The four six-team group draws for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain were announced Monday, with the 
defending champion United States going into a group with 2010 silver medalist Turkey.
Over the weekend, FIBA announced its four wild cards for the 24-team draw. They are Turkey, Greece, Brazil and Finland, leaving Canada and its young but tantalizing roster on the outside looking in.
Canada finished sixth in the FIBA Americas Tourney over the summer, failing to secure one of the automatic berths into the World Cup.
However, with a roster that could boast Tristan Thompson, Andrew Nicholson, Kelly Olynyk, Cory Joseph, 2013 top overall pick Anthony Bennett and projected 2014 top overall pick Andrew Wiggins, the allure of having Canada compete on the world stage was obvious.
Instead, FIBA opted for Turkey, which rode the homecourt advantage to a silver medal in 2010; Greece, the last nation to beat Team USA in the 2006 World Cup; Brazil, which hasn’t finished better than eighth in a World Cup since the days of Oscar Schmidt in 1990; and Finland, which was ninth in the last two Eurobaskets.
Team USA is in Group C and will play its five first-round games in Bilbao. Aside from Turkey, there appear to be no serious challenges as the rest of the group is Finland, Ukraine, New Zealand and the Dominican Republic.
Group A in Granada may be the “group of death” as it features host Spain, Serbia, France, Brazil, Egypt and Iran.
Group B in Seville is headed by Greece and Argentina and also includes Croatia, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Senegal.
Group D in Gran Canaria includes Slovenia, Lithuania, Angola, Korea and Mexico and Australia. There will be some intrigue in this group as teams jockey to avoid fourth place and a projected round of 16 matchup with Team USA.
The World Cup starts Aug. 30, with Team USA facing Finland before meeting Turkey the following day.
The top four teams from each group advance to the round of 16, with A1 playing B4 and so on, and C1 playing D4 and so on. It is a fixed bracket, so the United States cannot see Spain, France, Brazil, Greece, Argentina or any nations from Groups A or B until the final.
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Canada beat Brazil in the FIBA Americas by 25, without Wiggins, Bennett, Olynyk, Sacre, Ennis, Powell, Hanlan, Delembert, Nash. Not that it matters ofcourse.
Oh and I forgot Michigans Stauskas .