Women's 2012 Olympic Basketball Draw: Analyzing Both Preliminary Groups

The women's 2012 Olympic basketball draw is in the books.

The top contenders have been sorted into two preliminary groups—Group A and Group B—while a dozen other teams look to fill in the five remaining spots in the qualifying round in Turkey later this summer.

The competition is going to be fierce throughout, and while USA are considered to be the heavy favorites, Russia and Australia have the talent to challenge for the gold medal in London.

Group A: USA Heavy Favorites

The USA women's squad will have an easy road to the medal rounds. 

The two teams that have been decided already in Group A are China and Angola, with three qualifying teams to be determined later in the summer.

USA features a loaded roster—the most talented group they've put together to this point in their short history. 

They'll be led by Candace Parker, Maya Moore and Asjha Jones, and they won't have any issues scoring points as their recent history suggests: During their recent win at the 2010 World Championship, USA swept the field, winning by an average of 35.1 points per game (h/t USABasketball.com).

The toughest competition in Group A will be China, who features a group of young players who can give the USA problems down in the paint.

Center Chen Nan is their big star, and she recently dominated the 2011 Asian Championship scoring 18.3 points while hauling in 8.2 rebounds per game. Playing alongside her in the frontcourt is another strong scorer, Ma Zengyu. She pitched in 12.7 points per game in the same tournament (h/t asia-basket.com).

Angola is a long shot to win a single game against USA or China.

They are led by forward Macissela Mauricio, who averaged 15.1 points per game at the 2009 African Championship (h/t africabasket.com).

The trouble for all teams facing team USA in Group A is that they don't have enough firepower on offense to keep up with the incredible array of shooters and scorers that USA possesses. 

USA will easily take Group A on their way to the medal round.

Group B: Australia Will Dominate

If there is any team in this tournament capable of winning the gold medal over the USA, it's Australia. They are the traditional rivals of team USA and have won silver medals in the last three Olympics (h/t Wikipedia) and will field another strong team this summer.

Lauren Jackson is a veteran who continues to play well in the twilight of her career. She is a member of the Seattle Storm and has averaged 19.2 points per game throughout her career (h/t WNBA.com).

Forward Penny Taylor joins Jackson on the front line for Australia, and she has started playing the best basketball of her career as of late for the Phoenix Mercury scoring 16.7 points per game in 2011 (h/t WNBA.com).

The final member of Australia's big three is Liz Cambage, an up-and-coming star in the WNBA for the Tulsa Shock who scored 11.5 points per game last year (h/t WNBA.com).

Australia's closest competition in Group B will be Russia.

Russia is led by an American. Becky Hammon became a naturalized Russian citizen prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics in order to play for Russia—a controversial decision that sparked much debate (h/t ESPN.com).

At 35 years old, Hammon is still going strong, averaging 15.9 points and 5.8 assists per game in 2011 for the San Antonio Stars (h/t WNBA.com).

Unfortunately for her, Russia doesn't have enough talent around her to overcome the superior offensive output of Australia or the USA.

Great Britain and Brazil round out Group B.

Both teams feature competitive squads, but both are incapable of hanging with powerhouses Russia and Australia.

Predicting Medals

USA will win gold in the women's basketball tournament at the 2012 Olympics.

Australia will once again win the silver medal.

Russia will content themselves with a bronze by beating Great Britain.

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