Olympics Podcast: Previewing USA Men's Basketball and Entire Olympic Hoops Field

The USA men's basketball team is once again heavily favored to win gold at the 2012 Olympics. Yet, they will face an extremely experienced and talented field that just gets tougher every year.

In this episode of Basketball by Association, NBA Featured Columnist Joel C. Cordes and NBA Assistant Editor Ethan Norof have your complete predictions for each and every Olympic basketball team.

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Everybody lauds Team USA's athleticism, finishing ability and versatility, but how worried should we be about their lack of size?

For the most part, this is a very experienced group. Most of the core members from 2008's gold-medal-winning team have returned. However, is it dangerous that they still don't have a clear rotation yet?

We also discuss which players will be key for the U.S., who will be an X-factor that could wildly swing their margin of victory, and which story lines are the most important to watch.

While the United States is heavily favored, the rest of the field is awfully tough, with plenty of notable NBA names scattered across nearly every roster.

We'll discuss the chances for unknown commodities like Tunisia, China, Nigeria, Australia and Great Britain. More importantly, we'll break down a middle of the pack that's populated with some especially tough competition: Lithuania, Russia and Argentina. 

At the top, teams like Spain, France and Brazil could give the United States a serious run for their money.

Basketball by Association is your final destination for all things NBA and Olympic hoops!