France break into top five of FIBA bwin World Ranking Men; Senegal climb 11 spots

GENEVA (FIBA) - The United States, Spain, Argentina and Lithuania remain the top four countries in the FIBA bwin World Ranking Men following the conclusion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, but there has been a shake-up of the positions below them.

France, who stunned Spain - the hosts of FIBA's flagship event - in the Quarter-Finals and later edged out Lithuania in the Third-Place Game, have climbed three spots to No. 5.

The French, whose forward Nicolas Batum was a member of the All-Star Five presented by Tissot, have been on a tear since 2011 when they reached the EuroBasket Final in Lithuania.

Vincent Collet's side made it to the Quarter-Finals of the London Olympics and won the EuroBasket 2013 title in Slovenia before this month's strong showing in Spain.

Serbia, after surprising Greece at Spain 2014 in the Round of 16, Brazil in the last Eight and then France in the Semi-Finals before falling in the Final to the USA, have risen four spots to No. 7 - just one behind Russia.

The Serbians owed much to their guard Milos Teodosic, a member of the All-Star Five for the second consecutive FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Greece, who had fallen one spot to fifth after coming up short of the EuroBasket 2013 Quarter-Finals, plummeted five places to No. 10 after their Round of 16 loss to the Serbians in Madrid.

Mexico and Senegal, sides that advanced from the Group Phase but then immediately lost in the Final Phase, have enjoyed substantial improvement in the rankings.

Last year's FIBA Americas Championship winners Mexico have jumped from No. 24 to No. 19 and Senegal are now 11 places better at No. 30.

Mexico, led once again by center Gustavo Ayon, won against Angola and Korea in Group D before losing to the United States while the Senegalese overcame Puerto Rico and Croatia in Group B before falling to Spain in the Round of 16.

Croatia (+4, No. 12), Iran (+3, No. 17), the Dominican Republic (+6, No. 20), Ukraine (+5, No. 40), Egypt (+5, No. 41), Finland (+4, No. 35) and Korea (+4, No. 27) and the Philippines (+3, No. 31) were also big movers in the rankings.

Croatia and the Dominicans claimed better positions after progressing to the Final Phase.

Italy did not play at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and have had the biggest fall of any country, dropping 15 places to No. 36.

Click here to view the full FIBA Ranking Men.

The FIBA bwin World Ranking Women will be updated following the conclusion of the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey (27 September-5 October).

FIBA