Group A: Lebanon, Mid Asian Team, Malaysia and South Korea
Group B: Qatar, Mid Asian Team, Chinese Taipei and Iran
Group C: Japan, Indonesia, Syria and Jordan
Group D: Philippines, UAE, Bahrain and China
Group B looks to be the 'group of death' since 3 quality teams will fight for position. I don't thnk there is a team from Mid Asia that could beat any of these three. Even if Kazakhstan decided to join qualifiers (they have supposedly pulled out due to coaching issues and lack of funds), I think they'd be fourth best in this group.
Group C looks to be the 2nd strongest if Syria and Michael Madanly play well, could make a game versus either Japan or Jordan.
Group A and D are pretty straight forward, the battles with lie for 3rd place. I'd say A is tougher and that Lebanon/South Korea will be a better and closer match than Philippines/China.
In Group A, it all depends on which Mid Asia qualifier FIBA Asia puts in the group. It'll be a close game, but I do not think Malaysia would win.
Group D is UAE versus Bahrain for third. It'll definately be a great game. In the Gulf qualifiers, the two games they played were split 1-1. Bahrain won the first 65-61, UAE got revenge in the semi finals 69-59.
Standings Predictions:
Group A: Lebanon, South Korea, Mid Asia Team, Malaysia
Group B: Iran, Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Mid Asia Team
Group C: Japan, Jordan, Syria, Indonesia
Group D: China, Philippines, Bahrain, UAE
Hopefully I will be able to give a good preview of teams in the upcoming months.
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