London 2012 Open Thread: Four More Spots, Eight More Teams

Pool play is slowly winding to a close, with just two more games remaining in the Olympic competition for four of the 12 teams that started this journey less than a week ago at the Basketball Arena in London.

Through three games, four teams have already guaranteed themselves a spot in the quarterfinals and at least one game at the O2 Arena. The remaining eight teams are still scrambling to advance, and after Friday the dreams of some will be all but dashed, despite still having one more Olympic contest to go.

Here's a look at Friday's schedule:

9 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) - Angola (0-3) vs. Croatia (0-3)

These two are playing to escape from the cellar of Group A. Either way, barring some crazypants things happening on Sunday, this will more than likely be their penultimate game of the Games.

11:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m. ET) - Russia (3-0) vs. Australia (2-1)

Russia knows they're advancing, but does Australia? The two-time silver medalists have some work to do before they can breathe a sigh of relief on their quest for the podium.

2:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) - Brazil (0-3) vs. Canada (1-2)

If Brazil wins, they might still have a chance to make it to the quarterfinals, as their fifth pool play game is against fellow winless team Great Britain. But if they lose - wow. This team will have quite a bit of ground to cover if they expect to do anything worthwhile in Rio.

4:45 p.m. (11:45 a.m. ET) - Turkey (2-1) vs. China (3-0)

China has secured a spot in the quarters, but face a tough test against both Turkey, particularly with the U.S. looming large. If Turkey manages to hand the Chinese their first loss of the tournament, seeding could be put in play in a big way.

8 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) - France (3-0) vs. Great Britain (0-3)

I have a cousin of a friend that will be at this game! Perhaps she can bring her homeland some luck as Great Britain tries to get off the schneid. She is planning to wave a Union Jack and an American flag, and be cheering for the two ladies with Oklahoma ties on the British roster. We'll see if it helps.

10:15 p.m. (5:15 ET) - Czech Republic (1-2) vs. United States (3-0)

The U.S. team, although unscathed and without a serious four-quarter push thus far in the tourney, has been starting slow. Really slow. But in the end, they've outscored their opponents by a total of 108 points in their three contests. Can the Czechs cause early trouble? And even if they do, won't the depth of the Americans be too much to handle? Probably. That's one of the many reasons they're going to try to duplicate the "Fab Five" in the gymnastics world with a Fab Five of their own - a five-peat. By the way, this will be for consecutive Olympic win No. 37.