With the U.S. women's win over Belgium on Thursday afternoon, all 12 teams in the Olympic women's basketball tournament have played two of three group-stage games. Which makes this a great time to reset where things stand across all three groups: Which teams are in position to advance? Which are in danger of going home? Can anyone snap the U.S.'s 57-game Olympic winning streak? Let's break it all down.
Olympic women's basketball: Full group standings
But first, let's quickly review exactly how the Olympic competition format works.
How many groups are there in Olympic basketball, and how many teams are in each group?
The 12 teams are split into three groups, with four teams in each group.
What are the groups for the men's Olympic basketball tournament?
The groups for the men's tournament are as follows
| GRP A | GRP B | GRP C |
|---|---|---|
| China | Australia | Belgium |
| Puerto Rico | Canada | Germany |
| Serbia | France | Japan |
| Spain | Nigeria | United States |
How does the group phase work in Olympic basketball?
Each team will play the other three teams in its group and will earn two points for a win, one point for a loss and zero points for a loss by forfeit.
At the end of the group phase, the top two teams in each group will automatically advance to the quarterfinals. Additionally, the two best third-place teams will also move on to the quarterfinals. All other teams are eliminated from the competition.
In the event of a tie in the standings between two teams in the same group, head-to-head results will be used as the tiebreaker. In the event of a tie between three or more teams, there is a list of further criteria that will be used to break the tie, starting with the highest point differential in games between the tied teams.
Group A
China and Puerto Rico will face off in each team's final game of group play, which means that each team will have a chance to reach four points and put itself in contention to be one of the two third-place teams that will advance to the knockout rounds. Both Serbia and Spain, meanwhile, are guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals, but the winner of this game will be in prime position to join the U.S. as one of the two highest-ranking teams in the competition — and thus ensure that it'll be on the opposite side of the bracket as the Americans.
| Points | Differential | |
|---|---|---|
| Serbia | 4 | 25 |
| Spain | 4 | 2 |
| Puerto Rico | 2 | -4 |
| China | 2 | -23 |
Group B
France took control of this group with a hard-fought win over Nigeria on Thursday and can potentially avoid the U.S. until the gold-medal game if it beats Australia over the weekend. The Nigerians, meanwhile, are guaranteed their first ever Olympic quarterfinal with a win in their next game against Australia, who will also be playing for its Olympic life. Canada could still technically put itself in third-place contention, although its point differential leaves a lot of work to do.
| Points | Differential | |
|---|---|---|
| France | 4 | 42 |
| Nigeria | 3 | -8 |
| Australia | 3 | -8 |
| Canada | 2 | -26 |
Group C
The U.S., to no one's surprise, stands at the top, although Germany's performance in Group C so far has raised some eyebrows. The Germans now get a crack at Team USA, and if Satou Sabally and Co. can pull a historic upset, they'd take the group. If not, Germany will still be through, while the Belgium-Japan game will be crucial in determining how the third-place rankings shake out.
| Points | Differential | |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 4 | 39 |
| Germany | 4 | 25 |
| Belgium | 2 | -27 |
| Japan | 2 | -37 |