[UPDATE: Check out this link for a solid preview of the tournament and the Euroleague players expected to contribute to their countries. As a side note my Cameroon upset special looks worse and worse. On the bright side Korea is as big a mystery to others as it is to me.]

As I mentioned in a previous post I'm diving into the international basketball scene. And with the 2008 FIBA Men's Qualifying Tournament kicking off later today in Greece, now is as good a time as any. Hat tip to FIBA.com for the world rankings and numerous other contributions to my crash course in international basketball. Of the 12 teams involved only Brazil, Canada, Germany, and Puerto Rico don't play until Tuesday. More on them tomorrow. In the meantime let's check out the first four games.

Game One Preview

Greece (Roster)

World Rank: 6

Player to Watch: Dimitris Diamantidis - DraftExpress describes him as an unselfish 6'5 point guard with terrific court vision. More importantly Diamantidis is highly regarded for his defensive play, which is aided by his excellent lateral quickness and long arms. The latter of which is most likely responsible for his nickname - Octopus Man. Furthermore, his euroleague.net player profile lists his numerous individual awards - 2007 Euroleague Final MVP,  2005, 2006 and 2007 Euroleague Best Defender, 2006-07 All-Euroleague First Team, amongst others. As a side note Octopus Man is one of my favorite nicknames of all time.

Recent News: Theo Papaloukas answered some questions about the Greek squad as it prepared for the qualifying tournament. You can check out the interview here. I should note that Papaloukas is a major player on the Greek basketball scene and would have been my "player to watch" if people called him Octopus Man. Alas.

Lebanon (Roster)

World Rank: 23

Player to Watch: It was more difficult to find information on players from Lebanon as sites like this were not as informative as euroleague.net. So I went with Rony Fahed because I enjoyed his highlights. He appears to be a gunner. 

Recent News: As of last week Lebanon was without one of its best players - Joseph Vogel. On top of that Fadi El Khatib is battling a hand injury.

Prediction: From what I've read the Greek squad is a nice mix of youth and experience. Factor in good health and host country status and I'd be shocked if Greece lost.

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It occurred to me the other night that the Hawks play like a NCAA Cinderella team in Atlanta. And that's not an insult. The bench jumps around like wild, there is a ton of energy and they take down a higher ranked seed. On the flip side the Hawks have looked more like Penn against the UConn Huskies when the games have been played in Boston. It has has been surreal. And despite the outcome of the first 6 games in no way am I comfortable. For starters the Celtics usually don't look all that sharp on Sunday afternoon games - an ugly road win at Toronto (Ray Allen buzzer beater), the first loss of the year on the road against Orlando, that lackluster home win against the Cavs (minus LeBron), another loss at Orlando (Turkoglu's ridiculous 3) and a road win in Portland. In fact the victory over the Spurs at home is the only Sunday game that stands out to me in a good way. More importantly the Hawks are attacking the rim, getting the Celtics in foul trouble and dominating the free throw line as Boston chucks up jumpers. Let's hope the Celtics figure this one out.