Canada moves way up in rankings after World Cup bronze, has third-best odds for Olympics

Article content

Canada’s historic performance at the FIBA World Cup should help the program moving forward in many ways.

Article content

One of those will be where the men’s basketball team is seeded in future events, thanks to a big jump in the FIBA men’s world rankings, from 15th all the way up to sixth in the world. A higher ranking means you’re less likely to be grouped with other powers early in competitions.

Article content

By qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games as the top-ranked team in the Americas and by beating former World No. 1 Spain, as well as other highly-ranked teams like France, Slovenia and new No. 1 USA (Spain fell to second in the rankings), Canada rocketed to its highest placement in memory.

Canada also ranks No. 5 in the world on the women’s side of the FIBA list, with the Top 5 women’s squads remaining unchanged from the previous version.

Germany, the surprise winner of the men’s World Cup, rose eight spots to No. 3 (Canada and Germany split a pair of exhibition games prior to the competition, but that doesn’t factor into the rankings). Australia dropped from 3 to 4, and runner-up Serbia rose one spot to No. 5. Argentina fell three spots to No. 7, while Latvia was the biggest riser, soaring 22 spots to No. 8. France fell to No. 9 from fifth, while Lithuania rounded out the Top 10, falling two spots.

The rankings had not been updated since Nov. 2022, when Spain had ended USA’s 12-year run at the top. Canada only moved up a few spots in that ranking, but went on to have a huge run in qualifying and then at the World Cup.

The United States remains the favourite to win the Olympics again, with 1/2 odds, but Canada is also a popular choice at 6/1, trailing only USA and Serbia (4/1), according to BetOnline.