And then there were four.

Before we enter into the Semi-Finals stage of the FIBA World Cup on Saturday, what is one question that each team will be looking to answer in their next game?

Tyler broke down Team USA’s blowout win over Hungary…

Tyler chatted with Madison Booker in Austin ahead of her senior season…

Out of all the teams left, Spain stands out in-terms of where they currently stand in their growth as a women’s basketball team. While France certainly has a young generation of players that are on the rise, they also have vets on this team that have put the French on the map. Spain is more so relying on the growth of their young stars.

Teams not named the USA naturally are going to take some lumps as they grow into the playing primes, often times it comes against the Americans. As Spain faces off against the United States in the Semis, it truly is a moment to measure up against the best.

Awa Fam’s growth since the qualification games earlier this calendar year is so apparent when watching Spain on the court at this tournament. There is a clear growth in confidence in both her skills and her athleticism after going through nearly an entire WNBA regular season before coming to this tournament. Portland Fire draftee Iyana Martin has been awesome this tournament averaging 17.3 points per game which is good enough for fifth highest in the tournament.

How they perform against the United States sets the bar for where they will look to go from here. While a victory on the scoreboard is unlikely, this game can absolutely be a win for Spain if their young talent shows out.

Poor Team USA, suffering from having a ridiculously talented roster.

When you have this many incredible players on a team, and a large chunk of them making their World Cup debuts, it makes sense for it to take some time to figure out a soft pecking order in terms of who you want scoring the ball. When A’ja Wilson was on this roster it was pretty straight forward with who was going to be at the top of that order, when she left it opened it up some.

In the game against Italy, this problem really shined. The offense got muddied up and it didn’t feel like any player was willing to take the responsibility of going to get buckets. In the games since we have seen now both Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier individually step more into that role and it really made a difference.

This isn’t about having certain players take all the shots, it is about the ease of the offense. When you know who you are playing through it allows for things to be a bit more streamlined and it also opens the floor up for other players. Three point shooting hasn’t been the strongest for Team USA but the way the floor opened up against Hungary as Phee was taking control made it way easier to find those shots. It isn’t about having a 1-A scorer, it is about having an offensive plan you can trust as your opponents get stronger by the round.

We had picked Belgium to be in the Bronze Medal game in the lead up to the World Cup and Germany sent our pick home packing. Without Satou Sabally suiting up for this World Cup, it did feel like the host nation would just be lacking some fire power as they got into these stages of the tournament and yet here they are.

With an awesome crowd powering them on, Nyara Sabally and Leonie Fiebich were able to lead this Germany team to a 93-74 win over Belgium. Even with Emma Meesseman having the impact on the game that you would expect of her talent, a well rounded box score for the Germans was enough to put them over the hump.

(So a national team hosting a World Cup CAN beat Belgium huh? I’m still not over it USMNT.)

A team that is overlooked can be dangerous. A team that doesn’t have their best player can be dangerous. A national team hosting a competition can be dangerous. But just how much can all those factors power this Germany team on against the French? It is a bit of house money being played with here and they’ll look to go all in.

The dominance of France over the course of this tournament has been marked by their three point shooting. I keep half expecting a full cooldown and yet they just keep making them, at a historic mark at times too.

This team has depth that only Team USA can match but one cold shooting performance could be the end of it all. They are INCREDIBLE Valkyries coded in terms of how they operate. When those threes are falling, any team that isn’t Team USA is losing, and even Team USA is going to have to really deal with it.

This isn’t a long regular season, it is a two week tournament. Shooting at this level CAN be sustained for the entirety of the run.

Personally, I am very much down for more Marine Johannés F*** You threes, and her shooting along with the other threats from deep are vital to France keeping this run going.

And be sure to subscribe to the newsletter (or have the Ball-Knower in your life subscribe) if you haven’t already!