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12 Teams Set For 2016 Olympics; 12 Storylines To Watch For In Rio

By Matthew Medley

Tony Parker playing for France to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics (Photo by Frederic Stevens/Getty Images)
Tony Parker playing for France to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics (Photo by Frederic Stevens/Getty Images) /
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PALA ALPITOUR, TURIN, ITALY - 2016/07/09: Players of Croatia celebrate at the end of the basketball FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament match beetwen Croatia and Italy. Croatia wins 84-78 over Italy at overtime. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
PALA ALPITOUR, TURIN, ITALY – 2016/07/09: Players of Croatia celebrate at the end of the basketball FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament match beetwen Croatia and Italy. Croatia wins 84-78 over Italy at overtime. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) /

11. Croatia: Making the Most of Their Appearance

Croatia had the most arduous road of any team to get to the Rio Games in 2016. They fought an uphill battle in the qualifying tournament in Italy, falling to the host country in the tournament opener.

They went on to win three straight games on the brink of elimination and beat Italy on their home court in the championship.

If that wasn’t enough of a gauntlet to go through, Rio will only be tougher, but Croatia showed their resilience to get to this point.

Led by Bojan Bogdanovic, not to be confused with Bogdan of Serbia, Team Croatia will be interesting to watch and although many will count them out, they are certainly a candidate to pull off an upset or two in the opening round of group play.

Another player to watch will be 22-year-old forward Dario Saric, who averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds per game in the qualifying tournament, and was named the MVP of the tournament.

Bogdanovic was leading scorer, averaging 24.2 points per game in the qualifying tournament and is expected to be the go-to-guy for Croatia in the Olympics. The one-two punch of Bogdanovic and Saric will be interesting to see when they match up against the best in the world in Rio.

Next: Underdogs Look To Make Some Noise