FIBA World Championship 2010 Begins in Turkey

The FIBA World Championship 2010 schedule starts today. For the next two weeks, the 2010 FIBA World Championship will showcase the world's best, as the FIBA World Championship has 24 teams clash in Turkey. Of course, the USA has the most attention, as they try to become the latest Dream Team to take home gold. But the USA hasn't won this tournament since 1994, when they were still considered head and shoulders above the rest. The rest of the world is more difficult to deal with now, leaving the FIBA World Championship 2010 as a hard road ahead.

For the next six days, a preliminary round will be held among four groups of six teams. Afterward, the bottom two teams from each group will be eliminated, forming a single elimination Sweet 16 bracket. Over the next week, those 16 teams will face off, until the championship game on September 12.

Heading into the FIBA World Championship 2010, the Americans have high hopes to make that final game. They are in Group B, as they start their schedule today against Croatia. The other teams in their group are Brazil, Slovenia, Iran and Tunisa - none of which are in the top 10 of the world rankings.

The first round is expected to go well for the USA, although the FIBA World Championship 2010 stands to be harder after that. Argentina is the No. 1 ranked team, as they are over in Group A with Serbia, Germany and Australia. 2006 world champion Spain, who nearly beat the USA in last week's exhibition, is in Group D with Lithuania and New Zealand. Meanwhile, 2006 runner up Greece leads Group C, among China, Puerto Rico and Turkey.

The USA might have to get past Spain in the semifinals, and Argentina in the championship. American doesn't have Kobe, LeBron and Dwayne at the FIBA World Championship 2010, but they do have Derrick Rose, Russel Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Chauncey Billups. In addition, Kevin Durant is expected to have a breakout tournament, as the likely team leader.

The Americans got in automatically after winning the 2008 Olympic gold medal. But success in this tournament has been more unpredictable, as they lost in the semifinals in 1998 and 2006, and collapsed as the 2002 host nation. First, however, they must get through the preliminaries before they can worry about the medal round.

Today's FIBA World Championship 2010 schedule has all 24 teams starting play, as does tomorrow's lineup. The USA starts off against Croatia at noon est today, and faces Slovenia at 9:30 a.m. EST tomorrow morning.
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Sources

FIBA.com - "2010 FIBA World Championship"

Fanhouse- "FIBA World Championship 2010: Schedule, News, Results and More"

Yahoo Sports- "Team USA's three biggest challengers at FIBA Worlds"