2010 FIBA World Championship

[TFoA]

The FIBA World Championships in Turkey are underway. The US has sent what I'd consider a B+ team this year (NONE of the players that won gold at Bejing are here), so yeah, don't expect the US to just walk over everybody in this tournament. That being said, the NBA has helped basketball evolve into such a global game that the US aren't the only ones with players of NBA caliber choosing to sit it out. Defending World Champs Spain sent a somewhat weakened team as well, but they're still pretty strong (they have Ricky Rubio, who gave the US fits in their friendly match from Sunday). Same could be said for #1 ranked Argentina. Perennial threat Greece & Serbia may have weakened squads for a little bit due to a fight that ended with the OKC Thunder's Nenad Kristic throwing a steel chair & busting someone wide open. Seriously.

Anywho, here are the groups. 24 teams in 4 groups:

GROUP A: Argentina, Serbia, Australia, Germany, Angola, Jordan

GROUP B: USA, Slovenia, Croatia, Brazil, Iran, Tunisia

GROUP C: Greece, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Russia, China, Cote d'Ivoire

GROUP D: Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania, New Zealand, Lebanon

Each team plays each other once in the group stage. The top 4 teams advance to the Knockout Round of 16.

You can catch a majority of the games on ESPN3, and I think they may actually show a couple of US games on the actual TV ESPN. Either way, if you can, find a chance to watch it. It's some good quality basketball

[HedleyLamarr]

How in the hell is Argentina ranked #1?

I'm not up to speed on international basketball, but seeing as how the US won the gold two years ago...and arguably has most of the world's best basketball talent...how could the US not be ranked #1?

[MDC]

Because it is 'cool' to not play in the Wolrd Championship, so there is no Lebron, Kobe, or Wade. However, i still think they will win. Id say second-tier American talent is better than the first tier Argentinian talent

[TFoA]

How in the hell is Argentina ranked #1?

I'm not up to speed on international basketball, but seeing as how the US won the gold two years ago...and arguably has most of the world's best basketball talent...how could the US not be ranked #1?

It's over an 8 year period of two Olympic cycles, plus they take into account other competitions like the U21 & U19 events, and the continental tournaments like FIBA Americas. Argentina has actually been slightly better in other international competitions than the US, so they're #1 by a pretty slim margin (Probably because the USA skipped the last FIBA Americas event, which Argentina finished 3rd in).

I'm guessing that if USA medals in this tournament & does better than Argentina, they will be #1. I'm telling y'all, though. Countries like Argentina, Spain, & maybe Greece on a good year are not anything to be messed with. Especially Spain.

That being said, the US beat Croatia 106-78. Good start to the tournament. They're gonna get a real test from Brazil, though.

[HedleyLamarr]

Because it is 'cool' to not play in the Wolrd Championship, so there is no Lebron, Kobe, or Wade. However, i still think they will win. Id say second-tier American talent is better than the first tier Argentinian talent

I don't think these rankings were changed because certain players are skipping the tournament. I don't think FIBA can make those assumptions.

[TFoA]

USA are 2-0 so far, with convincing victories over Croatia & Slovenia. However, they're going to get a stiff test tomorrow from Brazil, who are also 2-0. More than likely, that will be the game that determines who comes out of Group B as the A team.

Canada's 0-2, with losses against Lebanon & Lithuania.

We had our first upset yesterday with Spain suffering a shock loss against France. Spain bounced back today with a win against New Zealand. That seems to be a bit of a trend with Spanish teams in international competitions.

[Seadragon76]

OK, how in the holy hell does CANADA lose to freaking Lebanon in basketball! What, Steve Nash too busy rooting on the Mercury right now to help his country? Yeesh... If was a Canadian, I would be embarassed (But not too embarassed... Now, losing to Lebanon in Hockey. Yeah... That would mean suicides all accross Canada).

[Breakwood]

OK, how in the holy hell does CANADA lose to freaking Lebanon in basketball! What, Steve Nash too busy rooting on the Mercury right now to help his country? Yeesh... If was a Canadian, I would be embarassed (But not too embarassed... Now, losing to Lebanon in Hockey. Yeah... That would mean suicides all accross Canada).

We would be embarassed if anyone cared about basketball. I mean I follow basketball more than the average Canadian, and even I can't get up for this. We're missing our top 3 or 4 players, and unlike the US, we don't have near the depth as you guys.

[TFoA]

We're down to the semis...& surprisingly, the last four remaining are the USA (well, that's not a surprise), Lithuania, Serbia, & hosts Turkey. Shocking to see teams like Spain & Greece fall (Spain fell to Serbia in a 3 point loss. Greece lost to Spain in the Round of 16), and Lithuania absolutely crushed Argentina in a huge shock.

Also that means that if the US finishes with a medal, we'll probably be #1, which I'm sure will please Hedley. But I think that the US could finish with gold. They're going to have a very tough matchup with Lithuania in the semis, and if they face Turkey in the finals, that will be an absolute SNAKEPIT. Turkey's been great, "Turkish Jordan" Hedo Turkoglu & "Turkish Pippen" Ersan Ilyasova have been on fire. Nonetheless, the road to gold for the US got a little easier when all of the heavyweights got knocked out much sooner than expected.

[WJMorris3]

Actually, if we finish 4th and Argentina 5th, we're still #1. Argentina leads us by 4. However, they're going to lose 40 points for their second place finish in 2002, we'll lose 13 points for our sixth that year. 27 point difference in our favor has us leading them by 23 going in.

[NEW.ERA]

This tournament is still going on?

ESPN must be the only one that still cares about it, I'm probably just bitter that Canadian Basketball is a bigger joke then Pauly Shore.

[TFoA]

Thanks to 38 points from Kevin Durant (which is now a USA record for most points in a World Championships game), USA defeats Lithuania 89-74 to advance to the Final, where they will face either Serbia or the host nation Turkey.

I hope it's Turkey. The atmosphere in that game will be bananas, plus Ersan Ilyasova is one of my favorite players in this tournament so far, so it'd be cool to see what he could do against the US.

[dfwabel]

Thanks to 38 points from Kevin Durant (which is now a USA record for most points in a World Championships game), USA defeats Lithuania 89-74 to advance to the Final, where they will face either Serbia or the host nation Turkey.

I hope it's Turkey. The atmosphere in that game will be bananas, plus Ersan Ilyasova is one of my favorite players in this tournament so far, so it'd be cool to see what he could do against the US.

I don't want Turkey for the hometown officiating. Plus, the lower level of the Sinan Erdem Dome was designed to be temporary so they could riot afterward.

[Hoopskid]

I think Serbia will present a larger challenge for Serbia so it'll be a better game IMO.

Turkey would definetly have a great crowd, all in all it was a good tournament and I can't wait to see the finals.

[MDC]

I hope it's Turkey. I want to see Derrick Rose play against Omer Asik

[NJTank]

Thanks to 38 points from Kevin Durant (which is now a USA record for most points in a World Championships game), USA defeats Lithuania 89-74 to advance to the Final, where they will face either Serbia or the host nation Turkey.

I hope it's Turkey. The atmosphere in that game will be bananas, plus Ersan Ilyasova is one of my favorite players in this tournament so far, so it'd be cool to see what he could do against the US.

Its official Durant is one of the five best players in the NBA, if the Thunder handle it right they can become a title contender in a few years.

[TFoA]

Thanks to 38 points from Kevin Durant (which is now a USA record for most points in a World Championships game), USA defeats Lithuania 89-74 to advance to the Final, where they will face either Serbia or the host nation Turkey.

I hope it's Turkey. The atmosphere in that game will be bananas, plus Ersan Ilyasova is one of my favorite players in this tournament so far, so it'd be cool to see what he could do against the US.

I don't want Turkey for the hometown officiating. Plus, the lower level of the Sinan Erdem Dome was designed to be temporary so they could riot afterward.

Rather have that than "Stone Cold" Nenad Kristic going after our guys with a chair after they lose.

[BrySmalls]

I think Serbia will present a larger challenge for Serbia so it'll be a better game IMO.

Turkey would definetly have a great crowd, all in all it was a good tournament and I can't wait to see the finals.

For some reason, Serbia has had a lot of problems with its self image since the 1990s.

[Hoopskid]

My bad, meant larger challenge for USA.

Politics and sports = 2 different worlds.

[lordsketor]

It looks like first time since 1994, Team USA will win gold in the World Championships!