Draw For 2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament Held

There are twelve women's national teams still in the running for the last five spots in the 2012 Olympic women's basketball tournament.  

Our Canadian neighbors and Puerto Rico are two of those squads.  They discovered during the draw held on February 15 what groups they are in and who they will be competing against in the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament For Women when it tips off in Ankara, Turkey on June 25-July 1.

The four groups ended up shaking out like this:  

Group A:  Japan, Puerto Rico, Turkey
Group B:  Argentina, Czech Republic, New Zealand
Group C:  Croatia, Korea, Mozambique
Group D:  Canada, France, Mali

Top two teams in each group advance to the June 29 quarterfinals.   The Group A winner will face off against the runner up in Group B.   The Group C winner will face the Group D runner up and the Group D winner will face the runner up team from Group C.

The four quarterfinal round winners will automatically qualifying to go to London and the four losing teams head to the semifinals to begin the knockout competition for the final spot in the Olympic women's basketball tournament.

The Loser in the [A1 v B2] game will face the Loser of the [C1 v D2] game.
The Loser in the [B1 v A2] game will face the Loser of the [D1 v C2] game.

The winners in those semifinal games will face each other in a pressure packed July 1 matchup in Ankara with a trip to London on the line.

The victor in that matchup gets the last qualifying spot and prepares to pack for the 2012 Olympic games and all the once in a lifetime experiences that go with it.  Everyone else goes home and begins their preparations to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey and the 2016 Olympic women's basketball tournament in Rio.

Brittney Griner Named As 2012 USA Olympic Team Finalist

Y'all know I have much love for my Houston b-balling homegirl Brittney Griner who is now a junior center with the number one women's ranked Baylor Lady Bears. 

Was happy to hear that when the 21 finalists were announced by USA Basketball for the 2012 USA Women's Olympic basketball squad that will attempt to fivepeat in London, she will be one of them.

The finalists for the 2012 Women's Olympic squad in addition to Brittney Griner (Baylor University) are:

Jayne Appel (San Antonio Silver Stars), Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Rebekkah Brunson (Minnesota Lynx), Swin Cash (Chicago Sky), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), , Lindsey Harding (Atlanta Dream), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Candace Parker(Los Angeles Sparks), Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty), Diana Taurasi  (Phoenix Mercury), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and Sophia Young (San Antonio Silver Stars).

Bad news for the rest of you basketball playing nations on the rest of the planet.  Ten of the women on this finalist list were on the number one ranked 2010 FIBA Women's World championship squad.

And yes, do have to point out the USA women have won six out of the last eight Olympic women's gold medals with the last four coming at Australia's expense. 

But back to bragging about my hometown hoopster.

Brittney will attempt to become the first collegiate player to make a USA Olympic women's basketball team since Vicky Bullett and Bridgette Gordon both did so and played on the 1988 squad that won a repeat gold medal in Seoul.

Good luck to Brittney and the rest of the women who have a shot of making our 2012 Olympic team. 

FIBA Decides Venues For 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

There was a FIBA Central Board meeting held in Madrid, Spain last weekend and one of the subjects on the agenda was who would host the 2012 Men's and Women's FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.  

The OQT's are the last chance venues for national basketball squads who wish to play in London in a few months to win those last available spots in the Olympic b-ball tournament which is scheduled to run during the Games from July 28-August 12..

FIBA awarded the hosting venues for the men's OQT to Venezuela who beat out finalist Lithuania for the honor.   On the women's side Turkey beat out the Czech Republic to host the OQT.. 

The Men's Olympic Qualifying tournament will happen July 2-8 in Caracas and the teams vying for those last three spots in addition to the host Venezuelans are  Angola, Dominican Republic, Macedonia, Greece, Jordan, Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Russia. 

The women's tournament will be held June 25-July 1 in the Turkish capital of Ankara to determine who gets the final five spots available on the women's side. 

In addition to the homestanding Turks who are trying to play their way into their first ever Olympic games on the women's side, they  will also be joined by Argentina, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Korea, Mali, Mozambique, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. 

Mozambique and Puerto Rico replaced Cuba and Senegal, who qualified for it in zone Olympic qualifying tournament play but withdrew from the Women's OQT.

At any rate, it will be a tough assignment to play though this tournament just to get your Olympic spot, then if you're fortunate enough to get those tickets to London, get ready to play in the Olympic tournament.

But they are going to give it their best shot in late June and early July.