With the start of the tournament just over four months away, the schedule of games has been announced. With the United States as one of the marquee teams, the timeslots are fairly convenient for viewing the games on this side of the Atlantic.
Group stage games, all times Eastern Daylight
08/30: Finland, 3:30pm
08/31: Turkey, 3:30pm
9/2: New Zealand, 11:30am
9/3: Dominican Republic, 3:30pm
9/4 Ukraine, 11:30am
As long as the United States wins the group, their Round of 16 game in Barcelona will be on Saturday, September 6th. The third place team in Group C will also start the elimination stage on that day while the second and fourth place teams would play on Sunday, September 7th. The quarterfinals are on Tuesday, September 9th, with the semifinal set for Thursday, September 11th, at 3:00pm EDT. The final that would determine the lone qualifying place for the Olympics in on Sunday at 3:00pm EDT.
Here is the full schedule with the times that have already been announced:
http://fiba.com/downloads/fe/2014/FBWC/2014-FBWC-Draw-Results.pdf?4
In addition to the competitive games, USA Basketball has announced their schedule before the tournament:
http://www.usab.com/mens/national/14_mnt_schedule.html
Before departing for Spain, the team will get the chance to play three games in the United States, all against other teams from the Americas. Interestingly, one of the games will be against the Dominican Republic, one of the teams that they know they will face in the first stage of the tournament. All three opponents will provide different tests for the American team. Brazil will be looking to recover from a poor tournament last summer and trying to build momentum for the Olympics they host. With the team's experience at the international and NBA level, they will not be intimidated. Puerto Rico won the FIBA Americas Championship last summer and will utilize their strong backcourt play to wreak havoc on their opponents. The Dominican Republic will hope to have a full squad at their disposal as they have a great opportunity to progress once they reach the tournament. Once the team gets to Spain, they will play a key exhibition game against Slovenia, a possible semifinal opponent. With the first three opponents all being from the Americas, a game against a team that plays a completely different style will help the team settle into the international nature of the format. Past editions of the team have had some troubles with the type of European style basketball that they will see against Slovenia, so adjusting in this game could help the team greatly in key late round situations.
Around the world, plenty of other teams are already gearing up for the tournament. Even with their domestic league season going on, the Philippines National Team is fitting in weekly practices. A group of them also competed in the league all star game and defeated a team of players in the league that did not make the national team. Preliminary squad lists are also starting to come together. Finland has named a group that contains some familiar names. Former Blue Devil Alex Murphy was named to their squad along with his brother Erik, possibly creating a matchup with his former coach this summer.
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