Draw for the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament has been announced, and Slovenia had no luck. They have been drawn to the Greece tournament that looks like this:
##Group A:
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- New Zealand
##Group B:
- Greece
- Dominicana
- Egypt
Winners of both groups will advance to the finals where they will face each other. Only the winner of the tournament gets a ticket to the Paris Olympics.
It’s never really possible to predict anything until the July comes around the corner and we get an idea what the rosters will look like, but on paper this was really tough draw for Slovenia. They are expected to advance from their group but it’s far from given because if Croatia shows up with their full team they will be very difficult team to beat. And yet, even if they do they will still have to beat Greece in Athens. If Slovenian team look like they did in the past two tournaments they would struggle mightily against full Croatia team and even Giannis-less Greece, and if Giannis plays (as he is expected) it’s basically gg…
Group winners don’t directly advance to the final, they still have to play against the 2nd-place team of the other group. The group stage only eliminates the last-place teams.