FIBA World Basketball Championship Preview - Group C

Basketball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

Country: China

FIBA Ranking: 9

Head Coach: Bob Donewald

Key Players: Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue

Overview: China will be without the services of superstar Yao Ming as he continues to battle injuries, however, they still have talented players in Yi and Sun. Expect a strong showing as the sport of basketball continues to grow in popularity in the most populous country in the world.

Strengths: Unlike a lot of teams in this tournament, China has great height at all positions. It's a very versatile team with front court players that possess face-up and perimeter skills to go along with smooth and finesse-type low-post games.

Weaknesses: China's guards may have great height but that's about it. With the exception of Sun, the Chinese guard play is not as developed as their play in the front court, and that can present problems in turning the ball over when under pressure, not to mentioned weak shooting from beyond the arc.

Tournament Expectations: China will be fighting for the top spot in group C with Greece. It should easily make it to the Round of 16 and China has a realistic chance at making it to the semi finals in the tournament. If they want to make it that far, the Chinese will need to get stronger guard play than they've had in past international events.

Country: Cote d'Ivoire

FIBA Ranking: 41

Head Coach: Randoald Dessarzin

Key Player: Pape-Philippe Amagou

Overview: After an inspired performance at the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship that saw it capture a silver medal, Cote d'Ivoire will be making its the first FIBA World Championship appearance since 1986.

Strengths: The team is young, athletic and plays well in the open court. This strength is further bolstered because its big guys can run the floor. Like most teams defined by athleticism, Cote d'Ivoire is adept at slashing to the basket as opposed to spotting up for jumpers.

Weaknesses: With only have two players that can be considered true "bigs", grabbing rebounds and defending the paint with be a problem for this team. Its offense is also one-dimensional with a lack of strong perimeter shooting.

Tournament Expectations: The Ivory Coast is not expected to make it out of the group stage. They will most likely finish last in group C and that is because every other team in the group will be able to take advantage of their undersized roster. This is a team that will struggle to win a single game.

Country: Greece

FIBA Ranking: 4

Head Coach: Jonas Kazlauskas

Key Players: Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitris Diamantidis

Overview: The storied history of Greek basketball will continue to be written, and its hoping to do one place better in this year's world championship after capturing silver at the 2006 world championship.

Strengths: Greece boasts deadly accurate shooters and a strong interior presence that can stymie attackers in the lane. They are one of the most well balanced teams in the tournament and, if they execute their half-court sets the way they can, they are also one of the most exciting teams to watch if fundamental basketball is to your liking.

Weaknesses: A major reason why Greece plays so solidly fundamentally is because they do not have the athleticism required to play a more up tempo, freestyle game. They have the shooters to get themselves back into contests, but those shooters still require time to get to the right spots within their offense, thus, if the game starts to speed up, their game plan will be disrupted.

Tournament Expectations: Greece will vie for first place in group C with China. With its all-around skill and depth, it should finish first in the group. Beyond that, Greece is one of the teams that can aim for winning it all as it remains one of the few countries with its full roster of talent.

Country: Russia

FIBA Ranking: 17

Head Coach: David Blatt

Key Players: J.R. Holden, Viktor Khryapa

Overview: Traditional powerhouse Russia has seen a turn for the worse lately, as evidenced by its seventh-place finish in EuroBasket 2009. The program is going through a state of transition with a lot of the previous staple players getting up in their years and with no younger players emerging to take the mantle. This tournament looks like it will be a place for Russia to find a player to carry on the Russian basketball tradition moving forward.

Strengths: The team's primary players comprise of guys who have been there before and will not be flustered by the bright lights of an international tournament. Their big men have a small amount of versatility in that they can step outside to knock down mid to long range shots, but they feel most comfortable in the post. The team also plays solid defense, anchored by this year's Euroleague top defender, Khryapa.

Weaknesses: Its overall offense is weak because it relies far too heavily on Holden. If he cannot get it going, then the offense has a tendency to stagnate because of the lack of creativity on the offensive end to get other players involved.

Tournament Expectations: With first and second in group C probably going to Greece and China, Russia will almost certainly be competing for third and fourth with Puerto Rico and Turkey. This three-way clash in the group will prove to be entertaining, but, based on the factors of talent, youth and home- court, it wouldn't be a stretch to see Russia on the outside looking in.

Country: Puerto Rico

FIBA Ranking: 10

Head Coach: Manuel Cintron

Key Players: J.J. Barea, Carlos Arroyo

Overview: After being eliminated in the group stage of the 2006 FIBA World Championship and being able to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, Puerto Rico make its return to the international stage and will look to reclaim the past successes it experienced at the 2002 World Championship and the 2004 Olympics.

Strengths:

With two of the best point guards in the tournament running the show, offence will come easy to Puerto Rico. Both Barea and Arroyo are smart decision makers, knowing when and where to get the ball to a teammate as well as when to decide to look for their own on offense.

Weaknesses:

What Barea and Arroyo do great offensively also has an equal bad part defensively. They both do not defend particularly well. This is an overall theme of the Puerto Rican guards as they will have be broken down too early on the perimeter, putting their big men in difficult predicaments to save a basket.

Tournament Expectations: Puerto Rico will be a part of the aforementioned three-team battle in Group C. With its talent, it should be able to capture third place in the group. Judging by the way the draws have been expected to play out in the Round of 16, Puerto Rico will have a good chance at advancing to the quarter finals.

Country: Turkey

FIBA Ranking: 18

Head Coach: Bogdan Tanjevic

Key Players: Hedo Turkoglu, Ersan Ilyasova

Overview: Nine years ago, Turkey hosted EuroBasket 2001 and ended up with a silver medal. They are hoping the same perfect storm of good fortune and exceptional play will lead them to another great success on home soil in this year's world championship.

Strengths:

The home-court advantage is not to be underestimated, as teams always play better in front of their home fans, and having an entire nation as home fans will only fire up the Turkish players even more. Besides from what being the host nation can do, Turkey's other strength is in its versatility. The team's two best scorers, Turkoglu and Ilyasova, are front court players who can handle the ball decently, shoot it well and pass it even better. This allows the rest of the team to play off the two forwards like they are point guards.

Weaknesses: The team is coming in with a lot of players who had poor seasons, including Turkoglu, especially in shooting the ball. This glaring fault may have been covered up if they were athletic enough to get to the hole consistently, but that's not the case here.

Tournament Expectations: Turkey will probably come out of the three-team fight for third and fourth place in Group C, beating out Russia for the fourth and final advancing spot. It's not likely it will advance past the Round of 16 but, with how emotional some of the players can be, and the positive vibes that will be surrounding the team everywhere they are during the tournament, it could end up upsetting some big teams.