The FIBA Basketball World Cup was advertised as a two-team race, and it has lived up to that billing through the midway point of the group stage.
Both Team USA and Spain boast 3-0 records and a combined average margin of victory of 32.2 points. A seemingly inevitable championship clash has never felt more solidified.
That's not to suggest, however, that everything has gone according to the script. These look like the top two teams in this field, but not everyone agrees how the perennial powers should be ordered:
In some respects, that may not sound surprising.
After all, these two teams collided in the gold-medal game of each of the previous two Olympics. Seeing two superpowers collectively rise above the rest feels like a natural process under the survival-of-the-fittest aspect of international competition.
Yet history says this is far from natural. Mike Krzyzewski's 68-1 record as Team USA's coach highlights the sizable gap that should be sitting between his squad and everyone else.
Despite an eye-opening 114-55 dismantling of Finland in its tournament debut, the U.S. ...
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Article written by Zach Buckley
Is Team Spain Gold-Medal Favorite over USA at FIBA World Cup?
September 2nd, 2014 by Zach Buckley Leave a reply »
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