This is the first in a series of articles that will follow Coach K on his quest for a third straight Olympic gold medal. Even with the tournament nearly three years away, there are lots of pieces in motion right now that will determine what the USA Men's National Team will be doing in the next three summers to prepare. This past summer, most of the national teams around the world were hard at work for long periods of time. That is because teams were playing in their continental championships to fight for a spot in next summer's FIBA Basketball World Cup. As the reigning Olympic champions, the Americans were able to turn down a berth to the FIBA Americas tournament and let the star players take a rest knowing that qualification for 2014 has already been earned. Instead, USA Basketball was able to put on a brief training camp for younger players looking to establish their presence on a national team level, hoping to find some players that can supplement the more veteran players who have already declared their interest in playing for the national team next summer and beyond.
Next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup will be an important test for Team USA, not only to defend their crown, but to try to win that automatic bid to the Olympics. This will allow the team to have relatively little activity in the summer of 2015 to keep themselves rested for Brazil. Given that one slip-up in the wrong place can mean an extra summer of competition for the team, the other 23 teams in the tournament will provide a test for the United States. Spain, which has played Team USA tough in recent years even though they eventually lost, will be looking to put on a show for their home fans. With a number of key players in their prime and several more towards the end of their international careers, expect them to be the biggest threat. Besides Spain and the United States, 18 other teams have already qualified for next summer by virtue of their performance in their continental championships. 4 more teams will be chosen from a pool of wild card applicants to fill out the field.
With the United States not participating in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela, it was wide open for the other teams to finish in the top four places to qualify. Mexico ended up being the surprise tournament winners over Puerto Rico with Argentina and the Dominican Republic joining them and the Americans next summer. In Europe, Spain still participated in the Eurobasket tournament held in Slovenia, even with their spot secure next summer as hosts. The top six finishers besides Spain were going to qualify and France beat Lithuania to win the title with Croatia, Slovenia, and surprise team Ukraine joining them as Serbia managed to win the final spot. In Asia, Iran won the tournament, beating the home team, the Philippines, in the final. The hosts also won a spot for next summer, marking a big return to the world stage for one of the most basketball-mad countries in the world, and South Korea also qualified with a third place finish. The African tournament was held in Ivory Coast as traditional powers Angola beat another surprising team, Egypt, to win it all as Senegal also joined the other two teams with a spot next summer by finishing in third place. Australia and New Zealand automatically qualified by virtue of being the only two countries in the Oceania region to field teams, but they did still contest their continental championship as Australia prevailed in the two game home and home series.
With some big names not making out of their continental qualifiers, a total of 15 teams have applied to grab 4 open spots. Here are the teams by region with their current world ranking:
Nigeria (18)
Brazil (10)
Canada (25)
Venezuela (28)
China (12)
Qatar (42)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (57)
Finland (39)
Germany (14)
Greece (5)
Israel (37)
Italy (21)
Poland (40)
Russia (6)
Turkey (7)
There are a number of strong contenders with the rule that not all of the teams can be from the same continent. With a number of factors being used to consider teams, team strength is not the only consideration. These teams will be cut down in the next week before the final picks are made next year. At that point, it will become more clear how the path will shape up for the United States as they look to defend their world championship crown and become the second team to punch their ticket for the next Olympics.
Next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup will be an important test for Team USA, not only to defend their crown, but to try to win that automatic bid to the Olympics. This will allow the team to have relatively little activity in the summer of 2015 to keep themselves rested for Brazil. Given that one slip-up in the wrong place can mean an extra summer of competition for the team, the other 23 teams in the tournament will provide a test for the United States. Spain, which has played Team USA tough in recent years even though they eventually lost, will be looking to put on a show for their home fans. With a number of key players in their prime and several more towards the end of their international careers, expect them to be the biggest threat. Besides Spain and the United States, 18 other teams have already qualified for next summer by virtue of their performance in their continental championships. 4 more teams will be chosen from a pool of wild card applicants to fill out the field.
With the United States not participating in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela, it was wide open for the other teams to finish in the top four places to qualify. Mexico ended up being the surprise tournament winners over Puerto Rico with Argentina and the Dominican Republic joining them and the Americans next summer. In Europe, Spain still participated in the Eurobasket tournament held in Slovenia, even with their spot secure next summer as hosts. The top six finishers besides Spain were going to qualify and France beat Lithuania to win the title with Croatia, Slovenia, and surprise team Ukraine joining them as Serbia managed to win the final spot. In Asia, Iran won the tournament, beating the home team, the Philippines, in the final. The hosts also won a spot for next summer, marking a big return to the world stage for one of the most basketball-mad countries in the world, and South Korea also qualified with a third place finish. The African tournament was held in Ivory Coast as traditional powers Angola beat another surprising team, Egypt, to win it all as Senegal also joined the other two teams with a spot next summer by finishing in third place. Australia and New Zealand automatically qualified by virtue of being the only two countries in the Oceania region to field teams, but they did still contest their continental championship as Australia prevailed in the two game home and home series.
With some big names not making out of their continental qualifiers, a total of 15 teams have applied to grab 4 open spots. Here are the teams by region with their current world ranking:
Nigeria (18)
Brazil (10)
Canada (25)
Venezuela (28)
China (12)
Qatar (42)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (57)
Finland (39)
Germany (14)
Greece (5)
Israel (37)
Italy (21)
Poland (40)
Russia (6)
Turkey (7)
There are a number of strong contenders with the rule that not all of the teams can be from the same continent. With a number of factors being used to consider teams, team strength is not the only consideration. These teams will be cut down in the next week before the final picks are made next year. At that point, it will become more clear how the path will shape up for the United States as they look to defend their world championship crown and become the second team to punch their ticket for the next Olympics.
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