It has been quite a week with the major games coming our way.  We began this week by seeing defending champions, the USA, hold it down and survive against the Czech Republic with a 21-point lead, the game ending 88 – 67.

The score line may not have been what most people wanted seeing that the Czech Republic is not really a team that would want to stress USA, nevertheless, the boys tried their best and aced through.

Part of the pessimistic view is given by the fact that the boys lost to Australia in an exhibition game where USA lost by 4 points. Again, critics still had a lot to say when on Tuesday, USA came out victorious against Turkey with just a 1-point lead.

No one understands what really happened, but a good look at the game shows that Turkey was a worthy competitor, and the win would have been theirs, had luck not been on the side of the US.

However, all doubts seem to have been cast away as USA ended their Thursday game against Japan with a 98 – 45 score line, making the US side advance to their second round.

This is the kind of score line fans of the USA men need to see, and hopes are high that they can retain such when they face Greece on Saturday.  Away from the US, Czech Republic would advance to the second round after beating their Turkish opponents, with a massive score line of 91 – 76.

Now, this is very interesting, noting that Turkey proved quite a headache for the USA, and the same USA gave Czech quite a reasonable lead. So, what could have been the problem? And is Czech ready to dominate this year?

We would just have to observe more games to find out.  Other teams making it to the next round include Brazil, after defeating Montenegro. Brazil would kick it off in the next round with Czech Republic.

Australia also gets to progress to the next round, after dominating Group H, sealing it by defeating Lithuania, who also get to go to the next round, 87 – 82. France is also one of the sure teams to make it to the next round.

USA’s next opponent, Greece secured their second-round position after defeating New Zealand 103 – 97. Meanwhile, Germany, Canada, and Senegal are among teams that would play in the consolation round. We just have to see how the rest of the game progresses, but Czech Republic, France, and Australia are definitely top teams to watch out for.
 
 
Written by: Leon Osamor