The Olympic Qualifying Tournament got off to a quality start on Monday, but there are still two days of pool play left until the eight-team single-elimination tournament gets underway. Tuesday’s schedule again features quite a few mismatches on paper, but there’s a little added pressure as Macedonia, Jordan and Korea could all be eliminated with a loss in their second game.
Olympic Basketball Qualifying Tournament Continues Pool Play Tuesday
The top two teams from each three-team pool (groups listed here) will advance to Friday’s tournament, and from there, the top three teams will advance to the 2012 London Olympics. None of that can happen with teams that struggle with poor pool play, however.
Korea vs. Dominican Republic (10:30 a.m. ET)
Korea was overmatched on Monday as it dropped a 91-56 decision to Russia, and unfortunately it looks like a similar result will be in store against the Dominican Republic. Dominica, led by Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari, features NBA players Al Horford and Francisco Garcia playing alongside solid international players such as Jack Michael Martinez, Edgar Sosa and former Bemidji State center Ely Guzman.
Macedonia vs. New Zealand (1 p.m. ET)
Though commonly referred to as Macedonia, Bo McCalebb's team is actually the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." After a great showing last summer, McCalebb and his teammates got off to a bad start at this year's qualifying tournament with an 88-84 loss to Angola. Following Monday's loss, Macedonia will need to take out New Zealand to keep its Olympic hopes alive -- a feat that got easier when Kirk Penney and Tom Abercrombie were both forced to withdraw due to injury.
Jordan vs. Puerto Rico (4:30 p.m. ET)
Jordan was stomped on by Greece to put a damper on its Olympic hopes, but the team still has a chance if it's able to upset Puerto Rico on Tuesday afternoon in Caracas. Unfortunately for Jordan's hopes, Puerto Rico is a pretty good team featuring current NBA players J.J. Barea and Renaldo Balkman along with also-rans such as Carlos Arroyo, PJ Ramos, Ricky Sanchez and Daniel Santiago.
Venezuela vs. Lithuania (7 p.m. ET)
This game is going to be the one to watch if people are planning to tune in to only one of Tuesday's games. Not only will the homecrowd be backing Venezuela after Monday night's big win over Nigeria, but Lithuania is a very talented team and one of the favorites to earn an Olympic berth. The recognizable names on Lithuania's roster for NBA fans include Linas Kleiza, Darius Songaila, Jonas Valanciunas and Sarunas Jasikevicius.
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