The United States already qualified for the 2016 Olympics by winning last summer's World Championships. While that left the team with a mostly free summer, teams around the globe are busy trying to grab the other spots in next summer's tournament. Each continental federation is holding its championships, which will provide some of the automatic entrants into the tournament, while the teams that just miss out on those berths will have one final chance next summer before the Olympics to qualify. The teams are having a gathering in Las Vegas this summer with meetings and some practices leading to one intrasquad scrimmage. Not all of the players who accepted invitations are participating in all phases of the minicamp, leaving some room for some new players to impress the coaching staff.
The first continent that will complete its qualifiers is Oceania. Only two countries have senior national teams, so instead of a tournament in a single location, Australia and New Zealand each get to host a game with the score combined across both games to determine the winner. The champion will qualify automatically for the Olympics with the loser getting another shot next year.
AfroBasket will be held in Tunis and Nabeul in Tunisia as only the winner will be automatically entered into the Olympics and two more teams getting a chance to play next summer for the final spot. The sixteen teams are broken up into four groups, with the final group standings determining the placement of the teams into the knockout bracket, leaving the exciting possibility of another team catching fire in the elimination games after struggling in the group stages again. The hosts along with the Central African Republic, Nigeria, and Uganda are in Group A. Group B includes Angola, Morocco, Mozambique, and Senegal. Group C has Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, and Mali. Group D has Algeria, Cape Verde, the Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe.
The championship of the Americas was originally slated to be held in Monterrey, Mexico but will instead be held in Mexico City. At the start of the summer, it was not clear whether Brazil would receive an automatic berth as the host country due to lingering financial issues, but they were just cleared to claim their spots in both the Men's and Women's tournament, reducing the competition in this tournament although they are still fielding a team. The first stage of the competition has the ten teams broken into two groups for round robin play. Group A features Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and Uruguay. Group B includes Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The bottom team in each group is eliminated and the remaining teams play four games against the qualifying teams from the other group, combining those results with the three games against the qualifiers from their own group to form an eight team round robin. Only the top four teams after that stage have a chance at automatic Olympic qualification with the winners of the two semifinals grabbing those berths. The two losing semifinalists and the fifth place team by round robin standings will get one more chance next summer.
Eurobasket was supposed to be held in Ukraine, but the ongoing conflict there forced a change. The scope of the tournament made it impractical to be played in one country on such short notice, so it will be spread out. France hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Israel, Poland, and Russia in Group A. Germany hosts Iceland, Italy, Serbia, Spain, and Turkey in Group B. Croatia hosts Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, the Netherlands, and Slovenia in Group C. Latvia hosts Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine in Group D. The top four teams in each group move on to the next round, which will be a knockout competition held in France. The two finalists will also qualify for the Olympics with four spots up for grabs in the last chance tournament next summer.
The final continental competition will be in Asia as teams head to Changsha, China to win the tournament and grab the continent's only automatic Olympic bid with the next two teams getting another chance next summer. The sixteen teams will be divided into four groups with the top three teams in each group moving on to the next stage. Groups A and B will combine their teams into Group E and Groups C and D will combine their teams into Group F. The results against the other two qualifying teams in the first stage carry on to this round, where each team plays the three qualifiers from the other group to form a six team round robin. From there, four teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. Group A includes India, Iran, Japan, and Malaysia. Group B has Kuwait, Palestine, the Philippines, and an additional team from the East Asian section of the federation. Group C consists of the hosts, Jordan, Singapore, and South Korea. Group D will be contested by Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Qatar, and Taiwan.
The first continent that will complete its qualifiers is Oceania. Only two countries have senior national teams, so instead of a tournament in a single location, Australia and New Zealand each get to host a game with the score combined across both games to determine the winner. The champion will qualify automatically for the Olympics with the loser getting another shot next year.
AfroBasket will be held in Tunis and Nabeul in Tunisia as only the winner will be automatically entered into the Olympics and two more teams getting a chance to play next summer for the final spot. The sixteen teams are broken up into four groups, with the final group standings determining the placement of the teams into the knockout bracket, leaving the exciting possibility of another team catching fire in the elimination games after struggling in the group stages again. The hosts along with the Central African Republic, Nigeria, and Uganda are in Group A. Group B includes Angola, Morocco, Mozambique, and Senegal. Group C has Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, and Mali. Group D has Algeria, Cape Verde, the Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe.
The championship of the Americas was originally slated to be held in Monterrey, Mexico but will instead be held in Mexico City. At the start of the summer, it was not clear whether Brazil would receive an automatic berth as the host country due to lingering financial issues, but they were just cleared to claim their spots in both the Men's and Women's tournament, reducing the competition in this tournament although they are still fielding a team. The first stage of the competition has the ten teams broken into two groups for round robin play. Group A features Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and Uruguay. Group B includes Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The bottom team in each group is eliminated and the remaining teams play four games against the qualifying teams from the other group, combining those results with the three games against the qualifiers from their own group to form an eight team round robin. Only the top four teams after that stage have a chance at automatic Olympic qualification with the winners of the two semifinals grabbing those berths. The two losing semifinalists and the fifth place team by round robin standings will get one more chance next summer.
Eurobasket was supposed to be held in Ukraine, but the ongoing conflict there forced a change. The scope of the tournament made it impractical to be played in one country on such short notice, so it will be spread out. France hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Israel, Poland, and Russia in Group A. Germany hosts Iceland, Italy, Serbia, Spain, and Turkey in Group B. Croatia hosts Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, the Netherlands, and Slovenia in Group C. Latvia hosts Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine in Group D. The top four teams in each group move on to the next round, which will be a knockout competition held in France. The two finalists will also qualify for the Olympics with four spots up for grabs in the last chance tournament next summer.
The final continental competition will be in Asia as teams head to Changsha, China to win the tournament and grab the continent's only automatic Olympic bid with the next two teams getting another chance next summer. The sixteen teams will be divided into four groups with the top three teams in each group moving on to the next stage. Groups A and B will combine their teams into Group E and Groups C and D will combine their teams into Group F. The results against the other two qualifying teams in the first stage carry on to this round, where each team plays the three qualifiers from the other group to form a six team round robin. From there, four teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. Group A includes India, Iran, Japan, and Malaysia. Group B has Kuwait, Palestine, the Philippines, and an additional team from the East Asian section of the federation. Group C consists of the hosts, Jordan, Singapore, and South Korea. Group D will be contested by Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Qatar, and Taiwan.
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