Turkey straight dominated Slovenia. Big win from the Turks.

- Serbia defeated Spain, 92-89
SRB: Keselj & Velickovic 17, Savanovic 15, Bjelica 14, Krstic 13, Teodosic 12
ESP: Navarro 27, Garbajosa 18, Fernandez 15, Gasol 13
Teodosisc nailed a 3 point dagger over Garbajosa to break a deadlock to hand the win to the Serbs in what was a close and tight affair. It will be the first time since 2002 that Spain has at not least made the smi's at a major international competition.

- Turkey defeated Slovenia, 95-68
TUR: Ilyasova 19, Guler 12, Onan, Tunceri & Turkoglu 10
SLO: Becirovic & Nachbar 16, Slokar & Brezec 10
Turkey stormed to a 27-14 quarter time lead and were never headed. The Turkish bench received valuable minutes on court in this game.

Tonight's quarter finals:

USA vs Russia
Lithuania vs Argentina

I disagree with the prediction we would have been thumped by 50 by Turkey.

Slovenia played a blinder against yus, whilst we did not play to our best, plus do not underestimate the impact a home crowd can have on a team. Turkey are playing in front of one-eyed rabid fans (no disrespect) and the noise they are generating is deafening. No doubt Turkey are playing a great brand of basketball, but it is being done so on home soil.

I would actually rank us as on par with Slovenia even though our game against them was so one-sided. And if the WC's were being played elsewhere, I reckon we would be somewhere near Turkey as well IMO - maybe not ahead, but definitely close.

If you are going to judge us on results and margins, then by thumping Germany by as many as we did should have translated to a win over Serbia whom Germany defeated (and remains Serbia's only blemish to date).

LC, I have always believed that playing a tournament at home is harder than playing away.

The pressure on the home team to win and do well is immense, especially when you consider just how passionate European fans are.

One thing you can definently say is that Turkey are playing an exciting brand of basketball. Turkoglu and Illyasova are playing great, but they are also getting great bench production.

A home crowd is certainly worth about 10 - 15 pts. Aussies at full strength will compete with the Euro powerhouses but our no. 10 ranking flatters us. 15 would have been more appropriate.

I disagree.
At this stage in the competetion (where all the teams remaining are mostly from big Euro clubs or the NBA), the players are used to playing in hostile environments. Have you seen the European clubs fans'..they go nuts. They are used to playing in such an atmosphere.
I think the home court advantage gives little advantage or none at all. Possibly even makes it worse considering the pressure to win

Sorry MACDUB, after sitting in that gym for the Turkey games I have to disagree with you. This home court advantage is massive, it has definitely had an effect on the opposing teams.

The interesting thing will be in a game where Turkey are behind if that does put extra pressure on them, or whether it lifts them to come back.

Orbit, which teams below Australia performed better at the tournament? I would say Greece and New Zealand performed at a similar level, but our points differential was superior to theirs even with our blowout in the EF.

Dont forget we ran Argentina close (even if without Oberto) and challenged Serbia, who could well both be top four. Greece didnt perform any better against the top two in their group and NZ lost in double figures to the top two in theirs (although that was a result of fouling v Lith).

Ok, thanks for that. I trust your first-hand experience is correct.
On another note, I didn't realise just how many weak teams attend the World Champs. I know under the rules we have to have a certain number of countries represented from each FIBA region, but doesn't this reduce the level of play too far?

I knew teams like Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Iran, Angola and Jordan weren't too flash, but some of those teams were deplorable. It was cringing stuff just watching it..e.g. Serbia v Angola 94-44. Spain v Lebanon 91-57. Serbia v Jordan 112-69. USA v Tunisia 92-57 (no suprises i suppose. USA V Angola 121-66.

IMO, the rule about having 'X' amount of teams from a particular region really ruins the quality of the tournament. There was a few teams that didn't play in this tournament that would surely be better than the likes of Tunisia, Ivory Coast, etc:
-Italy
-Great Britain
-Japan (perhaps)
-Israel
-Mexico..?
-Finland (2 NBA players on their roster, one ex and one current)

There were some blowouts, but there were lots of upsets and near upsets too.

Dont forget that Angola bounced back from that drubbing to beat Germany and be within 5 of Argentina at three quarter time. Jordan almost beat Australia and Argentina. Ivory Coast beat Puerto Rico. Lebanon beat Canada and were actually within six of Lithuania late in the third. Tunisia were closer to the US at halftime than anyone bar Brazil

Not so long ago NZ and China were the teams people said were too weak but are now top 15 teams. The experience for these teams is great, and even though they got blown out in some games, this was actually the closest and most unpredictable WC FIBA has had.

Having extra teams pays off in the long run, and FIBA's next plans are 16 teams at the Olympics (2016) and 32 at the WCs (possibly 2018).

Turkey's coach has been there for many years and wasted a very good generation if you consider the underachievements during his time - mostly due to infighting polarization of the basketball scene in the country that he had to take a side to keep his well paid job. Ironically, the current success has come only after he had to leave the team to fight terminal illness and the team was prepared by the assistant coaches in the months preceeding the championship - look at their spirit and fitness unseen before.

And players like Mehmet Okur, Serkan Erdogan, Kaya Peker, Ermal Kurtoglu, Mirsad Turkcan , a group that can easily challenge the current starting five are not there today because of this coach.