Community Shootaround: Predict Gold, Silver, Bronze Medal Winners

It took a week to eliminate four men’s basketball teams from the Olympics, and now the stakes in Paris are about to get much higher. The tournament will take on a March Madness feel when it resumes Tuesday with four quarterfinal matchups. The winners will advance to compete for medals, while the losers will head home facing four long years before they can try again.

Team USA, the prohibitive favorite entering the Games, captured the top seed with convincing wins over Group C rivals Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico and a points differential of +64. Led by first-ballot Hall of Famers LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, the Americans have revived memories of the days when they used to dominate international competitions.

Their next opponent will be Brazil, which hasn’t won an Olympic basketball medal since 1964. The Brazilians emerged from Group B with a 1-2 record and a -7 point differential, defeating Japan while losing to France and Germany. Brazil has the fewest NBA players of anybody left in the competition, as Warriors guard Gui Santos is the only one currently on an NBA roster.

Germany, which went unbeaten while capturing the FIBA World Cup last summer, has looked like the second-best team in the Olympics. Led by a core of Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, Moritz Wagner and Daniel Theis, the Germans were +47 in points while sweeping through Group B.

Canada, which is also seeking its second medal in Olympic basketball, looks like a serious contender after winning all three games in Group A, which was dubbed by many as the “group of death.” Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a finalist for MVP honors last season, the Canadian roster is filled with NBA talent and the team is battle tested after defeating Australia, Greece and Spain.

With Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Serbia and Greece both have players capable of taking over a game, making them especially dangerous in a single-elimination format. Australia’s roster is loaded with NBA players who have a history of competing in big international games, while the French feature a nightmare matchup in Victor Wembanyama and have the incentive of trying to win the gold medal in front of their home crowd.

Germany and Greece will square off Tuesday morning to start the next round, followed by Serbia-Australia, France-Canada and U.S.-Brazil. Winners of the first and third games will meet Wednesday in one semifinal, while the other will match the winners of the second and fourth games. The medal games will take place Saturday.

After watching these teams in action for a week, we want to know what you think. Which countries do you expect to leave Paris with the gold, silver and bronze medals? Please leave your feedback in the space below.