Group C preview: Can anybody stop USA?

MANILA (Philippines) - USA are strong favorites in this group, but lessons from 2019 suggest they should be at 100 percent from tip-off of day one. Greece, New Zealand and Jordan will search for upsets in Manila.

The Favorite: USA

With Steve Kerr at the helm, USA will search for a place in history. They are already standing atop of the standings in terms of the FIBA Basketball World Cup all-time medal hunt, with 12 medals to their names, but this is their chance to become the first nation with six World Cups.

Coming into Manila, they are tied with the former Yugoslavia, both teams climbed the tallest step of the podium five times so far.

With so much history and so much star power on their roster, it would be hard to imagine anybody other than the United States taking up The Favorite part of this preview.

But, they were also group favorites in the First Round in China four years ago, and Turkey still forced overtime against them. Greece, New Zealand and Jordan are going for the copy-paste of that Turkish modus operandi from Shanghai.

The Underdog: Jordan

Three of these teams made the World Cup Semi-Finals since the turn of the century. The remaining one is Jordan, entering only their third FIBA Basketball World Cup summit, with a 1-9 record combined in 2010 and 2019.

Their all-time record in the FIBA Asia Cup does not intimidate a lot of opponents either, two podium place finishes across 16 appearances, winning 63 games, losing 56.

It's going to be an uphill battle for them, but these are the exact challenges where a team grows from strength to strength. They went 0-5 in 2010, 1-4 in 2019, if they pick up two wins as the underdogs of the group, they could be among the top sixteen teams in the world.

The Pivotal Game: Greece v New Zealand

If Steve Kerr's men stand tall as the favorites, and Jordan are the underdogs of the group, it means we should have all eyes on the very last game of the group, set on Wednesday, August 30. That's when Greece and New Zealand face off, repeating a similar kind of schedule from 2019.

Both teams ready for the revenge of the World Cup 2019 game

Greece and New Zealand were also playing the pivotal final group game back then. Brazil advanced at 3-0 in Group F, Greece and New Zealand entered the final day at 1-1, knowing the winner would take the last ticket to the Round of 16.

It took a massive double-double by Giannis Antetokounmpo to force Greece to a 103-97 win, let's hope for another thriller with both teams combining for 200 points in 2023, too.

The Open Question: Life without Giannis

How tough are the Greeks without their talismanic leader in Giannis Antetokounmpo? They looked really good during the training camp, but playing a big competition is a whole different beast compared to the tuneup games.

Thanasis Antetokounmpo will have to take on a bigger role

With Giannis on board, we could be talking about Greece challenging for the top seed, but without him, teams like New Zealand and Jordan must be feeling confident about testing the rest of the Greek roster.