[by Kris SANTIAGO] - FIBA Americas is probably in a dilemma.
The organizers of the Torneo de las Americas (TOA) the continental tournament which serves as a qualifier for the Olympic Games and the World Championships, could be opting to give the US national-team credit for winning gold in the Olympic Games this year by honoring them with a direct pass for the World Championships in Turkey in 2010 (Which Argentina received in 2006 for winning gold in Athens).

In a recent article of a Puerto Rico-based newspaper (FIBA Americas has its headquarters there too), the idea came up to give the US a free pass to solve another problem that occurred when Mexico failed to qualify for the TOA in the recent regional qualifier (Centrobasket) which they hosted in late August.

The only serious contender to host the TOA in 2009 is currently.....Mexico.

But with current situation (All the countries that qualified for this tournament are already known) and no additional place for Mexico as a host to join the other countries in competition,
FIBA Americas may finalize the idea of letting the US advance to Turkey without letting them participate in the continental tournament which would open the door for Mexico as a future host.

To make matters worse (...or lets say to increase their chances), Mexico even doubled the money they want to spend on hosting the TOA, while the only other country that expressed a bit interest (Argentina), did not even gave FIBA Americas an official bid so far.

If FIBA Americas decides (probably together with USA Basketball) to give the US national-team a rest, Mexico would have another chance to qualify for Turkey while the US would not play in international games until 2010.

Personally, I would have no problem if FIBA chooses this way, as it would be interesting to see if Mexico can learn out of the recent mistakes and field the best team possible and maybe chooses a better coach (Nolan Richardson has been a great choice in 2007, why not letting him do the coaching again ?) to make things happen.

There will probably be another qualifying tournament like the one in Athens for the Olympic Games this year, so even if one of the teams fails to qualify directly for Turkey, they may want to host this tourney to increase their chances to make it to Turkey.