FIBA Americas Cup 2011 -- U16 Americas Cup Field is Set

Costa Rico is the Third Centrobasket Team to Qualify
Though the game results of the last day of competition in the Centrobasket U16 qualifying tournament were listed on the FIBA Americas website last night around 12:30am (eastern daylight savings) -- you had to link to the individual box scores scrolling at the top banner -- the final standings of the tournament were not posted until 11:00am or so this morning. The nightmare scenario played out as Costa Rico blasted Guatemala 105-47 to record a 2-3 record even as Belize, the team who controlled their fate, lost to El Salvador by seven, 64-71, dropping all three teams (Belize, Costa Rico and El Salvador) into a deadlock with matching 2-3 records. A review of the U16 Centrobasket Championship standings lists Costa Rico as the #3 place team. The FIBA Americas site has confirmed that the Costa Rican team (and not Belize, as I suggested yesterday) has been assigned to Pool B for the FIBA U16 Americas Cup Tournament, to kick off tomorrow with a full slate of games. Puerto Rico, as suggested in the previous post, did indeed win the tournament, beating host Mexico yesterday by a surprisingly large 36 point margin, 99-63. Puerto Rico will enter the Americas Cup with the momentum of a 5-0 record from the Centrobasket Tournament behind them.

The revised projected pools with Costa Rico assigned:

Pool A	Pool B
Canada	Argentina
Chile	Brazil
Mexico	United States
Puerto Rico	Costa Rico

Puerto Rico swept through the U16 Centrobasket Tournament racking up a winning margin of +253 points over five games. That is an average winning margin of 50.6 points. Even eliminating the Guatemala game (a 125-28 pasting), the Puerto Rico team still managed an average winning margin of 39 points, the standard deviation -- 7.55 -- suggesting consistent game-to-game domination of the competition. The Puerto Ricans should probably be considered the favorites in Pool A, though the Canadians may disagree. Puerto Rican players to watch include Ariel Watson, a 6-2 guard who plays for Good Counsel in Washington DC, Eliel Gonzalez Gomez who shot 27-39 through the five games, Jairo Velez Lopez who shot 20-26 and Bryan Moreno who shot 19-25 in only three games. Under the boards, Ian Torres Medina averaged eight rebounds per game through five games.

USA games through pool play, again revised...

Date	Opponent
06/21/11 Tues	Brazil
06/22/11 Wed.	Argentina
06/23/11 Thur	Costa Rico

After pool play the top two teams from each pool will advance to two medal round games, while the bottom two will play two additional Classification games to determine places #5 - #8, the games to be played Friday (6/24) and Saturday (6/25). Teams who finish #1 - #3 will qualify for the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championships.

FIBA Americas Cup 2011 -- U16 Americas Cup Field is Set...Almost

Puerto Rico, Mexico, and...Belize?
A review of the FIBA Americas standings at the Centrobasket U16 Championship 2011 held in Mexico City, Mexico indicates that Puerto Rico (4-0 with one game remaining) will qualify for the FIBA U16 Americas Cup, the tournament to start next week. Puerto Rico will be assigned to the A pool (see below). Mexico, also 4-0 going into the last game has already qualified for the Americas Cup and was assigned to Pool A back in May. Puerto Rico and Mexico meet in the last game (played later today -- Sunday), so one will finish undefeated while the other will take second place. The second qualifier from Centrobasket U16 will most likely be Belize, currently sporting a 2-2 record. The fourth place teams, Costa Rico and El Salvador are 1-3. Should Belize lose later today to El Salvador all three will most likely finish at 2-3 -- Costa Rico, facing 0-4 Guatemala is almost assured to finish 2-3 as well -- and will require a tie-breaker to determine the team for Pool B. The cleanest finish would be for Belize to beat El Salvador. Both have already played the leaders, Puerto Rico and Mexico, and lost. Belize has a -35 point margin in the two contests, while El Salvador is -127 (that is not a typo...). Though the game has to be played (and anything can happen...), I suspect that Belize will win, given that both also played Costa Rico, and Belize, in their head-to-head beat the Costa Ricans by a point (71-70), while El Salvador lost by 28 (79-51). If Belize loses while Costa Rico wins, and the tie-break is:
1. Head-to-head, then the FIBA Americas Commission will have to go to a second tie-breaker;
2. Point margin among the tied teams, then Belize should get the last spot;

The projected pools (Belize beats El Salvador or wins the tie-breaker):

Pool A	Pool B
Canada	Argentina
Chile	Brazil
Mexico	United States
Puerto Rico	Belize

As expected both Puerto Rico and Mexico dominated the Centrobasket U16 field. Ironic that both wound up in Pool A. Given the strength of Canada, Puerto Rico (and do not underestimate home court advantage) and Mexico, Pool A could be interesting (though Canada and Puerto Rico would still have to be favored to advance to the medal rounds). USA games through pool play...

Date	Opponent
06/21/11 Tues	Brazil
06/22/11 Wed.	Argentina
06/23/11 Thur	Belize