What Utah Jazz players moved on to the 2nd round of the FIBA World Cup?

What members of the Utah Jazz’s FIBA Five made it to the 2nd round of the FIBA World Cup?

The Utah Jazz were one of just a few teams to have as many as five players in the FIBA World Cup tournament this season, and it’s been fun to watch them play with their home nations. That doesn’t mean that all five members of the Jazz’s FIBA Five have faired as well as one another. In fact, of the five players and five countries that saw them play, only three are moving on.

In no shock to anyone, the United States and Canada are moving to the next round of competition, and doing so undefeated. The US is going to have to contend with the undefeated Lithuania squad, led by NBA big-man Jonas Valanciunas, while Canada has to deal with the also undefeated team from Spain and the Hernangomez twins, who are now the leaders of the squad.

They’re not the only ones going to the second round, as Team Italy is moving on with Jazz forward Simone Fontecchio leading the way. Unlike Team USA and Canada, Italy is a one-loss squad and has to play against undefeated Seria and one-loss Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is beatable but good, while Serbia is led by Miami Heat youngster Nikola Jovic and three-point shooting star Bogan Bogdanovic.

The good news for Italy is that they won’t have to play the Dominican Republic again in the second round.

As for the two men who aren’t moving on, that would be the Jazz’s two best offensive players. Lauri Markkanen and the Finnish squad are out, going 0-3 despite Markkanen’s heroic efforts. Jordan Clarkson and his Philippines squad, likewise, went 0-3, despite Clarkson having a breakout tournament.

Each squad will continue playing games, however, as they’ll be playing for seeding positions for the year-end rankings. So they’re still playing meaningful games, even if they’re not eligible for the World Cup trophy.