Analysing Australia's 'pool of death'

It's been dubbed the pool of death, with Australia to take on Spain, Greece and Canada at the Paris Olympics from July 27.

For Australia to qualify for the quarter-finals, they must either finish top two of their group, or be one of the top two third-placed teams across the tournament.

While every game at the Olympics will be tough, Australia’s group really is like no other - with all four teams ranked inside the top 14. Spain is second in the world, the Boomers fifth, Canada seventh and Greece 14th, in a powerhouse pool.

Group B contains the 26th-ranked Japan and Group C has both the 33rd-ranked South Sudan and 16th-ranked Puerto Rico. This gives other higher ranked teams in those groups a stronger chance to qualify through as the best third-placed team, if they don’t get the results they’re hoping for.

But in the end, if the Boomers want to replicate their medal-winning effort from the most recent Olympics, the only path to success is via the world's best teams. In many ways, it's the perfect challenge. 

Australia will take plenty of confidence from wins over Serbia, Puerto Rico and France, as well as more-than-competitive effort against the USA in a close-fought loss.

The Boomers tip off the tournament with the first game of Group A, against Spain.

>> The Boomers' Olympic matches will be available via the Nine Network, with highlights on-demand via 9Now. Stan Sport will broadcast all events live from across the 19 days in Paris. 

Here's our look at how each of the teams look in the 'pool of death'. 

World ranking: 2
Players to watch: Willy & Juancho Hernangomez, Santi Aldama

Spain booked their ticket through to the Olympics with an eight-point win over the Bahamas in their Qualifying tournament. The win meant that Rudy Fernandez will be taking part in a record sixth Olympic Games for his home country. Spain’s defensive toughness shone through in the end, when they held a Bahamian team who averaged 91 points per game across the games leading up, to under 80 in the final. 

Spain will be led by the Hernangomez brothers, Willy and Juancho, who are both playing in the Euroleague after a few years in the NBA. Willy, who is currently playing for FC Barcelona, averaged 18 points and 7 rebounds through the four games of the tournament. Unfortunately, his younger brother Juancho, was ruled out early due to injury, which allowed Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama to step into a starring role. Aldama led the way, putting up 17 points per game, pulling down eight rebounds and shooting it at 45 per cent from beyond the arc. 

While a lot of their work comes on the defensive end, Spain's depth has always proved to be a point-of-difference in international competitions. That was true once again in the final, outscoring the Bahamas' bench, 32 to 17.

Another name to watch is young guard, Juan Nunez, who was drafted 36th in this years NBA draft, but will reportedly be stashed in Spain, where he has recently been playing for Real Madrid.

Andrew Gaze says: "They’re always so well coached and you know it’s going to be a battle for 40 minutes. They’re going through something similar to us, in that transition from the old to the new, but they have so much experience and past success to draw on. Rudy Fernandez going to his sixth Olympics is the perfect example of that. They’re built for these big tournaments, we see that in the European Championships and saw that in the Qualifying games."

When: Boomers vs Spain July 27, 7pm (AEST)

World rank: 14
Players to watch: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Georgios Papagiannis, Nick Calathes

For the first time in 16 years, Greece is back in the Olympics for basketball, after Giannis Antetokounmpo led his team to victory in the Qualifiers, with an 11-point win over Croatia.

Greece is much more than a one player team, with some strong Euroleague talent like Georgios Papagiannis and Nick Calathes. Both players just signed with AS Monaco, and both were pivotal in helping Greece make it back to the world stage. Calathes, who has played over 100 games for his country, averaged 10 points and 10.5 assists across the four qualifiers.

Antetokounmpo, however, is undoubtedly the biggest concern for the Boomers in this matchup. He suited up in three of the four qualifying games and only averaged 22 minutes a game, doing most of his damage early. Through those games, he still managed to put up 22.7 points per game, and you’d expect Greece to rely heavily on their main man when the Olympics begin.

Much like Spain, Greece also showcased their strong defensive presence, holding all of their opponents to just 72.5 points throughout the tournament. That was further highlighted in the semi-final against Slovenia, where they suffocated Luka Doncic wherever he went and forced him into 10 turnovers. 

Andrew Gaze says: "Greece is an unusual one ... they have arguably the greatest player in the world, but if you go back to the last international tournament Giannis (Antetokounmpo) played, you can use more strategies to guard him in these tournaments than in the NBA. Their veteran guard, Nick Calathes, is just a winner. He’s very crafty and has had a lot of success across his professional career. He is a genuine handful. They play that stereotypical European style, where they grind it out in the half court and have all these unique sets. Interestingly, their coach mentioned recently that they’re trying to incorporate some NBA styles into their play now, so we will see how that translates."

When: Boomers vs Greece July 30, 9:30pm (AEST)

World rank: 7
Players to watch: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett

It’s hard to read too much into rankings and the Canadian team is a prime example of that, as they boast one of the most talented teams in the world. The World Cup Bronze medalists return to the Olympic stage for the first time since Sydney 2000. They automatically gained their entry by finishing as a top-two team from the Americas at the World Cup, after beating Team USA in overtime of that Bronze Medal game, behind 39 points from Dillon Brooks.

This NBA-dominated lineup is one of the most intriguing in the entire competition, with the potential of how tough that could be. With an MVP contender in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way, it’s impossible to put a ceiling on this team.

NBA champion and Denver Nuggets guard, Jamal Murray, wasn’t at the World Cup, but will be making his Olympic debut in Paris. It’s easy to see the offensive firepower that this team has, with the likes of RJ Barrett on the wing, but don’t look past their strong defensive guards in Lu Dort and Nickeil Alexander-Walker as well.

This Canadian team jumped into the spotlight during the World Cup and put everyone on notice as being one to watch in the future.

Their first World Cup berth since 1994 saw them bring home a Bronze medal. What does the Canadians' first Olympics since 2000 have in store?

Andrew Gaze says: "Now this team is a different proposition altogether. They have incredible depth and are led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was second in the MVP voting. Dillion Brooks’ numbers at the World Cup were unbelievable, and it’s those role players in the NBA who enjoy stepping up into a different role for their country. They’re a truly frightening proposition and genuine gold medal contenders and while it will take a herculean effort for us to beat them, if you look at the entire rosters, we have the ability to go toe-to-toe with them.”

When: Boomers vs Canada August 2, 930pm (AEST)

As Andrew Bogut mentioned on The Gold Standard, this group doesn’t have a ‘percentage booster’ among them like the others do. If Australia loses two of its group games, it could come down to them trying to run up the score in a third game to qualify as one of the best third placed teams. 

Andrew Gaze says: "It's the toughest group certainly, but there's optimism in the fact that if we play really well and get one or two wins, we will have a friendlier matchup in the next round."

>> The Boomers' Olympic matches will be available via the Nine Network, with highlights on-demand via 9Now. Stan Sport will broadcast all events live from across the 19 days in Paris.