Men's Basketball FIBA World Cup 2019

[heywoodu 15,141]

5 hours ago, Monzanator said:

Random teams having naturalized Americans in basketball is as common as naturalized Chinese in table tennis

The difference is that (at least in the cases I know) they have or get some connection with the country, like playing in the national league, living in the country, etc. Some of these Americans in certain countries show not even 1% of any kind of connection whatsoever, just nothing. It's kinda sad really, I hope the Dutch team stays without players like that  

[dareza 911]

Serbia is disaster. There is still good chance for WC, BUT i'm not sure at all. Coach Đorđevic is like amateur right now.

[rybak 3,217]

And we beat Italy after amazing match!  Ticket to WC is now so close for us, go boys to beat Croatia and Netherlands in February!  

[George_D 1,205]

Canada  !

[MHSN 3,619]

We had a great won away in the Philippines yesterday which was unexpected because we played this window without 4 of our starters and Philippines was full squad. with this we 95% qualified for the World Cup but still not 100%

 

BUT I always know media here are extremely stupid but I can't believe even our BB federation is this stupid. they should know the rules at least ! everybody here think we are 100% qualified and this is a done deal ! they just look at the table. we are 2 wins above the Philippines and with 2 games left (and since we beat them twice and have the head to head record) they think this is a sure thing ! BUT a 3 way tie break between Iran. Japan and the Philippines is still very possible.

 

imagine we send a weaker team for the next window (assuming we are already qualified) and then we lose badly to Japan and Australia and when FIBA updates the table we can see we are in 4th place and not qualified for the World Cup !! that's unlikely (because for that scenario Japan has to lose to Qatar) but possible . and I'm really worry about that.

[MHSN 3,619]

I really liked and enjoyed this qualification format. during these windows I watched almost 5-6 games per day. and it seems I'm the only one supporting this qualification format

 

and since I am the only one. let's have a summary about the competition. but first this is a bit hard to predict some games in last window. because we don't know how much other teams will take those games serious or not

 

Africa:

are already qualified. I think it's fair to say that and will join them 99%. Egypt was probably the biggest loser here. losing the crucial last game badly to Cameroon.

 

Asia:

plus the host nation are already there. 6 more Asian teams are trying for the next 4 spots. I think Kazakhstan's chance is close to zero . and Jordan needs a miracle to beat both China and NZ to qualify even though this is possible both teams send a junior team to Jordan. but in case they don't I think will qualify for the WC. Iran is closer than other 4 teams.but if Jordan wins the last two games . all 3 other teams can lose their spot.

 

America:

are already qualified . we have 4 countries for the 3 spots. Uruguay. Brazil. Dominican Rep and Puerto Rico. this one is hard to predict. but I think Brazil is almost already qualified at least as the best 4th placed team. and Dominican also needs one more win to reach that. so it will go to the last game of Puerto Rico and Uruguay. I think PR will have more chance because they will host that game. so my prediction is

 

Europe:

are already qualified. 5 more spots remaining. in group J Poland only has to beat the Netherlands at home to qualify and Italy only has to not lose badly to Hungary at home. I think will qualify from this group for sure. in group K the last spot is between Russia and Finland. and Finland has to beat France and Russia away to qualify. they have their destiny in their hands but their chance doesn't look good. so I think will qualify. in Group L Serbia only has to beat Estonia to qualify which I'm sure they will so but the only real competition for the last window in Europe is in Group I, where Ukraine, Montenegro and Latvia they all stand a realistic chance to qualify. considering everything I think will grab the last spot.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by MHSN

[George_D 1,205]

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by George_D

[nenad 442]

@MHSN

 

Great post. But have to disagree about qual format. We already are without Slovenia, which is European champions. To not have European champions at the very first next World Cup, it's a travesty, in any sport, team, individual, I don't care. Also, Croatia is basicaly out as well. Croatia would be better team in China than for example Poland which will qualify. Not to offend Polish posters here but it's true. And even, we, Serbia would have a hard time qualifying if there weren't good results for us in other matches that benefited us. So, it's really a shame. Some say it's a good idea just badly executed, but who cares for idea when it doesn't give you a good results. 

 

Also I think not to offend you as well, is maybe you aren't used to watching high quality basketball 24/7 like many basketball fans, so this is good for you. Beleive me, it's like watching premier league and then watching serbian superleague in football. 

[crovitlaci 177]

Well, it's mostly our fault that we're out. In the 9th month we had almost all of our best players available, and yet lost against poor teams like Poland and Lithuania B team. Our basketball federation is awful and their picking of coaching staff (they say they don't have enough money to hire a proper coach, which is ridiculous) is the main reason why we hit the bottom.

[George_D 1,205]

if Canada's NBA guys play in China then Canada will go sure for a medal.