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Basketball World Cup

Anyone following this?

After a predictable group stage saw all the minnows eliminated, the knockout last 16 starts today in Madrid and Barcelona.

France v Croatia
Spain v Senegal
Serbia v Greece
Brazil v Argentina

Dominican Republic v Slovenia
USA v Mexico
New Zealand v Lithuania
Turkey v Australia

No GB or any of the British teams as it is a real minority sport in the UK despite it being one of the most popular sports in the rest of the world. Should really be competing on the world stage in tournaments like this.

Final bound to be USA v Spain?

Comments

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    This on TV anywhere?
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    Picked it up on a stream via BEIN sports
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    edited September 2014
    Massive coverage where I am (Spain) but pretty limited in UK I imagine. Eurosport? If it still exists!
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    I follow it at work as one guy is from Lithuania where it is the number 1 sport.
    I think it's something like 1/6 to be USA v Spain final.
    Other than those 2 contenders for the Semis are likely to be France, Greece and Lithuania. Top half of the draw has the better teams
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    We didn't qualify. Threw millions at the sport for Olympics and did shit so had funding cut.
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    MrOneLung said:

    We didn't qualify. Threw millions at the sport for Olympics and did shit so had funding cut.

    They weren't happy about that - seemed surprised but its always been the case that the successful sports do get the funding.

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    MrOneLung said:

    We didn't qualify. Threw millions at the sport for Olympics and did shit so had funding cut.

    They weren't happy about that - seemed surprised but its always been the case that the successful sports do get the funding.

    The sporting authorities in Britain prefer to put the money into minority sports where we can win lots of medals at the Olympics...
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    Well. Let's be honest, how much would they have to put in to compete with even the smaller countries in the world cup such as Iran or Senegal. Most of the countries there have major leagues with club funding at a high level, and to compete, we'd need something similar, not just a grant from the government to train the ten best we've got.
    Let's face it, we'll always be minnows at this sport.
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    following it. USA have their second string out. The top players only turn up for the Olympics and Coach K uses this tournament as a grounding for the up and coming stars. So no LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh etc. Derrick Rose, James Harden and Kyrie Irving are the main players. USA are weary of playing the home nation in the final and have selected three seven footers to combat the size of The Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka. Should be an interesting final. They should roll over the rest.

    Went to the recent Euro qualifiers where GB had to compete without their two NBA players, Luol Deng & Joel Freeland. They've got no chance without the money to fund the insurance fees to be able to call them up. They lost both home matches, although both were sell outs at the Copper Box.
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    Predictable easy win for USA over Mexico.
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    MrOneLung said:

    We didn't qualify. Threw millions at the sport for Olympics and did shit so had funding cut.

    They weren't happy about that - seemed surprised but its always been the case that the successful sports do get the funding.

    The sporting authorities in Britain prefer to put the money into minority sports where we can win lots of medals at the Olympics...
    Does seem unfair and he sports that have the most money just get more- bit like the Premier league!

    Maybe Ken is right - they don't have think its worth the effort given numbers who play in terms of countries?
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    Quarter finals are:

    Spain v France
    Serbia v Brazil

    Slovenia v USA
    Lithuania v Turkey

    Obviously a Spain v USA final!
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    Not a Spain v USA final then!

    France beat Spain last night, causing heartbreak for the hosts (well at least for the students and staff at my school). Not a good year in tournaments for the Spanish!

    Semi finals are:

    USA v Lithuania (tonight)

    France v Serbia (tomorrow)

    Final on Sunday.
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    USA comfortably beating Serbia in the final almost at the halfway stage. The Americans probably could have played with four on the court and still won this tournament.
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    And they have their B team out! The starting line up in Rio will be James, Paul, Anthony, Durant & Love. Westbrook will also be on the bench. add in 6 from the squad playing in Madrid, starting with Rose, Harden, Davis, and they already have too much strength in depth for anyone else.

    According to some of the NBA podcasts, the USA may push for an U23 tournament in future Olympics, similar to the Olympic Football, to create a more level tournament. Even they recognise it's too easy and the NBA teams are also questioning the release of players for future tournaments after the Paul George injury.
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