Are You Ready For the FIBA World Cup 2023?

The FIBA World Cup 2023 will kick-off tomorrow, August 25, in separate venues in Manila, Djakarta and Okinawa, and fans are starting to feel the energy and the excitement as the basketball world turns its spotlight on our host nations. For the first time, we have 3 co-hosts, namely: the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Thirty-two countries, survivors all in their respective regional qualifiers, will be bringing in their top cagers along with their throngs of fanatics.

The 32 teams have been divided into 8 groups of 4 which will go through a round-robin mini-tournament, with the top 2 teams per group moving on to the next group stage. The bottom two teams will then play two classification games to determine the 17th to 32nd rankings. In the second round, there will be four groups of four once again made up of the teams that advanced from the first round, again playing each other once. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinal phase. From hereon, the remaining 8 will go through knockout rounds where winners move up, while losers go home. The teams that lose in the quarterfinals will then play classification games to determine the 5th to 8th rankings. The teams that lose in the semifinals will play for the bronze, while the 2 winning teams will play for the gold on September 10.

Of the 32 qualified teams, 12 will come from Europe (led by powerhouses Spain and France), 8 will come from Asia and Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand), 7 will come from the Americas (led by star-studded US of A), and 5 will come from Africa.

Spain will be defending the crown it won over Argentina in 2019 in Beijing. Spain is riding high with euphoria, having just recently won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand. It will be no surprise to see throngs of Spanish fans coming over from Australia to cheer their team on.

Spain has been rated one of the heavy favorites in this tournament, owing to its steady performance in its recent international forays. Its campaign will be led by the Hernangomez brothers, Willy and Juancho, and veterans Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Lull. Spain has a cohesive team developed through years of playing together. They have the experience, the chemistry and the confidence to make a serious run for the crown. They also have arguably the best coach outside of the US in coach Sergio Scariolo.

Their biggest hurdle will still be Team USA. While concerns have been raised about the team’s evident lack of senior level experience and relative youth (oldest at 28, average age at 25), it has taken on a take-no-prisoners approach in its quest this time around. This team aims to avenge the shameful (as in disgraceful indeed!) 7th place finish in 2019, and they have been demonstrating a complete team effort in totally demolishing their warm-up game opponents. This youth squad will be fun to watch. They will be explosive on the offense, and mad-dog crazy on the defense. They will be led by the spunky Jalen Brunson at point; Anthony Edwards and Brandon Ingram expected to lead the points production; and Jaren Jackson Jr anchoring the defense. But their unfamiliarity with the international game could be a factor here. Plus this team looks a bit on the skinny side when the battle for the shaded area heats up. But they’ve got veteran coaches Steve Kerr and Eric Spoelstra directing from the bench.

Other favored teams include France, Slovenia, Australia, Canada and Serbia. These teams will be loaded with NBA players raring to make a mark. So far, a total of 60 players from the 32 competing teams are currently playing in the NBA. As expected, Team USA leads the pack with 12 NBA players, with Australia (9) and Canada (7) following.

Undoubtedly, the biggest star of the tournament is Luka Doncic, who is expected to anchor the Slovenians deep in the playoff rounds. Other All-stars include Karl Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Rudy Gobert (France), Shai Gilgeous Alexander (Canada), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Brandon Ingram (USA), Anthony Edwards (USA) and Lauri Markkanen (Finland).

At this point, I’d like to invite all basketball-crazy fans out there – whether you’re from the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia or not – to come and join us as we celebrate the greatness and beauty of the sport. And what better way than to personally watch the best players don their national colors in a friendly joust. Cheer for your team, and if you don’t have a team representing your country, cheer for your favorite players or favorite country.

For the Filipino fans, let’s forget about politics for a while, forge about our daily grind. We want to show solidarity by supporting this national endeavor. We want to showcase to the world our beautiful country. Through a successful event, and a gracious, hospitable hosting. Let’s go out there to meet some new friends. Let’s fill the arenas, show love for the sport. Let’s celebrate this beautiful game.

Cover photo courtesy of FIBA.Basketball. Other pics courtesy of Inquirer.net, NBC Sports, BasketNews.com, FoxSports, SLC Dunk, Facebook, EuroHoops, ClutchPoints, YouTube and FIBA.Basketball. For a closer look, just click on the pics.