At the FIBA World Cup this year, Team USA fell to a abysmal 7th place. But somehow, in the FIBA Power Rankings, they're ranked first. How did that happen?
Well, most power rankings are based on fact-based opinions from experts who pour over stats and advanced metrics before ranking teams. But the FIBA rankings are more extensive and complicated. If (for some reason) you want a 4 page detailed report you can go here: How FIBA rankings work
If you want a less complicated and boring explanation you can just keep reading here.
Anyways, the FIBA power rankings take the last 8 years into account, in case something like all the best players quitting happens for some reason. The method is quite complicated and confusing, which leads me to believe I will never work for FIBA.
There's a table they use, where if a game is decided by less than 10 points, the winner gets 600 total points and the loser gets 400. If the game is decided by 10-19 points, the winner gets 700 points and the loser 300. If the game is decided by 20+ points, the winner is rewarded with 800 and the loser gets 200. In a forfeit, the team that didn't forfeit gets 800, with forfeiting team getting 0. (If you thought that was long and boring then definitely do not read the report)
Also, if you win and it's a home game (AKA in your own country) you get an additional 70 points, but if it's a 'road' game you get 70 points taken away from the however many hundred you were awarded with. Neutral sites don't give or take any points. The points are also weighted based on strength of opponent, but I'm not going to try to explain something I don't even understand myself.
Sooooo, now that that's (sort of) cleared up, it makes more sense that USA is at the top of the charts. Because the US has won like 4 gold medals the last 8 years, just because they finished 7th in the World Cup, the teams of past were able to ensure that the US is still ranked #1.
However weak this squad was, next year will be even better. Some people might think that Team USA still should've won, despite the lack of star power. But the teams in the World Cup are made up of players who have been playing together for 10+ years, and chemistry is super important in basketball.
Another thing that caused the USA to underperform is the court. FIBA and the NBA have similar rules and courts, but not exactly the same. The NBA courts are longer and wider than the FIBA courts, which would throw off the spacing of the players, and limits half court play. The three point line is closer by a few feet, which might not seem like much, but when the three point line is the boundary between outside players and traditional bigs, there is less space to work with. Opposing players are just that much closer, which also would mess someone up.
So while Team USA should be dominant no matter who plays, there are all sorts of boundaries and hurdles which could stop them from playing at peak performance levels.
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