As important as our draw is our schedule. We really, really don't want to lose our first game again and set ourselves on a path to fourth in the group. I would like to start the tournament against China, get the USA in the third game to avoid them in the cross-over, and be pitted against possibly Lithuania, Venezuela and the 3rd place qualifier.

We have proven that we can beat Lithuania. We have done it with a team that will be less talented and versatile than the one we have now with the inclusion of Bogut and Mills. I am not scared of Venezeula or Argentina although either could beat us on their day. I am not sure who is in the qualifying race but any that get through to be top three will be a concern. I am massively keen for this draw. What time will we know the results?

I think the draw happens at 1.30am AEDT, so we'll wake up to news tomorrow.

Agree that it would be great to get an inexperienced opponent first up, wouldn't want to have to face Spain or Argentina who have been there and done that so many times before. Having said that, our core has been together a long time now, they should be pretty ready for day one.

Should being the operative word. We wont have much preparation this year for the Olympics. I think we have 5 or 6 warm-up games, at most. This Olympics is our prime right now. We need to get it together across the next 3 tournaments or we are going to lose this generation of Boomers without a medal.

Also have to keep an eye on the qualifiers and who the Boomers draw out of those.

Could get drawn with Sebia (who should win the Serbian tournament comfortably you would think).

Obviously, teams like Turkey or France and Greece could also come out.

I'd love New Zealand to get through. It might make life easier on us lol

Really keen to see how this goes so I can start to figures out which games I have tickets to!

Just had a look at the qualifiers to come through, there are some powerful nations in there. The most notable are Greece, France, Serbia, Canada, Turkey and Croatia with possible darkhorses coming from Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Angola and Italy.

Australia mens team drawn in same group as USA.

Group A
Qualifier 1
USA
Venezuela
Qualifier 2
China
Australia

Group B
Argentina
Spain
Brazil
Lithuania
Qualifier 3
Nigeria

Yeah that was really as good as it could have gone. Venezuela will not be easy beats as they certainly surprised other teams last summer, but they're still the preferred opponent given the options. Getting the USA in our group ensures we won't get them in the quarter finals as well as giving us a free crack at them in the group stage.

I hope the tickets I have is for that game.

Just remember that Canada, France, Serbia, Greece and Italy are in the OQT and could be pooled with the Boomers as well.

Avoiding hosts Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Lithuania was a great outcome but crossovers will be tough. No easy game.

So you guys will be cheering us Kiwis on the OQT! Love it.

France will be tough. Canada will also be tough if their big guns play. Turkey are on the decline i always though from 2010? Senegal and Phillipines are beatable but will play a unique style which will be hard. Also Tab knows how the TBs play.

The perfect group for Australia would have been China, USA, Venezeula, Lithuania and Qualifier 3. We are only 2 spots away from that but with the likeliness of being paired with a France or Greece. Lithuania would have been tough either way, but atleast we've beaten them recently. As strong as the Australian team will be this year, there are few games anyone in this competition would consider a gimme outside of maybe China.

Australia could expect to beat China, Venezeula, and there are 3 tough games we need to win atleast 1 of to avoid Spain as our likely crossover and pull either Lithuania or Argentina (I'd hope for an Argentina cross over)

You'd assume to beat Venezuela and China, and say go 1 and 1 against the 2 qualifiers. That puts us at 3 and 2, 3rd.

I have Nigeria and Argentina to drop out of group B. So we would probably barring upsets be matched up against Spain or Brazil in the QF. Both hard but winnable games IMO.

Could easily be going for a bronze medal this year.

A lot rides on who the qualifiers are and what squads they bring. For instance, France is not the same team without Tony Parker. How many teams are going to really "bring it" for the qualifiers, and who has lost the faith and will just lurch through? We could be surprised and find ourselves with the Czech republic or something in our group. Where can we find info on what squads are playing for whom at the qualifiers?

Also, a lot rides on Boguts ability to stay uninjured. I hope the Warriors use bogut sparingly through the play offs lol.

So our first two games are against the qualifiers. Then the USA, then the two games we should win. We could conceivably start 0-3 and then go through. Might make the whole thing tough though

It's going to be a tough tournament for everyone involved. There are already so many teams in there that have realistic medal goals, and another three will be added in July.

I mean, Lithuania, USA, Brazil, Argentina and Australia are all in the conversation for a medal already, and who will be added? France? Greece? Croatia? Canada?

Anyone can beat anyone at this level and that's what makes it so daunting and exciting at the same time.

I expect Australia to progress in this pool, however we have to knock atleast 1 of the qualifiers out to give ourselves a good shot. I just hope that luck gives us some qualifiers we match up well with

If Australia can play the way we did against Lithuania in 2014, we have a great shot at a medal. IF we play the way we played the rest of the games, not so much. It all depends which Australia turns up.

Relieved not to see Angola in our group. We really seem to struggle against those guys.

Angola isn't involved anyway. Nigeria is. They would have similar attributes in their athletic abilities I dare say. I am ridiculously keen for this.

I'm expecting a medal.

I am afraid of the first games against qualifiers. They will have the momentum of a tournament together -- with successful results -- whereas the Boomers will have their usual experimental handful of lead-up games.

Yeah, agreed. With so little between the teams talent-wise I feel like coaching and preparation are going to play a huge role, and I'm not sure we'll have the advantage in those areas over too many other teams.

Qualifiers are a combine 16-20 at the Olympics so there isn't really a history of them carrying great momentum into the tournament. They'll be good teams, but it's the same old story, if Australia want to make noise we have to beat some good teams.

The group we're in is almost a perfect, the order of games not so much, but we're. Certainly in a good spot if we're good enough to make the most of it.

A combined 16-20 of what?

World rankings mean little. We are about to turn up with our entire team healthy (with any luck), that hasn't happened before.

By the way, not many teams right now have seven NBA players, an upcoming number 1 draft pick, with four of those NBA players having NBA finals experience very recently.

And furthermore, not many teams have the kind of experience our team has and the youth that is also on their side. The Boomers are ripe.

So when you're saying "We are 11th in the world, so top 8 is still a win", I think you are being ignorant to the make up of the team we have now and the conditions that have come together. We haven't had Bogut in a major tournament since 2008, and we didn't have Patty at the 2014 worlds.

We wont be cut down at the quarters by America as has happened in the past two Olympic games.

So, excuse us all for a little optimism?

Lets all throw our hands up and declare the Olympics over for us before they even began because "other teams have NBA players" and "We're only ranked 11th, top 8 is still a win."

What Un-Australian, defeatest nonsense!

Where do you think Serbia was ranked before they came Silver in 2014, you muppet?

Serbia came out of nowhere and literally no one had them in the medal equation. They were meant to be a challenging European team, and that was it.

Fact of the matter is there are probably 8 teams with genuine medal hopes this year: USA, Spain, Lithuania, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and probably some of the qualifiers. No one said Australia is 'guaranteed' a medal. But are we in the mix? Yes. Do we have comparable levels of talent? Yes. Should we all just lay down and die because, "Oh no! we're ranked 11th?!?" No!

So shut the fuck up basically, anonymous. You're talking loser talk and no one here wants to hear your despair.

Yep, the Olympics are always a better chance for the unpredictable. The fact that you can lose three games and still be in with a chance means anything can happen.

Even if pool results don't go your way, you're just one great performance from being in the medal round.

Obviously the ideal is to have our team playing well together and try to finish top 2 giving us a better crossover and then relying on that "one great game" to get us into the final.

But either way, this is a tournament we can rightly be optimistic about.

"But oh no Cram, we are ranked 11th!" LOL

Idiots like that are priceless!

It's as if medals are decided by comparing world rankings.

"Team chemistry and such mean nothing, people! Other teams have NBA players! Nothing to see here, move a long!"

My god, anonymous is a moron and a half.

Whoa, Someone's off their meds?

ME is fired up about the Boomers. Gotta love the passion.

What can I say? Mess with the teams I follow and I 'go in'.

Australia is Lithuania's bogey team, we've beaten them on a few big occasions, I remember in 2008 Olympics the Aussies won

Well, we are eachothers bogey teams historically. It is probably Australias greatest international rival. We've had the wood on them in recent years, though. We really surprised them in 2014, too.

We are 3-5 all-time against Lithuania at WCs and Olympics, with one of our wins in a game with no bearing on placings (which was our only win over them at an Olympics).

ME, teams that come through the qualifiers have won 16 games and lost 20 at those Olympics, hence 16-20.

How often have those teams been powerhouses? Looking at the qualifiers it looks like France, Serbia, Greece are the most likely to get through by far. I also wonder why there is a trend for teams to come in at under 50 percent from qualifiers. You'd think they'd be primed for competition by then.

"Australia is Lithuania's bogey team, we've beaten them on a few big occasions, I remember in 2008 Olympics the Aussies won"

They beat us when it matters. Bronze Medal Games at the 1996 & 2000 Olympic Games. Lithuania have stood between us and a medal twice and both times pulled out pants down.

I watched the 2000 Bronze medal game a week or two ago. It is a sad, sad sight. We just didn't have the speed and energy they had. Might have helped if Barry Barnes knew the meaning of a time out or substitution. Could have helped if Luc Longley wasn't injured, too.

ME, I think it's a tough ask to peak twice in quick succession mentally and physically at the level required for the Olympics. It's certainly doable, Russia took bronze last time, but it's not an advantage coming through qualifiers.

Nothing like tough and meaningful games together as a team to build chemistry. Certainly can't hurt.
And 16-20 is far from shabby. On average that's enough to progress to the quarters, so every qualifier that does that equates to another team that doesn't make it out of the group stage.

The tough games together can hurt Luuuc, because the athletes have to peak for the tournament, which will affect their later peak.

Athletes in any sport want to peak meticulously for the Olympics, and it's very important in basketball after the tough club season most players have gone through.

I am as patriotic and passionate about the Boomers (any Aussie international team really) as the next guy.

What I can't fathom is all the concern over who we play and whether we can get a decent draw and who we should avoid etc...

The draw is out of our hands, who we play is out of our hands, or at least should be decided by the draw or results according to which team wins or loses, so we need to go into these tournaments with one mind set, that is a positive one.

We need to avoid only one thing, that is to behave like Meerkats, worrying about the next Eagle that is going to swoop on us and start walking tall among the winners of the world and worry less about who we play by working on how we play.

Our attitude will decide how we go in these events, not the draw IMHO!

Well we can't complain about the Boomers belief, they're talking about gold medals.

While I don't think gold is a reasonable likelihood, it is better than when Goorjian used to say "We just hope to get to the knockout stage, I mean we have to face some tough competition with Mongolia, India and Antarctica."

The draw matters. Almost every team in the competition will have a keen eye on the draw and what it means for their prospects. Certainly any team is more likely to get a W in their column if they're up against China than if it were Nigeria, and more likely to beat Venezeula than Argentina, or Spain rather than the USA. We got almost the best draw possible for us.

Even with the talent and potential we have, we are underdogs trying to mess with the established order. That comes with challenges of its own.

In summary, it's going to be tough, every opponent will present a challenge, but we have a talented team that have been together a while now who are rightfully confident they can challenge for a medal.

Damn straight, Paul. I just want the olympics to hurry up from here on!

"Athletes in any sport want to peak meticulously for the Olympics, and it's very important in basketball after the tough club season most players have gone through."

To a degree, but I really don't buy this as a big factor in basketball. These players are used to playing long seasons, not tailoring several month long blocks for training, conditioning and peaking at a particular week like a swimmer would.

And the results speak for themselves. 16-20 (= 0.444) for the last few teams allowed into the tournament is no joke. It's pretty close to the Boomers record across the last 4 Olympics (0.461) so let's not pretend for a second that we can take those teams remotely lightly.

France, Serbia and Greece, the likely qualifiers, will be a handful either way.

Here's an interesting article that kind of encapsulates this conversation.

http://www.aussiehoopla.com/olympic-draw-mean-boomers/

Not saying you can Luuuc, as I'm sure you know, just pointing out that going through the qualifiers isn't an advantage.

As for peaking athletes, it's huge in the Olympic basketball tournament because the athletes have to produce eight times in two weeks.

This tournament is played at a much higher intensity than any drawn out club season, and teams whose players can be well rested after club season and then managed carefully to peak once have an advantage over those who come out of season into preparations for the OQT and then have to peak again on a shortened preparation for the Olympics.

I think it's also important not to write off China and Venezuela, we should beat them both and they should be the easiest two games (barring a big surprise from the qualifiers) but they are both capable of an upset so they are unlikely to be a walk in the park.

Luckily for Australia we have the youth, experience and depth that we should be able to keep pretty fresh throughout. While China and Venezeula wont be walks in the park, you'd hope we can run our bench for most of those games.

I doubt that, don't forget Venezuela won the Americas Championship. China are big, deep and aggressive but hopefully their inexperience will count against them.