Sunday, 27.08.2006	posted by Andrew Gaze 09:21 pm
Category: FIBA World Championship

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Prior to the start of this tournament I'm tipping there would have been significant apprehension throughout the hallways of FIBA. What impact will the expansion to 24 teams have on the tournament? How will the concept of wildcard entrants be received? Can Japan, a minnow of international basketball, present the tournament in a way that is fitting for FIBA's showpiece event? Will the fans attend the games? Will the players show up? The list goes on.

It was probably after the first couple of rounds of the pool games, as I sat at home glued to the computer yelling expletives as I watched my beloved Boomers fall short of a Herculean win against Turkey that I started to feel the collective sigh of relief from all involved in Japan 2006.

At the cut throat, knock out stage of the tournament it would be fair to say that new life has been drawn into the World Championships of Basketball. The 2 previous tournaments in Athens and Indianapolis showed signs that the relevance and prestige was waning.

There is still a long way to go with this campaign but with full stadiums, record global TV audiences and a spectacular quality of basketball, you sense that Japan will mark a new era for the Championships.

Although there were no serious shocks in the make up of the final 16, the preliminary rounds were packed with drama and excitement and much was exposed.

One of the biggest disappointments has been the continuing demise of the once revered Serbia and Montenegro. The defending champs had to rely on a wildcard to qualify and were incapable of taking advantage of their gift.

The youthful squad limped their way through the pool games and barely gave a yelp in their round of 16 loss to Spain. Recent poor results can no longer be considered an aberration. Despite a seemingly endless pool of talent, the flow of players to the greener pastures of the NBA and other international leagues appears to have eroded the commitment and pride of some in representing the homeland.

Whilst Australia has never reached the lofty heights of Serbia and Montenegro they too have fallen off the pace of the top echelon of teams and face issues with shoring up the commitment of its players to national duties. Despite the hard luck story of being drawn in the toughest pool, the gut wrenching losses to Turkey and Greece were admirable, if there is such a thing. But the loss to Lithuania and the 40 point smashing at the hands of the favourites USA eliminated any chance of a claim to a moral victory from the tournament.

Despite a couple of blow-out results there was great parity amongst the final 16. Testament of this was Germany's 1 point, ‘get out of jail', win against Nigeria and Lithuania overcoming the Olympic silver medallist Italy.

However, Argentina and the USA have been impressive and look likely to battle it out for the Gold.

The USA are playing great team ball and they have a presence and a steely resolve that has not been seen for a long while. All of their star studded line-up has had their moments of brilliance with Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade the stand outs. They have won all but one game by double digit margins and their 40 point annihilation of Australia rekindled the thoughts of the once invincible USA.

The remaining challengers will be leaning on the USA V Italy game for optimism, where the Americans had to come from a 9 point half-time deficit to eventually win by 9.

Argentina has shown improvement throughout the week and look the best equipped to threaten the USA. Manu Ginobili has been well rested and Andres Nocioni can get it done from the perimeter as well as any of his counterparts. The nucleus of the team has been together for many years and they know how to win. Their path to the final will be more treacherous but with 5 players averaging in double figures and a tremendous team ethic, the current Olympic gold medallists will definitely get the respect of team USA.

What we have seen so far has been captivating and hears hoping for more!