2019nbachamps wrote:Unfortunately it looks like we will be the 3rd seed even if we beat the Spain which would mean playing the U.S. in the semis. Germany is +16 on us and will likely beat France. France is just -1 behind us so even if both of us win, France may get the #2 seed on point differential.
We pretty much need to beat Spain by 20 and hope the France/Spain game is tight.
Being the 2 seed means being in Pot D with the US (assuming they go 3-0 with a high point differential), and avoiding the US until the finals, but I don't think being the 3rd seed necessarily means playing the US in the semis.
The 3rd and 4th seeds are treated identically - they are placed in Pot E and each has a 50/50 chance of being drawn to the same half of the bracket as the US.
E.g., assume the 8 QF teams are:
1) US 3-0
2) Germany 3-0
3) Canada 3-0
4) Australia 2-1
5) France 2-1
6) Serbia 2-1
7) Japan 1-2
8) Spain 1-2
Then the pots would be:
D: US and Germany
E: Canada and Australia
F: France and Serbia
G: Japan and Spain
Then it is random to see which teams are on which half of the draw (one team from each pot is randomly assigned to each half).
So, it could be US vs Japan and Australia vs Serbia in one half, and
Canada vs France and Germany vs Spain in the other.
Or we could get put on the US side. 50/50
(It gets more complicated if the rule that you can't play a team from your group in the QFs, but in my simplified example above this is not an issue).
Passing Germany (or France) in point differential would certainly be better - it means definitely being on the other side of the breacket as the US, and it likely means an easier QF opponent (a 3rd place team such as Japan, Brazil, South Sudan, or Puerto Rico - because we can't play the 3rd place team from our group in the QFs).
But not moving up to a top 2 seed doesn't necessarily mean being on the same side of the bracket as the US.