The 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is down to its final eight teams. The quarter-finals begins in just a few hours, but before the action starts, here are some things we learned from the group phase of the games.
Australia may be unbeaten, but the team isn't invincible
The group phase saw Australia struggle for certain stretches of some of their games, before being rescued in the end by either the team's key players or bench. Australia defeated Turkey by just five points, 61-56. The team then trailed for most of its match against Japan. The same thing happened in the squad's final assignment against Belarus.
Though that game did not have bearing for Australia, trailing by double-digits in the third quarter before needing a big fourth quarter run to turn things around didn't look good for them.
Japan is legit
The FIBA Asia Championship queens opened their group phase campaign with a close win over Belarus then dominated Brazil for a 2-0 start. The team also defeated France, 79-71 and pushed world no. 2 Australia to the limit in a game they led for 27 minutes although Liz Cambage's tournament-high 37 points saved the Opals from defeat.
Japan ranks among the top teams in points, rebounds, assists, and three-point shooting. This team is well-constructed and knows what it takes to win.
The only outlier was a 14-point loss to Turkey, which eventually hurt Japan's quotient. As a result, Japan finished only fourth in Group A, which meant a quarter-finals pairing with the United States. While it is highly unlikely Japan beats the defending gold medal winners, just giving them another brave challenge will be testament to how good the team is.
Belarus and Serbia will be competitive in the years to come
In just the team's first-ever Olympic stint, Serbia, the 2015 EuroBasket winners, has already booked a quarter-finals appearance. It's unfortunate that they will be coming only as the fourth seeded team, as close losses to Canada (71-67) and Spain (65-59) hampered the squad's chances of placing higher in Group B.
Belarus, which made the Olympics via the qualifying tournament, did not make it to the next round after a 1-4 record in Group A. The team's campaign had a lot of heartbreaking losses, including one at the buzzer to France and a three-point defeat to Turkey. In retrospect, if the team only closed out its games strong, they could have had a better record and advanced. But this is only the second Olympic appearance for Belarus.
Serbia's average age in this tournament is only 27, with its key players like Sonja Petrovic and Ana Dabovic being 27 or younger. Belarus' average age is 30, but they have key players just in their 20s. Expect these teams to be competitive in the years to come.
Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird are still key players for the United States
Bird, 35 and Taurasi, 34, are two of the old heads in the United States roster but in what is most likely the final Olympics ride for both of them, the future Hall of Famers showed they were included in the team not just to provide experience.
Taurasi led USA in scoring in four of the squad's five games in the group phase, and averaged 14.2 PPG including a staggering 60.6 percent from three-point area. Bird, in just 21.5 minutes per game, averaged a team-leading 6 APG in the group phase.
The pair also leads Geno Auriemma's team in raw plus/minus, with Taurasi being a plus-133 and Bird a plus-127.
Astou Ndour has given Spain a big lift
One of the reasons for Spain's success in the group phase is the play of 6-foot-6 big Astou Ndour, who started in all five games and averaged 14.2 PPG and 9.2 RPG.
Spain needed another steady presence inside the paint as the team was without main center Sancho Lyttle, and the Ndour, who was not even part of the team's 2014 FIBA World Championship roster, provided support.
The 21-year-old Ndour is currently the European side's third-leading scorer and leading rebounder. She is also third in plus/minus.
Spain finished second in Group B with a 4-1 record. Without Ndour's performance, the team might have settled for worse.
All photos from FIBA.com
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