USA Basketball draws Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico for World Cup qualifying

USA Basketball volition look Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba successful the archetypal circular of qualifying for the 2023 Basketball World Cup.

The Americans, who won a 4th consecutive Olympic golden medal successful Tokyo but finished lone seventh astatine the astir caller Basketball World Cup 2 years ago, recovered retired their qualifying opponents Tuesday erstwhile the gully was held astatine FIBA office successful Mies, Switzerland.

It volition besides beryllium the archetypal large tourney for USA Basketball with Grant Hill arsenic managing director. Hill is succeeding Jerry Colangelo successful that role; Colangelo oversaw each of the past 4 Olympics for the U.S., helping assemble teams that won golden medals each time.

The U.S. has won the World Cup 5 times, astir precocious successful 2014.

There are 80 teams successful the qualifying rounds. It begins with a treble round-robin; each teams successful the assorted groups for the archetypal circular volition play the different 3 teams successful their radical twice. First-round games volition beryllium played during 3 antithetic windows — Nov. 20-30, Feb. 21-March 1 and June 27-July 5.

Second-round games statesman successful August 2022 and tally done February 2023. The adjacent World Cup — to beryllium hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia — takes spot from Aug. 25 done Sept. 10, 2023.

Defending World Cup champion Spain, trying to go 1 of the 12 European qualifiers for the tournament, opens with games against Ukraine, Georgia and North Macedonia successful the opening round.

As hosts, the Philippines and Japan are already successful the 32-team World Cup field. The different 30 spots volition beryllium decided done qualifying. Indonesia does not get an automatic spot arsenic a big country.

AMERICAS REGION

The portion has 16 teams successful qualifying, successful 4 antithetic four-team first-round groups, with 12 of those nations making the 2nd round. From there, the tract volition beryllium pared to the 7 World Cup qualifiers; the first-, second- and third-place finisher successful some second-round groups volition marque the World Cup, on with the champion fourth-place team.

In Group A, Argentina — which, barring a alteration of his mind, volition beryllium without Luis Scola for a large planetary tourney for the archetypal clip successful much than 2 decades — faces Venezuela, Panama and Paraguay successful the archetypal round.

Group B includes Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile. Group C has Canada, the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. And successful Group D, it’s the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba.

EUROPE REGION

The aforesaid qualifying rules use successful Europe, with four-team groups assembled for the archetypal round. But the tract is treble the size of different regions, with 32 teams playing for what volition go 12 World Cup spots.

As successful the different regions, the apical 3 finishers successful each first-round radical volition beforehand to the 2nd round, which successful Europe’s lawsuit volition trim the 32 teams down to 24. Those 24 nations volition beryllium placed successful 1 of 4 six-team second-round groups, and the apical 3 finishers successful each of those groups volition marque the World Cup.

In Group A, Serbia, Latvia, Belgium and Slovakia volition play. Group B has Greece, Turkey, Britain and Belarus. Group C has Olympic semifinalist Slovenia on with Croatia, Finland, Sweden. In Group D, it’ll beryllium Germany, Poland, Israel and Estonia.

Group E is led by Olympic metallic medalist France, which volition conscionable Montenegro, Hungary and Portugal. Group F has Lithuania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Group G is the Spain-Ukraine-Georgia-North Macedonia group, and Group H volition spot Italy, Russia, the Netherlands and Iceland facing off.

AFRICA REGION

There are 16 teams vying for what volition beryllium 5 World Cup spots. They were breached down into 4 four-team groups for the archetypal round, and the apical 3 finishers successful those groups volition determination connected to the 2nd round.

Group A has Nigeria, Mali, Uganda and Cape Verde. In Group B, it’s Tunisia, Cameroon, South Sudan and Rwanda. Group C has Angola, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic and Guinea. And successful Group D, it’s Senegal, Egypt, Congo and Kenya.

ASIA REGION

Another 16 teams are inactive successful the premix for 8 World Cup spots, with the Philippines and Japan — arsenic big nations — already securing 2 of those, but they volition besides instrumentality portion successful the qualifying anyway. The 3rd World Cup host, Indonesia, indispensable inactive suffice for the World Cup and did not get an automatic entry.

The apical 3 teams from each first-round radical determination into the 2nd round. Once there, the apical 3 teams volition marque the World Cup, with the Philippines and Japan excluded from that count.

In Group A, it’ll beryllium New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines and India. Group B — which shapes up arsenic 1 of the astir competitory first-round groups successful the full qualifying tourney — features Olympic bronze medalist Australia, China, Japan and Taiwan. Group C has Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. In Group D, it’s Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria and Bahrain.