I think Spain and Argentina have a better chance.

put the billy down champ.
ill eat my hat if we win a medal

Spain and Greece are huge threats, love to see the Boomers win a medal though and we have a good chance. Gold would be a miracle - but then again miracles can and do happen!

Greece have to make it first. Spain, Russia, Argentina and the USA should be the top 4, But you never know

im feeling the same way as surmdog. If australia win a medal i'll eat all the clothes in my wardrobe.

With the inclusion of Jim Boeheim (zone specialist)as an assistant for the U.S, I would say they have prepared well and will be tough to beat.

i cant believe the USA went in with no true centre outside of 6 ft 10 Dwight Howard, maybe they could get any of the better big guys but in international competition i find it strange. They also aren't littered with guys who can shoot 3s all day either.

If Bogut leads the Boomers in scoring however, we will not win a thing, Bogut annoys me at international level so far.

as much as i would like us to win a medal. it aint going to happen. more then likely we will finish 3rd or 4th in group. meaning we would have to play 1st or 2nd in group b in the cross over quarter finals,which you think would be usa,spain or one of the teams still to qualify maybe.I cant see us beating the the us or spain.

Hope we dont win gold, if we do, and Goorj leaves after that, will that mean the Boomers fold?? haha nah no chance of winning a medal in all seriousness, but they have no excuse to not be extremely comepetitve. The USA should blow out any competition this time around.

OF COURSE THE BOOMERS CAN WIN A MEDAL. AND PIGS CAN FLY TOO.

Yeah, I think you're getting a bit carried away curtley. While Mills is great he's still only a 6 foot freshman in college and is a loooooong way behind Team USA's point guards. We're as strong as we've ever been in the big man department but we're just a couple of quality guards short of the medals IMO.

Let's also not get too carried away with our form, we've beaten Iran and New Zealand, hardly basketball powerhouses these days.

Oh, Croatia too I've just seen, that's a more impressive win, still think we'd be doing extremely well to medal.

Everyone who thinks that Australia can win a medal is forgetting just how good the the European teams are.(Spain, Russia AND LET'S NOT FORGET FRANCE!-Parker, Turiaf etc. plus you got Greece and Italy)
Then you have the South American teams, Argentina and Brazil, who are exceptionally good.
And last but not least you got the U.S.A
IMO, I think the final placings will be as follows:

1)USA(This is their time, they won't choke again)
2)Spain
3)Argentina
4)Greece
5)France
6)Russia
7)Australia
8)Italy

There's top 8. I honestly cannont see the boomers getting top 4, but hey anything's possible e.g New Zealand tall blacks 2004 world champs.

Any noticable names in the Italian side?

I presume Bargnani? Belinelli? Gallinari would all be in it

i just wouldnt count them out is all. i think they can be very competitive and find themselves anywhere between 3rd and 9th in my eyes.

I think the positions anywhere from 1-10 are up fro grabs. As in any tournament, anything can happen with injuries, teams get hot, run cold etc.
USA have to pray that Howard doesn't fall over and get injured as they have a lack of big men.

Wow, nice to see most people have written them off already.

Guess there's no point watching any of the matches then if we're no threat?

Chris Kaman has just received German Citizenship, he will be playing alongside Dirk.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/news/story?id=3472026

boomers are no threat .. get real. dey can't macth d euro's ... they're best chance are agains the Africans and dey are head to head with China !!

James W, we are just facing reality. Medal chances or not im sure we will watch with just as much interest.

Interesting to note that Croatia beat a full strength Spain in the Preliminary Rounds of the Euro Championships and lost to a full strength Lithuania by two points in the quarter finals. Australia is currently playing a full strength Croatia.

France and Italy failed to qualify for either direct entry for Olympics or Qualification tournament. Brazil will struggle in qualification tourney against Greece, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia and Canada. Only three teams qualify for Beijing.

For Boomers to be a medal chance they must not finish third or fourth in their pool. This will mean they need to beat either Lithuania, Argentina, Russia and a qualifer. I think it is safe to suggest Iran won't bother them. If they finish 3rd or 4th they will probably play a quarter final game against USA or Spain.

A medal is possible if they can pinch a game against Lithuania, Argentina and the qualifer and finish 2nd in the Pool. That's a big if. Otherwise they will need to pull off an upset in the quarter final.

A medal is not impossible considering this is the strongest team we have put together since the Sydney Olympics.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That was Andrew Gaze , in China, talking to Phil, on radio, just then. They think at least a bronze.

The boomers were the most competitive team against USA in the warmup games, even without Bogut. They were going to beat Argentina (Gold medal in Athens) until Bogut got injured. They have a good chance of a medal. Surmdog you can take ur hat and shove it!