London 2012: The Countdown Series: Basketball Preview

43 days to go until the start of the London Olympics. And now it's time for the events previews. So here we go.

The first event I'm previewing is basketball. The matches will be played at two buildings-the Basketball Arena (pictured) and the O2 Arena. Twelve teams from both the men and women will have their games in those buildings.

As for the FIBA groupings, it's not yet complete. As of now, nine men's teams qualified, and seven women's teams have qualified.

On the men's side these are the nine that have qualified:

GROUP A

• Argentina (ARG)
• France (FRA)
• Tunisia (TUN)
• United States (USA)

GROUP B

• Australia (AUS)
• Brazil (BRA)
• China (CHN)
• Great Britain (GBR)
• Spain (ESP)

Plus three spots from the upcoming qualifiers. The rosters are interesting as usual, because the United States has every player in the roster currently playing in the NBA. Spain has six, France has five, Argentina and Brazil with four, China with one and so has Great Britain, with the Bulls' center Luol Deng. Australia and Tunisia have none. Australia has a player who played in the NBL championship this past season with Perth.

Since 1936, the United States have been dominant in the men's level winning seven straight prior to their screwjob against the Soviets in the final at Munich 1972. USA Basketball has struggled, won gold at Los Angeles 1984, and has since been on fire ever since the first Dream Team of Barcelona 1992.

The women's side is a lot different. These are the seven who qualified:

GROUP A

• Angola (ANG)
• China (CHN)
• United States (USA)

GROUP B

• Australia (AUS)
• Brazil (BRA)
• Great Britain (GBR)
• Russia (RUS)

Plus five spots based on the qualifiers. The United States has just about every player with WNBA experience at the current time. Australia has five, Brazil, China and Russia has one (Becky Hammon will return to Russia). Angola has none, and Great Britain is unknown.

Women's basketball at the Olympics began at Montreal 1976 with the Soviets defeating the USA in the final. With the exception of the victory of the former Soviet Union 'Unified Team' in the final at Barcelona 1992, the USA women have won gold six of the last seven summer Olympics.

Next up: a preview of football (soccer)