I would expect the page to provide information about FIBA basketball and the qualifying portion of the organization. In my knowledge of sports pages on Wikipedia I expect a lot of information that die hard sports fans will love and basic information if an average person wants information about the USA Mens Basketball Team.

Evaluate the article
I think this article is very detailed and has a great amount of information. The article has a great lead section. It allows the reader to clearly identify what the team is like and what type of respect this organization has. The article provides many basic facts that a common Olympic fan will wonder throughout the games, such as how many gold medals they have, or even the basic facts about their past and current players. The first couple lead paragraphs provide a quick summary of the past seasons and other small information. I think that is an adequate description or lead to tell the reader what to expect in the article. I think this article could be more specific about what the lineup of topics will be. I think it is a very solid lead introduction, it provides many facts and it provides a good idea of what the article will be like.

The content of this article is where I think the article really succeeds. The contents provide a historical timeline of each summer olympic games. The history covers every single era of the team. The writers also provide a lot of the names with links that take you to that specific person's wikipedia page for more information about that one person. The content starts from 1936 and is updated until the most recent summer games. Because the USA men's team plays in more than just the Olympic Games, like qualifying rounds and tournaments, this article also provides paragraphs about every competition other than the summer games. It covers tournaments such as the FIBA cup, Pan American games, and every other competition the organization has been apart of. It is also very nice that it provides every year since 1936. It reveals detailed descriptions of the games and the outcomes of the tournaments. The team content also includes the most recent roster and every single roster of any competition the team has played in. The article provides unique stats like which players and coaches have the most medals and victories. The article covers controversial topics like before the year 92, when professional athletes from the US weren't allowed to play for their country while every other country was allowed. The writers briefly discuss racial topics like when basketball was primarily a white person sport only. They discuss when black players were finally able to play and the tremendous success they had. My only knock on the content part is I wish the article provided more information of the struggle to allow black players on the team. I think that was a very big topic back then and I think the article should definitely have more information about those inspiring times when the game was being created more equally to all races.

I think the article is very neutral. I don't think it is an article that would create a lot of controversy because it is pretty factual based. Also it is hard for writers/editors to complain when this organization has done so well. I don't recognize a lot of personal viewpoints, nor do I see personal opinions from the people that have done a great job on this article. Like I said earlier my only part I dislike is the lack of coverage of black athletes being allowed to play and the struggles they had to overcome to be able to be included. Maybe no one has thought about this idea or maybe it hasn't been kept on the page. However, I think it is a very beneficial topic to include especially because of lack of recognition involving race. I think an important part that could've been included was in 2016 the team consisted of an all minority roster. I think it could be a great addition to a solid article.

The sources are very reliable. Since it is sports, it is pretty hard to mess up on scores, or to lie about who won what game. Every sporting event at that level is backed by a professional sports page that does all of the stats and scoring. This article has sources from the Team USA page, which I think is great for scores and rosters. The article uses FIBA and the Olympic pages which is the official scorer and statistician for those tournaments. The writers also use other wikipedia pages from the other countries, also other countries team pages as well. There is over 70 sources/links and around the twenty that I tried they all work. I would say the article provides a great amount of detail about the sources and they seem very reliable.

I would say this article is very well written. I think this is a work of art in the sports world. You can tell this page has been edited and perfected by the people that love this organization. I don't see any minor or major flaws when it comes to grammar or spelling errors. I think the breakdown of this article is great, I wouldn't know what to do to make it better. After my experience of reading sports pages on wikipedia, I haven't seen one sports page really stand out from another. I think the layout that is used amongst most of the pages is a very good layout.

The images and media about this article provide useful background evidence. Little details like the official logo of the organization, also the medal colors next to each year/season. There is mini jersey replicas on the article that give the reader an idea of what the team dresses like. Each era that the page is broken up into provides photos of that era, whether its the 50's, 80's, or present day. Usually it includes pictures of the more known players so even a non sports fan could probably recognize some of the athletes.

The talk page didn't seem very talkative. Everyone mostly agreed on the changes. There wasn't a lot of conflict or debate on these pages. I also noticed because the Olympics only happen every 4 years this isn't a page that is being edited constantly. It is updated when the team plays but the edits aren't needed compared to other articles. These discussions are definitely more relaxed than the others that I have read.

The status of this article really impressed me. I think it is very up to date and very professional. Not to mention, as a sports fan it is very accurate and credible. I would feel very comfortable using this page for any research I needed to find out. However, like I stated earlier I wish I could see more about the minority struggles and the inclusion of them into the organization, whether that's players, coaches, trainers, or even referees. I think the article could also include more general pictures. Such as, gold medal pictures, official team pictures, or even memorable photos. Overall I would say this article is very complete, I like the basic evidence that is provided but also the more in depth coverage. I think this is one of the more developed sports page that I have read. I think a lot of work and dedication has gone into it, and that is why it is as successful as the organization itself.