Who’s the biggest threat to Team USA for the gold medal? The Athletic’s Sam Amick ranks Germany No. 2 behind the Americans among the teams remaining in the tournament. The Germans won the FIBA tournament last summer and play cohesively with Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner leading the way. Canada, Serbia and France round out Amick’s top five.
We have more Olympic-related news:
- Along those lines, Team USA appears to have caught a break with the way the bracket shook out, according to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. Germany, Canada and France are on the other side of the bracket. USA plays Brazil, which lost to Germany and France, then would face the winner of the Serbia-Australia quarterfinal.
- South Sudan has been eliminated from the tournament but they gained plenty of respect this summer, Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press writes. South Sudan nearly upset Team USA in an exhibition. They also showed grit in losses to the United States and Serbia in Group play.“I’m proud of South Sudan. I’m proud of our fans. I’m proud of the continent,” federation president Luol Deng said. “We thank everybody that’s been able to help us out. This was a group effort. We showed a way of how to build the basketball going forward. And I think that the rest of the continent and the rest of the countries will follow the similar thing that we’re doing.”
- Serbian coach Svetislav Petic had high praise for South Sudan following his team’s victory, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net relays. “They are an unusual team. They play basketball of the future,” he said. “In about 10 years, basketball will be played like this. It won’t be like ice hockey, but it will be fast. They have mental strength. It is important in addition to tactical segments. It is difficult to overcome them.”
Team USA definitely “appears to have caught a break with the way the bracket shook out”.
They “caught that break” by blowing out every team in their group & earning the #1 seed
FIBA is independent from the NBA, run out of Spain. I highly doubt they’re doing the States any favours. They are the no.1 basketball nation in the world. France stinking it up is out of team USA hands.
Truly sucks that Bol Bol and Thon Maker couldn’t be on this SSD squad. Those guys would have been the difference between a nice story & a real shot at a medal
Wouldn’t be surprised if Reath follows. Apparently guys playing in Oz or Japan are better than NBA players. Boomers already sacked Coach Goorjian once, soon to be twice. That old saying about the definition of insanity comes to mind. His next party trick might be to unleash the all time great Matthew Dellavadova (who he picked over Thybulle) for 38 minutes against Serbia. Best reinforce those backboards and rim for Dellys heat seeking missiles.