An early view at the groups

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Merhaba!

As promised, an early look on the four groups that were drawn together last Tuesday.

By the way, www.FIBA.tv is giving you great reports and interviews with a lot of representatives of the different countries that attended the FIBA central board meeting and the draw these past days, so don't miss out to check the website!

Group A

Possible stars in Kayseri: Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic, Andrew Bogut, Patrick Mills, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Kaman, Rasheim Wright, Joaquim Gomes

May advance: Serbia, Argentina, Australia and Germany

Serbia was a major surprise in Poland this year, but can they keep up the momentum by beating the Argentines, Australians and Germans? The team is fairly young and may have a tougher task than at the Euros as their opponents won't be surprised by Teodosic, Velickovic and.... no more. I still see them advancing but not without at least one loss. If Argentina can get some more help on the guard positions and more depth at the pivot, they should easily be counted in for the quarters. Scola has been huge in Puerto Rico and Prigioni is a vocal leader on and off the court and if Ginobili gets the green light by the Spurs, he would be another boost for the team as well as Walter Herrmann and Fabricio Oberto. Andrew Bogut, Andersen, Smith, Mills among others will be leading Australia's bid for the knock-out stages. I can even imagine them beating Serbia, Argentina and Germany as the team looks good on the paper. Germany needs to get back on track after suffering a ton of losses in international competition during the last years. The pre-Olympic qualifier in Athens last year was the only time where they recorded more wins then losses. Nowitzki and Kaman should be leading by example, as the team will be fairly young with Schaffartzik, Harris and Benzing being down at the World Champs the first time in their careers. Jordan is relying a lot on spectacular Rasheim Wright, who has been played a major role for them to qualify. I still don't see them advancing in this well-balanced group. I see even Angola beating them due to their unorthodox team-play, which led them to win all African championships of the last decade.

Group B

Possible stars in Istanbul: U.S. Roster, Leandrinho, Anderson Varejao, Nene, Thiago Splitter, Jaka Lakovic, Erazem Lorbek, Goran Dragic, Zoran Planinic, Marko Banic, Hamed Haddadi

May advance: USA, Brazil, Slovenia and Croatia

The "Redeem Team" showed up focused to win the gold medal in Beijing last year, so should be the US national-team for Turkey. Jerry Colangelo is going to name a list of player from which the final 12 will be chosen from soon. All I can say is that the U.S. needs another zero losses-tournament to prove their dominance; otherwise, the discussions will never stop. Brazil could be in to beat Slovenia and Croatia, as I liked what I saw in Puerto Rico this year. With the possible addition of Nene, they could be doing really well in Istanbul. Slovenia had bad luck with injuries in Poland, but should if they can stay healthy this time, they could reach even the semis as the team has all the tools but had always bad luck in the past. Their neighbors Croatia will be having a new coach in Josip Vrankovic but I doubt that they can overcome their bad charma. Team played awful basketball in Poland although it has some big names on the roster. Currently, I can't see my countrymen making it to the next round, as they somehow might loose to against Iran or Tunisia. Still, if upcoming Marko Banic and young-stars like Zubcic blossom into leaders on the floor, the Hrvati could creep into the quarters.
Hamed Haddadi is fairly dominant in Asian competition but I doubt that he and talented guard Nikkah will be able to get their Iranians into the next round. Tunisia is not athletically gifted but played smart ball in Libya this year. I don't see them going anywhere at this higher level though, as the team lacks simply the talent.

Group C

Possible stars in Ankara: Hedo Turkoglu, Ersan Ilyasova, Andrei Kirilenko, J.R. Holden, Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Carlos Arroyo, J.J. Barea, Yi Jianlian,

May advance: Turkey, Russia, Greece and Puerto Rico

Hosts Turkey should be a lock for the next round, thanks to their fans. No chance that they will be out after group play.
I see the Greek topping the group and Russia coming right behind them, even if there are several doubters regarding Russia's positive outcome in Turkey.
Puerto Rico is playing weaker on foreign soil and may now need four great quarters in their games to make it to the next round. The Ivory Coast is my dark horse in this group and I see them beating the Puerto Ricans surprisingly but loose to China in a hard-fought game. China needs a healthy Yao Ming to make some noise, but it looks like he won't be around and their lack of a strong backcourt may hurt their chances to succeed.

Group D

Possible stars in Izmir: Tony Parker,Mickael Pietrus,Saras, Ramunas Siskauskas,Linas Kleiza, Spain's starting five, Matt Bonner, Carl English, Joel Anthony, Matt Freije, Kirk Penney

May advance: Lithuania, France, Spain and Canada

I'm sorry for my Lebanese friends, but you guys need a big day to beat Canada, as I can't see aging El Khatib, Vroman and Freije getting it done against big men from Spain, France and Lithuania, and the Lebanese guards are not on the same level compared to the other nations except New Zealand. Spain is the favorite on the paper, but without Pau and Navarro, they will be having a tougher time against France and Lithuania. France's game depends too much on Tony Parker, as he was off against Spain and promptly caused a loss for the strong Frenchies. They are in for the group-winner, while Canada needs time to grow into a team with Magloire and Bonner possibly joining the first time. New Zealand has been great back then in Indianapolis when they had a pretty good roster but now relies too much on Penney's scoring output.

Of course I know that it's too early to predict the outcome, but maybe this little overview helps you determine which games you are going to follow, whether it's on your local television station, the internet or even live in one of the sites of the World Championships!

I'm out like waiting for the World Championships.