Boomers’ ‘pool of death’ locked in as Andrew Bogut reveals his ‘huge concern’ for medal chances
The Boomers may have won bronze at the Tokyo Games but even getting out of the group stage at this year’s Olympics will be a challenge after Australia’s pool for Paris was locked in.
Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was emotional as he helped Greece book an Olympic berth, scoring 23 points in a 80-69 qualifying tournament win over Croatia.
Elsewhere, Spain defeated the Bahamas 86-78 to also progress through to Group A at this year’s Olympics, which will now feature Greece, Australia and Canada.
The four teams will battle it out in Lille, where the Boomers will be up against it from the jump as they look to get out of what Andrew Bogut described as the “pool of death”.
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“I think realistically talking, I think the podium is going to be very hard, if we’re being honest,” Bogut said on NBL Media’s ‘The Gold Standard’ podcast.
“I think they need a really good run and some lucky bounces. In these tournaments, you need a lucky bounce every now and then. You need something, a lucky quarter or someone fouls out, someone gets hurt, whatever it is on the other team, and you have a good little run there. “But we’ve got the pool of death and people aren’t talking about that. We’ve got a pool that’s going to get two qualifiers from Europe.”
Bogut went on to argue the fact both Spain and Greece are coming off hard-fought qualifiers will only make it will harder for Australia to get out of Group A when comparing the Boomers’ preparations for Paris.
“I hate having two qualifiers because they’re playing basketball right now. They’re playing games that matter,” Bogut said.
“They’re not playing China. They’re not playing USA in a friendly and Serbia in a friendly where there’s going to be antics and hiding sets and all that kind of stuff. These qualifiers they’re playing, they mean everything.
“So they’re running everything, they’re getting in tune and they flow into the Olympics with great form. On top of that, we have Canada.”
That Canada team is stacked with NBA talent, headlined by Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was an MVP contender last season.
Elsewhere, Getting past Greece will involve finding a way to limit Antetokounmpo’s effectiveness, while Spain is currently No.2 in FIBA World Rankings.
The top two teams in each group will advance along with the two best third-placed teams across the board, which will bring the total to eight nations in the quarter-finals.
However, as Bogut explained, the Boomers won’t want to be relying on being one of those two superior third-placed teams given the strength of the competition in their pool.
“We don’t have a percentage booster team in our pool,” he said.
“That’s a huge concern for me. You look at the other two pools, South Sudan, they battle, but they’re probably most likely going to get smacked every now and then. And Japan’s in the other pool.
“So those third placed teams that finished third can probably beat up on them and maybe get a 20-point win booster percentage. Even if we get a win or two or whatever it is, our percentage isn’t going to be as great. We have to aim at winning two out of three of those games.
“If we get that third spot, we’re leaving it up to chance and the percentages of chance are not in our favour. So I think we have the toughest pool. I think it’s going to be really tough. I think podium would be amazing. If we get on the podium out of this pool, that’s an amazing run, but I think it’s going to be tough, very, very tough to get through.”
BOOMERS’ PARIS OLYMPIC DRAW (Times AEST)
Group A:
Saturday, July 27: vs Spain from 7pm
Tuesday, July 30: vs Canada from 9.30pm
Friday, August 2: vs Greece from 9.30pm
