aminiaturebuddha wrote:
I believe it's point differential, even though they're obviously playing against different teams in different pools. At least, that's how they're going to determine the 3rd place teams that make it into the quarters, so I assume it would be the same to determine the top 2 teams.
And that's unfortunately where it's tough for Canada to be in the group of death. There are no easy games for Canada to run up the score and get those precious point differential points.
What I don't know is which side of the bracket the 3rd pool winner joins. Presumably the side with the second ranked pool winner? In that case, if the US could keep running up the score in their games, we may still avoid their side of the bracket.
Yes, you are right - overall point differential would come in before FIBA ranking, and not having any weaker teams will make it hard for us. Germany already racked up a +20 vs Japan and France a +12 vs. Brazil. The winner of that France-Germany game will likely have a better differential than us.
Re bracket sides, the competition rules don't explan how the semifinals matchups work - pre-set brackets or highest seed plays lowest seed.
The rules only say that "Winners of the Quarter-Finals played by the teams from Pot D cannot play each other in the Semi-Final games."
Assume Canada, US, and Germany each finish 3-0, and that Australia, France and Serbia each finish 2-1.
If the US and Germany have better differentials than us, they will be seeded 1st and 2nd and will be in Pot D.
We would be seeded 3rd and be in Pot E with whichever of Australia, France, and Serbia had the better differential (assume France).
In that scenario, we or France could end up on the same side of the draw as the US if it is random based on the pot draws.
Anyway, getting ahead ourselves here. Still a lot of round robin to be played.
