Part of growing up as an international program is a shift in mentality. From the hunted to the hunter. The little brother to big bro. From the team that fears drawing into a Group Of Death to the team that dictates, by its placement, which group is most difficult.

The Canadian men’s basketball team has spent the last several years establishing itself as what it hopes will be a perennial threat. In doing so, the Canadians have moved past the point of worrying too much about their groupings in international tournaments. It’s rarely going to be easy in the World Cup or Olympics, and in winning bronze in the 2023 World Cup and developing one of the deepest pipelines of talent in the world, Canada should be favoured to come out of just about any collection of teams.

Having said that, this week’s Olympic qualifying tournaments were well worth the watch. Four tournaments took place across the globe, with Greece, Spain, Brazil and Puerto Rico earning the last four berths in the men’s Olympic tournament. Greece and Spain are particularly notable, as they draw into Canada’s group, which also includes Australia.

What follows are some scouting and roster notes for the teams Canada will see in France in a few weeks.

Greece wins Greece qualifier

A teary-eyed Giannis Antetkounmpo celebrated Sunday, having helped his country to its first Olympics since 2008. Antetkounmpo was, not surprisingly, named tournament MVP after averaging 22.7 points on 62.5 per cent shooting and posting a remarkable plus-51 mark over four games.

While Greece ran the table at home, going 4-0, it was a competitive field. Croatia initially looked like a favourite after blowing out Luka Doncic and the Slovenian team but was shocked by New Zealand the next day, requiring point differential to advance to the knockout stage. From there, Croatia edged the Dominican Republic for a spot in the final. Slovenia, meanwhile, was summarily dispatched by Greece in the semis, with Doncic looking like a player who, while still very good, had just gone on a deep run to the NBA Finals.

On Sunday, Greece was too much for Croatia’s balanced, beautiful-game style attack. Veteran point guard Nick Calathes ran head coach Vasilis Spanoulis’s offence to perfection, leveraging Antetokounmpo as a screener and feeding the hot hand of Georgios Papagiannis.

For Canada, Greece could present some challenges. A very stout Canadian defence will concede some size against the Greeks, and while Greece didn’t use their size to hit the offensive glass hard with regularity, they do a great job executing around the attention Antetkkounmpo demands. Lu Dort and Dillon Brooks figure to see ample time on Antetokounmpo, and this is probably the matchup where Canada’s lack of wing size will be most notable. Greece also shot extremely well from three for the mini-tournament.

Canada has a deeper and more talented roster, overall, and if they play as well as they did in any non-Brazil World Cup game, they should be in good shape. Antetokounmpo is the obvious big challenge, but Calathes and Spanoulis are also a pairing that won’t allow Canada any room for mental lapses, as they’ll be as well-prepared and smartly executing as any team in the field.

Spain wins Spain qualifier

There will be a familiar foe in the group after Spain held on to beat Bahamas in Sunday’s final in Valencia. Spain is, of course, one of the most decorated basketball nations, and while the current national team isn’t at the level of the last two decades, they’ll always pose a threat.

The final in this group was clear from the outset. The Bahamas — who employ DeAndre Ayton, Eric Gordon, and Buddy Hield — weren’t particularly threatened until the clincher. Spain saw a bit more trouble, including a near-upset against a Finland team playing without Lauri Markkanen, showing some of their cracks along the way. In the end, the upstart Bahamas crew came up one piece short, and strong games from Willy Hernnagomez and Santi Aldama prevented Spain from missing the Olympics for the first time since 1996.

If you watched the 2023 World Cup, you’ll be familiar with a Spanish side that Canada narrowly defeated to help punch their own ticket. They are creative offensively, led by former Raptors assistant coach Sergio Scariolo, they rarely turn the ball over, and they have size at every position. Former Raptors 905 standout Lorenzo Brown is also here after missing the World Cup. Granted Spanish citizenship in 2022, Brown is an exceptional FIBA point guard and a good test for Canada’s backcourt defence.

Like with Greece, the best version of Canada should be favoured, but there will be little room for error.

Australia is here, as well

Canada’s group includes Greece and Spain, as well as an Australian team that, like Spain, is in a bit of a transition between peak eras. After finishing fourth at the 2016 Olympics and winning bronze in 2021, this cycle’s Australian team is in more of a retooling, as evidenced by their 10th-place finish in the World Cup.

There are still savvy vets in Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, and Matthew Dellavedova, and a youth movement with Dyson Daniels, Josh Giddey, and Josh Green. Jock Landale represents a threat inside the paint, too, and Matise Thybulle can be a challenge defensively. Don’t sleep on Jack McVeigh, either. While that’s a lot of names, the Australians making a third consecutive semifinals appearance would be a minor upset.

Canada’s schedule

Canada’s round-robin schedule is as follows:

July 27 vs. Greece, 3 p.m. ET

July 30 vs. Australia, 7:30 a.m. ET

Aug. 2 vs. Spain, 11:15 a.m. ET

Quarters: Aug. 6

Semis: Aug. 8

Final: Aug. 10

The rest of the Olympic field

Brazil and Puerto Rico also earned berths in the Olympics on Sunday, which puts four teams from Canada’s Americas zone in the event. Those four Americas teams (Canada, USA, Brazil, Puerto Rico) mix with five from Europe (Spain, Greece, Germany, Serbia, and the host berth, France) and the representatives from the Africa (South Sudan), Asia (Japan), and Oceania (Australia) zones.

Group A: Canada, Spain, Greece, Australia

Group B: Brazil, France, Germany, Japan

Group C: USA, Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Sudan

Olympic format

The quality of your group matters for two reasons. First, the top two teams in each group move on to the knockout stage; obviously, winning games is key. Second, the top two third-place teams also advance; if you can’t win outright, you need to maximize your point differential for a possible cross-group tiebreaker.

There should always be pressure to win as many games as possible, outright, but Canada is in a group where the wins may be even more important, as they’re unlikely to have one soft matchup to pad their point differential the way a Group B or C team may.

The quarterfinal matchups will be determined by a draw based on pots teams are put into, rather than automatically slotting teams into knockout slots based on where they finish. The advancing teams are ranked first through eighth based on record and point differential, at which point quarterfinal matchups will be set based on those rankings to separate teams from their initial groups.

The women’s outlook

Canada’s women’s team drew into a group with France, Australia, and Nigeria. Their schedule is as follows:

July 29 vs. France, 11:15 a.m. ET

Aug. 1 vs. Australia, 7:30 a.m. ET

Aug. 4 vs. Nigeria, 7:30 a.m. ET

Quarters: Aug. 7

Semis: Aug. 9

Final: Aug. 11

We will preview the women’s pool more in-depth in the coming weeks.

Other notes

• Canada begins their exhibition schedule Wednesday in Las Vegas against the United States That game will air on Sportsnet at 10:30 p.m. ET and will give us our first look at the team outside of a training camp environment.

• The roster has been trimmed to 15 from the initial 20 (plus those who were participating but not competing for a roster spot). Canada will bring all 15 of those players to Vegas, and potentially to France for a pair of exhibitions (July 19 vs. France, July 21 vs. Puerto Rico).

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Andrew Nembhard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Dwight Powell, and Kelly Olynyk all feel like locks, barring injury. Trey Lyles also feels extremely likely (and necessary). Melvin Ejim will always have my vote for a spot. That would leave one spot for one of Phil Scrubb, Thomas Scrubb, Khem Birch, and Mfiondu Kabengele. Another big body feels more necessary than an extra guard, given the backcourt depth among the locks.

• It’s really cool to see Bruno Caboclo win an MVP in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He’s become an absolute monster in the FIBA environment for Brazil.

• I could not be more excited for these tournaments. I’m looking forward to enjoying them with you all.