EuroBasket 2013: Round 2 set to tip off Wednesday

Wednesday will mark the opening contests of Round 2 of EuroBasket 2013, with the top three teams coming out of each of the four groups that competed in Round 1 coming together to form two new groups. At the end of the Round 2 the top four teams in each of the two groups will head to the quarterfinals. The pot of Gold at the end of the EuroBasket rainbow consists of six seats at the table in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Six of the eight teams that move on to the quarterfinals three games from now will start making arrangements to compete for the 2014 World Cup.

Round 2 of the EuroBasket 2013 will consist of two groups of six teams each. Each team will play everyone else in their group, with the games they played against teams in their group that they played in Round 1 carrying forward. With that in mind, Round 2 is already 40% completed with every team already having two games in the books. As the second round begins, France and Serbia lead Group E with 2-0 records, while Italy comes at 2-0 in Group F.

Group E will tip of Round 2 on Wednesday, with just Group E clubs playing, then Group F will play on Thursday. They will alternate playing dates until the final three contests are completed and the quarterfinalists can be determined.

In Group E, France and Serbia hold 2-0 records with Lithuania and Ukraine at 1-1. Latvia and Belgium are holding down the cellar at 0-2.

On Wednesday Latvia will take on Ukraine, Belgium will meet Serbia, and France will square off against Lithuania.

EuroBasket Group E

Round 2 Match List[matches league_id=36 group=E template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=36 group=E show_website=false template=nolink]

In Group F, Italy brings their 5-0 record over into Round 2 for added confidence for advancing to the quarters and one step closer to the World Cup. The Italians will start out at 2-0 and will meet host club Slovenia in nightcap in Ljubljana on Thursday. Slovenia highlights a group of four clubs entering Round 2 in Group F that are knotted up in the middle of the group with 1-1 records. It will be no surprise if the arena is overflowing with Slovenians, but with a contest with neighboring Italy, who’s run the table so far, you can bet there will be a large Italian presence in the stands and the game will be noisy.

Along with Slovenia at 1-1 are Spain, Finland and Croatia, with Greece trailing at 0-2.

Spain will play Greece in a critical game for the Greeks if they want to climb out of the hole they are in and qualify for the next round. The final game will be Finland against Croatia.

EuroBasket Group F

Round 2 Match List[matches league_id=36 group=F template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=36 group=F show_website=false template=nolink]