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Tuesday, September 19
Basketball Fan Guide
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IN THE CROSSHAIRS |
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ESPN.com puts Olympic basketball In the Crosshairs with our interactive fan guide feature. Check out each sport's fan guide for more In the Crosshairs looks at the Olympic sports.
Basketball in the Crosshairs
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Olympic competition dates: Sept. 16-Oct. 1
Venues: The Dome, Sydney Olympic Park; Sydney SuperDome, Sydney Olympic Park
The outlook
The United States easily won the men's competition the
last two Olympics with NBA players and should do the same in
Sydney. The Americans have captured the gold medal in every
Olympics they have competed except for 1972 and 1988 when the
Soviet Union won. Croatia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia all feature NBA
players, too.
For the first time, the U.S. women's team will truly be a team.
Eleven of its 12 members played on the national team selected in
May 1995, and the group spent the last eight months touring the
world, compiling a 51-0 record. Russia, Brazil and China figure to
be the best of the rest.
The finer points
Tournament format: Twelve men's and 12 women's teams divided into two pools for round-robin play. Top teams go to quarterfinal, semifinal and medal-round games.
Rules: International and NBA rules vary in the following ways: (1) a 30-second clock (rather than 24); (2) the eighth team foul in each half, and all succeeding ones, result in two free throws, and the individual foul limit is five; (3) the lanes flare out more deeply, creating more opportunities for three-second violations and less congestion; (4) the three-point distance is a little more than 20½ feet (compared with 22 in the NBA).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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