In the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup, as of the evening of August 31, the first round of the 17-32 place qualifying round is over. The Chinese men's basketball team finally won a victory in this round, narrowly defeating the Angolan men's basketball team by 7 points; However, the Chinese men's basketball team can no longer compete for the first place in Group M, so the highest ranking of the Chinese men's basketball team is 21st. Regarding the Olympic direct seats, the Japanese men's basketball team in the Asian zone took the initiative, and South Sudan in the African region had a big chance.
Group M: China men's basketball 83-76 Angola; South Sudan 87-68 Philippines
The Chinese men's basketball team currently ranks second with 5 points, if South Sudan loses to Angola in the final round, and the Chinese men's basketball team defeats the Philippines, then in this case, the Chinese men's basketball team, Angola and South Sudan have 7 points to form a continuous set. The Chinese men's basketball team previously lost 20 points to South Sudan and won Angola by 7 points in this round. Therefore, the current Chinese men's basketball team has a mutual net score of -13 points, South Sudan has 20 points, and Angola has a -7 points. In this case, no matter how many points South Sudan loses to Angola in the final round, the Chinese men's basketball team cannot be ranked first, then the Chinese men's basketball team will definitely not be able to win the top spot in Group M.
The best scenario for the Chinese men's basketball team is to try to beat the Philippines in the final round, while South Sudan beats Angola, and the Chinese men's basketball team directly places second in the group. If Angola beats South Sudan, the Chinese men's basketball team will most likely be third in the group, then the qualifying ranking will fall to 25-28. In short, if the Chinese men's basketball team does not qualify for the first place in the group, then the highest ranking will be 21st with 7 points, and the current net win is -73 points, which is extremely unfavorable in horizontal comparison.
Group N: Egypt 85-69 Jordan; New Zealand 100-108 Mexico
Group O: Japan 86-77 Venezuela; Cape Verde 77-100 Finland
Group P: Côte d'Ivoire 84-94 Lebanon; France 82-55 Iran
Regarding the competition for Olympic direct seats, there is only one place in the Asian zone. At present, the Japanese men's basketball team has the advantage, as long as the final round beats Cape Verde, the Japanese men's basketball team can become the first in Group O. The Chinese men's basketball team, the Philippines, Jordan and Iran all missed the first place in the group. Lebanon could theoretically be the number one in the group, but the probability is very low. Even if Lebanon eventually finishes first in Group P, the total number of points is only 7 points, and the Japanese men's basketball team will have 8 points to beat Cape Verde. Therefore, the Japanese men's basketball team has the absolute initiative, and the final round of defeat of Cape Verde will ensure a direct access to Paris.
The Chinese men's basketball team must first strive for the top ranking, and can only hope that Cape Verde will beat Japan by a large margin, while Finland will also beat Venezuela, in this case pushing the Japanese men's basketball team to third in the group. In short, the Asian region is likely to be the Japanese men's basketball team to win the Olympic direct seat, and the Chinese men's basketball team and Lebanon still have a slight chance; The Philippines, Iran and Jordan are significantly behind in their combined results, and there is no chance to go to Paris.
Regarding the other regions, there are 2 places in the European zone, and most of the top 16 are European teams. The Americas also has two spots, with the United States, Canada, Brazil, Dominica and Puerto Rico all advancing to the round of 16. With one place in Oceania, Australia has reached the round of 16 and has qualified for the Olympic Games first. In addition, there is one place in the African zone, and the performance of the African zone team in this World Cup is not outstanding enough, and they have not broken through to the round of 16.
Qualifying standings
This World Cup has five African teams: South Sudan, Angola, Egypt, Cape Verde and Côte d'Ivoire. The best records so far are South Sudan and Egypt, where the two teams have six points together and are very close in terms of goal difference. On the whole, the number of places in the African zone is likely to be between South Sudan and Egypt. In the final round, South Sudan will play Angola and Egypt will play New Zealand, and it looks like South Sudan should have a better chance. Angola, Cape Verde and Ivory Coast are currently behind in points and have an extremely tough schedule in the final round, so they have few chances.