Now that FIBA Basketball World Cup pool play is over, 16 of the 24 teams have advanced to the one-and-done "knockout" round of 16 that starts Saturday. Eight teams from Pools A and B have moved on to Madrid while the eight teams from Pools C and D will play in Barcelona.
The FIBA World Cup championship game will be played Sept. 14 in Madrid and can be seen on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. Which teams are legitimate contenders and which have no shot? Let's take a look at the remaining field.
The favorites
Spain
Spain is one of the tournament's two favorites. They have breezed through Pool A in Granada, thought to be the toughest of the four pools, and will play the rest of their games in the friendly confines of Madrid's Palacio de los Deportes de la Comunidad.
Pau Gasol leads a veteran team in scoring and is fourth in the tournament. Spain has just three double-figure scorers but, more important, it has eight players who have essentially been together since the 2008 Olympics and have a combined 700 games of international experience.
Spain has the beef inside with Gasol, his brother, Marc, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Serge Ibaka. They have combined to make 62 percent of their shots thus far in the tournament. And they are more than capable of beating any team with their excellent guard play. Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez are no longer in the NBA, but they have proved in the past that they won't be intimidated by Team USA's talent.
