2011 FIBA Americas Women's Championship And Olympic Berth Claimed By Brazil

In the recently completed FIBA Americas men's tournament, the Argentinians faced off against their bitter South American rivals Brazil and came away with the title.   Both qualified for London.

It was deja vu in the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship for Women as it was once again a championship game showdown between Argentina and Brazil with the title and a single Olympic berth on the line.

Both teams came into this game as the unbeaten winners of their respective groups and victors in their semifinal games.   Brazil knocked off the Cubans 66-53 while Argentina escaped with a 61-59 win over a determined Canadian squad. .  

The script was flipped in the final as the Brazilians blew out Argentina 74-33 to win their fifth FIBA Americas women's title and grab the automatic qualifying spot to London.  

In the Third Place game Canada shook off their disappointing semifinal loss to Argentina and claimed the bronze medal by knocking off Cuba 59-46.  

Silver medalist Argentina, bronze medalist Canada and Cuba will represent the FIBA Americas Zone and have one last chance to quality for the London Games women's basketball tournament by playing in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament that takes place at a site to be determined from June 25-July 1.

Five sports will be up for grabs, and the FIBA Americas teams will contest them against teams from Croatia, France, Czech Republic, Turkey, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and two from the FIBA Africa Zone that will conclude their women's tournament today.

Senegal is going for their tenth FIBA African women's title when they play in today's championship game against Angola, while host Mali plays Nigeria in the Third Place game. 

Champion gets their ticket punched to London as the FIBA Africa rep, the silver and bronze medalists head to the Olympic Qualifying tournament.

But congrats to Brazil.  They will get to exhale, savor their fifth title and prepare to play in London next summer.

2011 FIBA Americas Women's Championship Tournament In Semifinals

The FIBA Americas Championship for Women is currently being contested in Neiva, Colombia for the lone FIBA Americas ticket to the women's Olympic basketball tournament in London next summer.

After a few days of group competition the ten team field has been whittled down to the four teams left in the semifinal round that kicks off play in a few hours.   

In Group A it was Argentina and Cuba advancing to the semis.  Argentina won a critical September 27 game 65-59 against Cuba that left them unbeaten and on top of the group with a 4-0 record with Cuba finishing second.at 3-1.

In Group B it was Brazil and Canada that advanced to the semis.  Brazil beat Canada.56-39 in their group play matchup on September 25 to finish 4-0 with the Canadians finishing second in group play at 3-1 as well.

The Canadian women ballers road to the semis started with an opening Group B play 72-45 win on September 24 over Mexico.  After the loss to Brazil the next day they thumped Paraguay 77-26 on September 26.   They got a well deserved day off  before closing out group play on September 28 with their 66-49 win over Jamaica to clinch second place in Group B and face Group A winner Argentina. .    

Unlike the guys, the Canadian women have a serious shot at qualifying for London and would rather handle their business now than take their chances in what is shaping up to be a tough qualifying tournament 

In the second semifinal game Group B winner Brazil, who is also unbeaten in this tournament will face off against Group A runner up Cuba..  

The semifinal game winners move on to the October 1 championship game to decide who gets their ticket punched to London as the FIBA Americas rep.   The semifinal losers will square off in the third place game.  
  

The winner will get to exhale, savor their FIBA Americas women's b-ball championship for a moment, then begin their preparations for London. 

The second, third and fourth place teams from this tournament will still have one final chance to qualify for London at the FIBA 2012 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament from June 25-July 1 at a site to be determined  in which the last five Olympic basketball berths will be up for grabs. 

FIBA Americas Women's Championship Tournament Starts Today

Y'all know I wasn't going to let the FIBA Americas Women's Championship tournament getting started in Neiva, Colombia today and running through October 1 get cranked up without showing them the same love I did in commenting on the 'menz' one earlier.

This is not only a qualifier for the London Games, it is also the first time a FIBA Americas women's tournament has been conducted with ten teams and it's about time they did so. 

One of those ten teams will not be the FIBA world number one ranked USA since our women handled their Olympic basketball business by winning the FIBA Women's World Championship in the Czech Republic last summer.   Coach Auriemma now has time to decide who be on the USA Olympic women's squad that will attempt to claim a fifth consecutive gold medal in 2012.

However, there is a difference from the just concluded men's tournament in that only the FIBA Americas champion winner will automatically qualify for London.  The next three teams will head to next summer's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women that will be conducted June 25-July 1 at a to be determined site.to determine the last five slots in the Women's Olympic basketball tournament.

The FIBA Africa Women's Championship started yesterday in Mali and will run until October 2 to determine the FIBA Africa representative in the London Olympics and fill the two spots in the Olympic Qualifying tournament alloted to the FIBA African representatives.

The Olympic basketball tournament picture on the women's side looks like this.  The USA has already qualified along with host Great Britain, Russia, China and Australia.   The teams that are in next summer's FIBA Women's Qualifying Tournament are Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Turkey, Japan, Korea and New Zealand..

So the stakes are high as always for this tournament.  The draw for the 2011 FIBA America's Women's Championship was held May 5 with Group A being comprised of Chile, FIBA world number 10 ranked Cuba, Argentina, Puerto Rico and host Colombia.      
 
Group B looks a little nastier.  It will consist of  FIBA world number 6 ranked Brazil, FIBA world number 12 ranked Canada, Jamaica, Mexico and Paraguay 

After playing games within their groups from today through September 28, top two teams in Groups A and B will move on the knockout round semifinals on September 30 with the Group A winner taking on the Group B runner up and the Group B winner taking on the runner up team from Group A.

Winners go on to the FIBA Americas women's title game October 1 and battle it out for the lone Olympic ticket to London.   The championship game runner up, third  and fourth place teams will be the FIBA Americas reps at the Olympic Qualifying tournament.  
 
So let the games begin and may the best team win.   As to who I'm rooting for?   I get to relax and enjoy it.  

Team Canada Headed Home From FIBA Americas Tournament Empty Handed

If the Canadian men's squad was going to play in the semifinals of the 2011 FIBA Americas tournament and stay in contention to get their first Olympic berth since 2000, they were going to have to step up their level of play to do so.

Sadly, it didn't happen.  The teams that will move on to the FIBA Americas semifinal knockout rounds being contested later today are Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the host Argentines.   .

Brazil will play the Dominican Republic and Argentina will face off with Puerto Rico with the winners qualifying for London and playing in the FIBA Americas title game tomorrow and the losers headed to the third place game and the Olympic Qualifying tournament next summer. 


The Canadians got their FIBA Americas quarterfinal party started with a blow out loss on September 5 to the host Argentines 79-58.  Because of the earlier loss to Venezuela in group play, they faced a must win game against a weakened Puerto Rico squad the next day. 

Canada got off to another storng start only trailing 22-21 after the first quarter, but scored an abysmal eight points in the second to fall behind 42-29 at halftime.  They did a better job in the second half outscoring Puerto Rice 47-35 in the second half but still fell 79-74.

The Road Warriors' then followed that up with a narrow 70-68 win over Uruguay to bring their record to 3-4 in the tournament.  

Despite that, they still had a slim shot on September 8 of getting that fifth place spot that would guarantee them a place in next summer's Olympic Qualifying tournament if they handled their basketball business against a one win Panama squad and Uruguay upset Venezuela.


Umm no.   Despite having four players in double figures, the Canadians regressed on defense with the ankle injury to Joel Anthony and watched the Denver Nuggets Gary Forbes personally wreck their 2012 Olympic hopes by dropping 39 points on them.

Eighteen of Forbes' points came in the fourth quarter, and after Canada tied the game with 1:30 left Forbes scored the next five points to stake Panama to a narrow 91-89 upset victory.  The disappointing loss led to the resignation of Canadian men's head coach Leo Rautins after the game.

The sad part is that Canada could have made it to the FIBA Americas semifinals.  Flip those four narrow losses to the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in group play and the Puerto Rico and Panama ones in the quarters and they would still be playing this weekend.  Once there, with some breaks Canada could have played in either the title game or the third place one. 

Canada played defense well enough at times to get them there, but their offense got lost or was non existent for long stretches of games and it cost them.  


The FIBA championship trophy is named for Canadian James Naismith who invented the game in the States and I find it ironic that Canada won't be there for next year's Olympic basketball tournament in London.

It'll be up to the Canadian women to defend national basketball honor when the FIBA Americas women's championship tournament kicks off in Colombia on September 24.

But back to the Canadian mens ballers.   Despite Steve Nash's retirement from international play, they have talented players with international experience like Jevohn Sheperd.   They also have NBA ballers such as Samuel Dalembart, Jamaal Magliore, Andy Rautins, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and Joel Anthony that would make an interesting team.   The San Antonio Spurs Matt Bonner is in the process of trying to acquire his Canadian citizenship so he can play for the team.  

Dalembart, Thompson and Magliore weren't on this squad and seeing the way this tournament played out, they were needed. 

The Canadian men's program does have serious young talent in their development pipeline.with players such as incoming Gonzaga freshman Kelly Olynyk, incoming Texas Longhorn freshman Myck Kabongo, Andrew Wiggins and Dwight Powell.  But it's clear they will need a coach that can get the maximum output from these players.

Canada also needs an offensive and defensive system that will allow them to play the high caliber FIBA ball they will need to get to the Olympics and FIBA world championship stages, give them a chance to win and create a culture and buzz in their nation that makes it cool to play for the Canadian national squad again.