With about 24 hours until the Olympic Qualifying Tournament starts, let’s have a look at the teams and the chances for each team to make it to the big goal: the Olympics in Beijing.
New Zealand and Cape Verde will tip off the tournament at 1pm local time. Both teams are in the same group as Germany and should not play a big role in the battle for the final spots in the Olympics.
At 3.30pm local time, Korea and Slovenia are next. With Sani Becirovic, Rasho Nesterovic (Toronto Raptors) and Jaka Lakovic, Solvenia is among the favorites to grab a spot for the Olympics. Even the oddsmakers such as SportingBet.com already post Slovenia within the candidates to win the Olympics. If you want to make money, place your money on Slovenia: One euro will give you a return of 101.
Playing at 10pm local time is the team to watch: Greece! Not only will Greece play at home in front of a 20,000+ crowd, they also feature players like Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Schortsianitis, Spanoulis, Fotsis and of course boast head coach Yannakis. I guess Lebanon will not be a big matchup for the Greeks.
Speaking of Greece, Fiba.com published an interesting poll on their website asking the question, “Will Greece be able to beat a Germany team that has Chris Kaman if the teams meet in the quarterfinals?”
The results: 42% answered “NO,” while 53% believe in a win for Greece. 5% just do not know – what an answer!
