FIBA Basketball World Cup Comes to a Close in China

The Hudsonian Student Newspaper Tuesday, October, 1Tuesday, October, 1 0 Comments Basketball, China 2019, Duda, FIBA, Ryan, Teams, Tournament, USA, World Cup

The Hudsonian Student Newspaper | The Hudsonian COURTESY OF FIBA.BASKETBALL

Ryan Duda

Staff writer

The FIBA Basketball World Cup took place from Aug. 31 until Sept. 15, but went quite under the radar for the everyday sports fan. The Celtics-filled USA roster started off the Tournament to an expected hot start, with a quality team across the board.

Prior to the start of the event, many USA basketball fans were split between the thoughts of the team being mediocre or super dominant. In the 32 team field, it became hard to say which one would come out on top.

The champion of the 2019 World Cup in China was the Spain National Team, led by common NBA names such as Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol. Spain may have not led the tournament in statistics, but they came to play game after game.

Argentina finished up the World Cup with the silver medal. This Argentina team had a solid run, but was no match for the Spanish team. Rounding out the medalists was the French National Team. This team was coming in hot to the semifinal game in China, after beating the Americans under the powerhouse rebounder Rudy Gobert and heavy scorer Evan Fournier. These NBA talents helped take France to the semifinals undefeated.

Overall, this tournament wasn’t bringing much noise to non-basketball fans since the United States roster was not filled with top talents from the NBA.

The young USA roster, averaging an age of 26, was not very adapted to playing for their country on the global stage. With the quality of players on the team compared to the rest of the teams in the field, USA basketball ended the tournament in 7th place, while gaining 6th place in points per game.

Unfortunately, the USA team lost in the semifinals to France, ending the tournament on a bad note. Although they had a tough ending, there have been talks for the incoming United States roster for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

This news coming off the backburner from the USA players gives basketball fans and spirited Americans a sense of excitement for the future in Tokyo.

There are high hopes for success from the United States basketball team coming after a tough finish in China in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.