2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Previews

Turkey

The turkey basketball team also known as 12 dev Adam meaning 12 Giant Men. Through 2014 it has won two silver medals in major international tournaments. One at FIBA EuroBasket 2001 and one at the FIBA World Cup 2010. Further it won multiple medals at minor tournaments such as the Mediterranean Games. Currently Turkey stands 7th in the FIBA World Rankings. Ahmet Robenson was known as being the first organizer of basketball in Turkey. In 1936 turkey played their first ever basketball match against Greece winning 49-12. For many years basketball was the second most popular sport in Turkey but the national basketball team was never successful until the late 90s. Efes Pilsen was the the first Turkish team to win a European Cup in any sports by clinching the Korac Cup. Since then basketball in Turkey has grown constantly as the national basketball team began to play a major role in international tournaments.

Ukraine

Ukraine did not qualify for EuroBasket 2011 as one of the top two teams of their qualifying group, but did qualify by the FIBA decision of expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams.The Ukrainian national basketball team is the national basketball team of Ukraine. The team participates at FIBA Europe competitions. According to the FIBA Ranking it belongs to the six elite teams that resulted from the division of Soviet Union national basketball team alongside Team Lithuania, Team Russia, Team Latvia, Team Kazakhstan and Team Georgia. Their best result to date was getting 6th at FIBA EuroBasket 2013 with six wins. The team has qualified for the 2014 FIBA World Cup after defeating Team Italy in the 5th-8th place tournament. The only major global event that the team has not yet qualified for are the Summer Olympic Games.

USA

The United States possessed a clear advantage in the early decades of international play (though they were defeated by Argentina in the First FIBA World Championships in 1950). The US men were dominant from the first Olympic tournament to hold basketball held in Berlin in 1936 going 5-0 to win the gold and joined by continental neighbors Canada and Mexico on the medal platform. Through the next six tournaments the United States went undefeated collecting gold while not losing a single contest in the games held in London, Helsinki, Melbourne, Rome, Tokyo, and Mexico city. Participation in these tournaments were limited to amateurs but the US teams during this period featured players who would later go on to become superstars in professional basketball including all time greats Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas, the latter three competed on the 1960 Rome team often credited as the best US roster until the formation of the 1992 Dream Team.

 

Group D

Angola

Angola has been a member of FIBA since 1979. Ranking 15th in the FIBA World Rankings, Angola is the top team of FIBA Africa and a regular competitor at the Summer Olympic Games and the FIBA World Cup. Angola has competed in many international competitions including the 1992,1996,2000 and 2002 Summer Olympics, 2006 and 2010 FIBA World Championship as well as the FIBA Africa Championship where the team has won 10 of the last 12 championships with the first coming in 1989 and the most recent in 2009 they won the tournament for Basketball at the 2007 All-Africa Games.

Australia

The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for Kangaroo. Australia is currently is currently ranked 9th in the FIBA World Rankings and finished 7th at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Australia is a regional power in all forms of basketball. Placed in the relatively weak FIBA Oceania region, the Boomers qualification for the Summer Olympic Games and FIBA World Cup is often a three match competition against the other regional power, the New Zealand Tall Blacks. Traditionally the Boomers have been selected from the teams making up the Australasian National Basketball League. This has changed in recent years with many Australian players heading to the stronger EuroLeague to play and several heading to the National Basketball Association in the United States. Australia is the nation that has participated in the most Olympic men's basketball tournaments (13) without winning a medal it has also participated in 10 FIBA World Cups without a medal.

Korea

Based on the number of overall medals won, South Korea is the major force among basketball teams of FIBA Asia. The team has won a record number of 23 medals at the FIBA Asia Championship. Furthermore South Korea is the only nation that has qualified for this event every year since it was first held in 1960. Throughout its basketball history, South Korea has always been among the top teams in Asia. Despite often considered as standing in the shadow of China, the team has its moments of glory. The first major accomplishment was at the 1948 Summer Olympics when it finished 8th better than any other Asian nation and ahead of teams such as Canada, Argentina and Italy. Later in 1969 and 1970 the team enjoyed a brief period to shine when it won the 1969 Asian Championship and ultimately qualified for the 1970 FIBA world Championship. There as the only Asian team South Korea finished ahead of Australia (champion of FIBA Oceana) and Egypt champion of (FIBA Africa).

 

Lithuania

Lithuanian men competed in two of the pre-war FIBA EuroBasket competitions for the European championship. They won both the EuroBasket 1937 and EuroBasket 1939 competitions. The 1939 team was led by Frank Lubin who helped popularize basketball in the country and was called the "Grandfather of Lithuanian Basketball". Having been part of the Soviet Union, Lithuanian players frequently formed the core of the Soviet national team. This was especially so for the 1988 Olympic basketball gold medal winning team which go most of its scoring from four Lithuanians. After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990 the national team was resurrected . Lithuania won bronze medals in the first three Olympics to include NBA players. The Lithuanian team won the FIBA EuroBasket for the third time in 2003. It also won the bronze medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and became vice champions in EuroBasket 2013.

Mexico

As of 2013 Mexico is the reigning basketball champion of the Americas.Until the late 1960s team Mexico was a major force at the world stage. The team won the bronze medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics, finished 4th at the 1948 event and 5th in 1968. At the FIBA Americas Championship 2009 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mexico finished 7th ahead of Panama, Venezuela and the United States Virgin Islands. On individual performances, Gustavo Ayon finished among the tournament's top performers in steals,blocks and minutes per game. Both Eduardo Najera and Earl Watson expressed their interest in representing Mexico internationally. However neither received permission by their teams to participate at the FIBA Americas Championship 2009 in San Juan,Puerto Rico. In 2013 Mexico beat Puerto Rico in the Gold Medal game to win the FIBA Americas Championship.

Slovenia

Slovenia ended in the 6th place in the EuroBasket 2005 and thus qualified for Basketball World Championship 2006. Since the independence of the country in 1991, the team competed at every FIBA EuroBasket but failed to advance to the next group until 2005.