Complete: 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup

[happy5214]

The FIBA Basketball World Cup is the "official" world championship of men's international basketball. While its prestige pales in comparison to the Olympics, and many big stars are missing the tournament, it's still a championship with a format amenable to a Legion contest.

This contest will officially kick off the 2023-24 Legion Cup. The winner will also receive 2 slots of cash or tech, based on their Caesar status, or the equivalent amount of Politics and War aid ($10 million). Points will also be awarded for the Global Cup.

This tournament has a unique format that we haven't seen in any of our previous contests, so read closely. There are 32 teams, split into 8 groups of 4. You'll pick the top 2 in each group, for 1 point each. The top-2 teams move onto a second group stage, alongside the top-2 teams from another group, where they will play "crossover" games. The results from the first two rounds will be combined, and the top-2 teams in the second-round groups (which you'll pick for 1 point each) will advance to the quarterfinals. The knockout rounds proceed as usual for a 32-team Legion tournament, with the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final being worth 2, 4, and 6 points per correct pick, respectively. The tiebreaker is the winner of the third-place game, followed by the point total in the final.

Here are the 32 teams you'll be picking from:

Group A:

• Angola
• Dominican Republic
• Philippines
• Italy

Group B:

• South Sudan
• Serbia
• China
• Puerto Rico

Group C:

• United States
• Jordan
• Greece
• New Zealand

Group D:

• Egypt
• Mexico
• Montenegro
• Lithuania

Group E:

• Germany
• Finland
• Australia
• Japan

Group F:

• Slovenia
• Cape Verde
• Georgia
• Venezuela

Group G:

• Iran
• Spain
• Ivory Coast
• Brazil

Group H:

• Canada
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• France

Picks are due at the start of the first game, which I estimate to be on August 25 at 3 AM server time.

[jacka]

Group A:
Dominican Republic
Italy

Group B:
Serbia
Puerto Rico

Group C:
United States
Greece

Group D:
Mexico
Lithuania

Group E:
Germany
Australia

Group F:
Slovenia
Venezuela

Group G:
Spain
Brazil

Group H:
Latvia
France

[juleandor]

Group A:
Dominican Republic
Italy

Group B:
China
Puerto Rico

Group C:
United States
New Zealand

Group D:
Mexico
Lithuania

Group E:
Germany
Australia

Group F:
Georgia
Venezuela

Group G:
Spain
Brazil

Group H:
Latvia
France

[hockeyD13 (Ozark)]

Group A:
Dominican Republic
Italy

Group B:
Serbia
Puerto Rico

Group C:
United States
Greece

Group D:
Montenegro
Lithuania

Group E:
Germany
Australia

Group F:
Slovenia
Venezuela

Group G:
Spain
Brazil

Group H:
Canada
France

[king qaz]

Group A:

Dominican Republic
Italy


Group B:

Serbia
Puerto Rico


Group C:

United States
Greece


Group D:

Mexico
Lithuania


Group E:

Germany
Australia


Group F:

Slovenia
Venezuela


Group G:

Spain
Brazil


Group H:

Canada
France

[happy5214]

Just a PSA for everyone's Group C picks. It was announced today that Giannis Antetokounmpo will not play for Greece in this tournament, in case that affects anyone's picks for Greece.

[Xineoph]

Originally Posted by happy5214

Just a PSA for everyone's Group C picks. It was announced today that Giannis Antetokounmpo will not play for Greece in this tournament, in case that affects anyone's picks for Greece.

She probably held the Greek team back, now I'll definitely pick them!

Group A:

• Dominican Republic
• Italy

Group B:

• Serbia
• Puerto Rico

Group C:

• United States
• Greece

Group D:

• Mexico
• Lithuania

Group E:

• Finland
• Japan

Group F:

• Slovenia
• Georgia

Group G:

• Spain
• Brazil

Group H:

• Canada
• France

[Firkinvald]

Group A:
Dominican Republic
Italy

Group B:
Serbia
Puerto Rico

Group C:
United States
Greece

Group D:
Montenegro
Lithuania

Group E:
Germany
Australia

Group F:
Slovenia
Georgia

Group G:
Spain
Brazil

Group H:
Canada
France

[happy5214]

Group A:

Dominican Republic
Italy

Group B:

Serbia
Puerto Rico

Group C:

United States
Greece

Group D:

Montenegro
Lithuania

Group E:

Germany
Australia

Group F:

Slovenia
Venezuela

Group G:

Spain
Brazil

Group H:

Canada
France

[happy5214]

Round 1 concluded Wednesday morning. The advancing teams were as follows:

Group A:

• Dominican Republic
• Italy

Group B:

• Serbia
• Puerto Rico

Group C:

• United States
• Greece

Group D:

• Montenegro
• Lithuania

Group E:

• Germany
• Australia

Group F:

• Slovenia
• Georgia

Group G:

• Spain
• Brazil

Group H:

• Canada
• Latvia

Here is how everyone did with their picks. I used the nations' IOC codes for brevity (use this Wikipedia list as a guide).

Ruler \ Team

ANG

DOM

PHI

ITA

SSD

SRB

CHN

PUR

USA

JOR

GRE

NZL

EGY

MEX

MNE

LTU

GER

FIN

AUS

JPN

SLO

CPV

GEO

VEN

IRI

ESP

CIV

BRA

CAN

LAT

LBN

FRA

jacka

juleandor

hockeyD13 (Ozark)

king qaz

Xineoph

Firkinvald

happy5214

Normally, I would post the match-ups for the round of 16, but there is no such round in this tournament. Instead, the advancing teams are placed into four groups of four for round 2. They will play a partial round-robin (they won't play the team from the same round 1 group for a second time), and the results from this round will be combined with the round 1 results. The top-2 teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. There's also a classification round for places 17-32, but you won't be picking those.

Here are the teams you will be picking from in round 2:

Group I:

• Serbia
• Dominican Republic
• Italy
• Puerto Rico

Group J:

• United States
• Lithuania
• Greece
• Montenegro

Group K:

• Germany
• Slovenia
• Australia
• Georgia

Group L:

• Spain
• Canada
• Brazil
• Latvia

Each correct pick is worth 1 point, and they are due by 3 AM server time on September 1.