By: Freaknick/@euro_adventures
Forget Dirk, forget Kobe, forget Yao, forget Parker. Forget LeBron, forget Manu, forget Bogut, forget Pau. Forget the superstars and forget the egos. Forget the names on the backs of jerseys and recognize the colors on the front. Forget everything you thought you knew about international ball. Forget about all the preconceptions you had about what makes a team great. These are the most elite players from the most advanced hoop nations in the universe. This is where talent takes a backseat to attitude. This is basketball at its finest. This is FIBA. Come get some.
Group A
Serbia’s suspensions might end up helping in the end, as Krstic’s three games and Teodosic’s two come before the two biggest tests of Australia and Argentina. If FIBA were serious about this they would’ve flipped the schedules then laid the wood. Gangster status.
Either way, this group’s big three takes turns whipping up on each other. Serbia beats Australia, Aussie takes Argentina who then beats Serbia. Germany beats who they should beat and nobody else, Angola takes down the Jumpman and Jordan goes home empty. Such is life.
Serbia: 4-1
Australia: 4-1
Argentina: 4-1
Germany: 2-3
Angola: 1-4
Jordan: 0-5
Scoring: Carlos Delfino, Argentina
Rebounding: Luis Scola, Argentina
Assists: Pablo Prigioni, Argentina (when you’re this good and lack depth like Argentina does, stats tend to pile high)
Group B
Brazil was America’s biggest threat but their one clear advantage—interior play—has been compromised with the loss of Nene. Now they’re a team with a great top four in Huertas, Barbosa, Varejao and Splitter. Slovenia’s great but they’ll need to defend if they want to finish 4-1 in this group. Somebody’s only loss will be to the US, but I’m not sure who. It stacks up like this (teams in bold advance):
USA: 5-0
Croatia: 3-2
Brazil: 3-2
Slovenia: 3-2
Iran: 1-4
Tunisia: 0-5
Scoring: Kevin Durant, USA (Dragic a close 2nd, but consistency/forcing has been an issue in the past.)
Rebounding: Anderson Varejao, Brazil
Assists: Marcelo Huertas, Brazil
Group C
Here’s how it plays out: Turkey beats Greece in a thriller on August 31st but comes into that game with a loss to Russia. Russia can’t acpitalize and loses to Puerto Rico as well as Greece—who’s perfect save that Turkish contest. As with the first two groups, the bottom of the group isn’t capable of an upset against any of the qualifiers and the Chinese take it to Les Elefants.
Turkey: 4-1
Greece: 4-1
Russia: 3-2
Puerto Rico: 3-2
China: 1-4
Côte d’Ivoire: 0-5
Scoring: Hedo Turkoglu, Turkey
Rebounding: Peter John Ramos, Puerto Rico
Assists: Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rico
Group D
This is without question—excepting Spain—the most evenly matched of the groups. The five teams below the Spaniards all hover just north of mediocrity at the moment and Lithuania’s pretty good-ness is enough to qualify them for Group D elite. Luckily, this sort of mix leads to some great games, crazy finishes and an advancement picture which may not be halfway painted by the final day of competition. We can only hope.
Spain: 5-0
Lithuania: 4-1
France: 2-3
Canada: 2-3
New Zealand: 1-4
Lebanon: 1-4
Scoring: Kirk Penney, New Zealand (we’ve finally found more of a volume scorer than Kleiza.)
Rebounding: Joel Anthony, Canada
Assists: Ricky Rubio, Spain (Now with Calderon’s injury, I don’t think it will be close. He’s the only true point guard in this group.)
From there it looks like this (All-Tournament team and overall leaders at the bottom). I know this chart ain’t the prettiest thing in Turkey, but it gets the job done:
| 1/8 Finals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Medal Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serbia | ||||
| Slovenia | ||||
| Serbia | ||||
| Lithuania | ||||
| Lithuania | ||||
| Russia | ||||
| Serbia | ||||
| Turkey | ||||
| Turkey | ||||
| Canada | ||||
| Turkey | ||||
| Croatia | ||||
| Croatia | ||||
| Argentina | ||||
| Serbia | ||||
| USA | ||||
| USA | ||||
| USA | ||||
| Germany | ||||
| USA | ||||
| Greece | ||||
| Greece | ||||
| France | ||||
| USA | ||||
| Spain | ||||
| Spain | BRONZE | |||
| Puerto Rico | Turkey | |||
| Spain | Spain | |||
| Australia | Spain | |||
| Australia | ||||
| Brazil |
And now, for the individual hardware:
Overall Statistical Leaders (Average)
Scoring: Kevin Durant, USA
Rebounding: Anderson Varejao, Brazil
Assists: Ricky Rubio, Spain
All-Tournament Team:
Derrick Rose
Juan Carlos Navarro
Kevin Durant
*Novica Velickovic
Hedo Turkoglu
Tournament MVP: Kevin Durant
*Politics keep Milos Teodosic out of the running. FIBA can’t reward the brawlers
Well that’s it and that’s all. Think you can do better? You know where the comments section is.
Related posts:
- FIBA 2010 Rankings: The good, the bad and even Tunisia.
- BREAKING NEWS: ELA’s new FIBA 2010 tab is rather awesome.
- FIBA Power Rankings, Take Two: Renaldo Balkman has Puerto Rico in beast mode.
- The Top 50 non-USA players at the FIBA World Championships
- The Final FIBA Power Rankings: Down Under Rising.
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Mmm..Serbia and Turkey reaching that far?? Don’t know about it plus Hedo has always underperformed with his national team..Also I do believe Argentina is s top 3 contender
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@DIO: I think Argentina’s great in big game situations, but catch them after 5 games in 6 days in the 1/8 Finals and a team with charisma like Croatia can topple them. That’s what I think will happen. The again, it only matters if the groups shake out like I expect them to. Thanks for your comment.
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I seriously doubt many things in your predictions including Turkey beating Greece. It is as simple as quality. There is a level or two difference between those two teams. What is it with such a HUGE underestimation of Greece. They are rank by FIBA 4th for the reason of solid performances year after year.
As per USA just eliminate Greece in the 1/4 finals….hmmmm, lets see about that!!!!
I see Spain and Argentina not as good as last year while Greece and Serbia are certainly stronger and it shows. Mark this email mate…
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USA wants no part of Greece at a quarterfinal. I guarantee you of that.
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You also said this though about us “not wanting any part of Greece”:
Because the way Greece is playign right now, if they go 100% in that game the US is going to suffer its worst defeat in history and they are going to get embarrassed on ESPN.
Didn’t exactly work that way. Now I know it’s because they didn’t want to win, etc., etc. But were they trying to let China take them to the wire today also? Eventually you’ve got to say ‘this is my team, win or lose’ without throwing out all these excuses. Sure if Kevin Durant decides to go 0-20 we might lose. But that’s part of basketball. You either play well or you don’t, and by choosing not to compete you pull yourself out of contention for my respect.
And @g.g: …and I have them ranked 4th in my most recent power rankings. And are we really bringing in the FIBA rankings argument? That list is nice to have but an utter waste of time. ‘Year after year’ means nothing if the talent is rolling over every two years. Why is it so crazy to think that one of the perennially good teams will have a rough tournament? Greece simply does not match up well with the US. Period. As much as they run the scores up on weaker teams, they can’t play the pace of the US. ANd as for the loss to Turkey, that’s simply a hometown boost at work.
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@ Freaknick, I think you re right about greece, for the wrong reasons. They played China today, and without Sofo and Fotsis, China was able to keep the game close by playing the Zone for 40 minutes. The Greeks lack shooters from the perimeter, and coach JK decided he needs an array of forwards more than the only pure shooter he had on the roster ( Vasiliades ). The Chinese were daring every greek guard to shoot, even Diamantidis, who is the most consistent shooter and usually drains open threes easily. He was 3/13 today. Greece shot 40 3pointers @ 33%. Most of the shots were wide open, and still missed. They beat China, but they ll loose to a better team with that kind of performance. Greece needs to improve, fast. They need to be a top level defensive team, forcing turnovers and getting on the break for easy buckets, while also establishing an inside game outside Bouroussis ( who is a really skilled big man, but as you ve noted, he s slow. he also hasnt developed his postgame nearly enough to be a reliable option down the block). Sofo will help with that, but if the guards can’t stretch the floor, I don’t see Greece beating the good teams. Turkey isn’t one of them, though
Their guard play just isn’t on par, and while they are way better at the forward position ( Hedo + Ilyasova , while greece lacks a good small forward ), the greeks have good defensive 4s than can match up well with both of them, and keep em from scoring big numbers. Turkey will probably get more out of ilyasova, who will be tougher to contain due to his superior athleticism. Still, with Greece’s big men returning for that game, I can’t see how Asik can stay out of foul trouble ( or well, home court advantage!) , and the rest of Turkey’s big men can’t handle the greek front line down low.
So yeah, Greece won’t beat the US, but I can’t seem them meeting at the quarterfinals.
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