It went a little unnoticed in view of the difficulties of the French team to get rid of Hungary, but Evan Fournier and his troupe still won their place for the 1/8th finals of the competition, securing a spot in the top four teams in Group B.
However, there are still 6 games to play (out of 15) in this “group of death” of EuroBasket 2022, and therefore a lot of scenarios.
Always possible to finish in first place
France can thus always finish in first place in the group. If it beats Bosnia and Herzegovina then Slovenia, and Germany loses to both Slovenia and Hungary (…), the Blues would thus end up with 4 wins – 1 loss, against 3 wins – 2 losses for the Germany and Slovenia, even Bosnia.
Difficult to anticipate the final place
But with still six games to play, there are a lot of possibilities, especially since there is a risk of two or even three draws at the end of this group stage.
France can thus land in the 1/8th finals in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th place in their pool, in order to cross with group A (Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Montenegro, Georgia, Bulgaria) but it is for the very difficult time to anticipate the final position of the Blues, as their performances are up and down.
No scenario outside the Top 4
The only certainty is that the Blues cannot therefore be out of the Top 4 of their group. Why ? Because Hungary and Lithuania have lost their first three matches, and with two wins against these two countries, Vincent Collet’s team will have the advantage in the event of a final tie.
Indeed, if Lithuania wins its last two matches (Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina) and France loses twice (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia), there will be a tie between two teams (Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Herzegovina having at least one more victory), and France have the advantage with their direct confrontation victory over Lithuania. Same thing if it is Hungary who wins their last two meetings.
Rejected by FIBA, it is Lithuania which therefore has an extremely narrow margin of maneuver to reach the 1/8th finals, since Domantas Sabonis and his troop must absolutely win their last two matches (Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and count on two defeats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (France, Lithuania).
Photo credit: FIBA
