MIES (Switzerland) - France reached the Final in Saitama three years ago, with a memorable group stage win over the United States. The entire nation is hoping they could do one better in 2024, with the packed stands behind them en route to their first ever Olympic gold medal.
That's the plan, and that's the dream, too. However, France have to go through the most physical group of the Olympics, facing Germany, Japan and Brazil for a spot in the Quarter-Finals.
The top two from each group will advance, plus two best ranked third-placed teams from all the groups.
The Roster
Coach Vincent Collet made playing with two bigs his trademark over the years with the French national team. He puts two man mountains together in Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, while the intensity does not drop at all once Guerschon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort take over with the second unit.
In Wemby, coach Collet has a once-in-a-lifetime player, with his skillset allowing him to be the ballhandler in pick-and-roll situations, creating matchup nightmares for anybody. He has all the freedom to create something from nothing offensively.
Defensively, good luck trying to score over both Wembanyama and Gobert.
With Victor being just 20, France need more veteran leadership, so they turn to Nando De Colo (37), Nicolas Batum (35) and Andrew Albicy (34). Rudy Gobert (32) and Evan Fournier (31) are also among the 30-year-olds on this roster, but you can easily picture them going on another Olympic run in four years' time.
Gobert will give you exactly what you expect from him, finishing, rim protection and rebounding. However, it remains to be seen whether Fournier can go off on another FIBA Evan run.
FIBA Evan averaged 18.7 points per game at the last Olympics, but now he's coming off of an NBA season with just 32 games played, reaching double digits just 12 times, and scoring more than 20 just once all season long.
Even if Fournier is not going crazy on the court, his experience will mean a lot to the perfectly balanced lineup and that endless pool of prospects they got over there in France.
Remember, they are without the top two 2024 NBA Draft picks, Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, and they have Bilal Coulibaly (19) and Matthew Strazel (21) joining forces with Wembanyama, while Frank Ntilikina is still young at 25 years old.
To say that the future is bright would be the understatement of the century. Especially since the present moment also looks amazing, talent-wise.
The Question
Can they join the United States? Throughout the course of history of the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament, the hosts struggled to even reach the Final, let alone win the whole thing.
The only two times when the home team got to celebrate winning gold at the Olympics was in 1984 and 1996. It was Team USA that picked up those titles in Los Angeles and Atlanta, respectively, and those are the only two Olympic Finals to feature the hosts.
The only other medal for the hosts was bronze for the Soviet Union in 1980.
The Hope
Packed stands, sense of national pride, three youngsters led by Victor Wembanyama, plus a core that's been together for a long time - it's a good month to be a French basketball fan.
The Fear
As long as nobody mentions France's abysmal performance at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, when they finished 18th, there is no fear with these guys.
But if somebody does mention last summer, the fear of repeating such a forgettable campaign starts showing up.
In the friendly games so far, the team has lacked points, control, initiative, and serenity from the guards.
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