A WCC Fans Guide to the FIBA World Cup
By Josh Horton
For sports fans, there is a lot to get excited about at the end of August and the start of September.
The most prominent event going on is the kickoff of the collegiate and the professional football seasons, with NCAA Division-1 games kicking off this weekend and the NFL season commencing on Sept. 4.
That’s not the only thing on the plate for a diehard sports fan though. The 2014 basketball FIBA World Cup tips off tomorrow, and a few former WCC players are representing their countries in Spain – the host country.
The following post will focus on the two WCC alumni that are participating in this prestigious event. Enjoy!
Matthew Dellavedova – Australia
The Cleveland Cavaliers point guard, who was one of the key members of the Australian-Saint Mary’s pipeline, will be a key member for “the Boomers” (the nickname of the Australian National Team) as well.
The Boomers are in Group D, which also features Slovenia, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico and Angola. With the top four teams in the group advancing to the knockout stage, Australia has a very good chance of advancing to the round of 16.
Why’s that, you ask? Australia features a decent amount of NBA players, with Aron Baynes (San Antonio Spurs), Brock Motum (Utah Jazz), Dante Exum (Jazz) and Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls) on the roster along with Dellavedova. All five of these players should be in the immediate rotation for the Boomers in the tournament, with Dellavedova and Exum expected to comprise the backcourt.
Unfortunately for Australia, they will always wonder what could have been, as two of the best basketball players to ever come out of the country, Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut, will not be playing with the Boomers in 2014.
Dellavedova is expected to handle the ball a great deal and run the offense for Australia this world cup. This should be an easy job with players such as Baynes, Bairstow and Exum to pass too.
Here is Australia’s schedule for the group stage so you can watch the former Saint Mary’s star play in Spain:
Aug 30 – 8:30 a.m. PST: vs. Slovenia
Aug 31 – 4:30 a.m. PST vs. Korea
Sept 2 -8:30 a.m. PST vs. Lithuania
Sept 3 – 4:30 a.m. PST vs. Mexico
Sept 4 – 4:30 a.m. PST vs. Angola
Pooh Jeter – Ukraine
While his home country might be more familiar with Jeter’s Ukrainian name, Yudzhin Dhezter, Portland Pilot fans in the states will be excited to see Jeter take on the world with his national team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
Jeter is expected to Ukraine’s star player for this world cup, likely starting at the point guard position.
While it is nice that Jeter, who played for the Pilots from 2002-2006, is going to be seeing a lot of playing time on a huge stage, the odds are not in Ukraine’s favor to make a deep run.
According to the FIBA rankings, Ukraine is only 45th in the world and the country is making its first ever appearance in the FIBA World Cup. The team has a nice young piece in Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk – an incoming freshmen at University of Kansas – and an established player in Viacheslav Kravtsov, but Ukraine is expected to struggle against some of the more developed national teams in Spain.
Nonetheless, Jeter is a player to watch for any fan of WCC basketball. Here is Ukraine’s schedule for the group stage so you can catch some of his games:
Aug 30 – 3:30 a.m. PST: Ukraine vs. Dominican Republic
Aug 31 – 7:00 a.m. PST vs. Finland
Sept 2 – 6:00 a.m. PST vs. Turkey
Sept 3 – 6:00 a.m. PST vs. New Zealand
Sept 4 – 8:30 a.m. PST vs. United States