USA Men's Olympic basketball will start their quest July 25

Seattle- On July 25, 2021, the USA Men's Olympic journey will start.

After a zoom conference last night, all of basketball teams from different countries were confirmed and grouped into different categories. USA basketball will be in Group A and will play France, Iran, and Victoria, Canada during the Preliminary round games.

This summer the play will be a little different. Each of the teams have been split into three groups of four teams apiece for preliminary play, held July 27-Aug. 3. Following competition of the preliminary round, the top two teams from each group and the two best third-place teams according to FIBA's placement rules, will qualify for the medal round and will be seeded.

In the medal round, teams will compete in a knockout bracket, with winners advancing from the Aug. 3 quarterfinals to the Aug. 5 semifinals. The bronze medal and the gold medal games will be played on Aug. 7.

Under the new format, the Olympic medalists will play six games, while teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play three games. The final four teams to qualify for the men's basketball competition will be determined through FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held June 29-July 4, 2021, in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia. The winners of each tournament will qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Head coach Gregg Popovich had this to say about the schedule. "It's exciting to learn more about the Olympic schedule and who our preliminary round opponents will be in Tokyo," said USA head coach Gregg Popovich . "The three Olympic preliminary groups appear well balanced, and there are a good number of teams who have legitimate shots at the gold medal in Tokyo."