By InsideHoops.com

Click here for World Championships front page.

Click here for profiles of teams in Pools A and B.

Pool C: USA, China, Germany, Algeria

USA

See USA roster and make up your own preview. They're good.

CHINA

China won the most recent Asian Championship for Men with a blowout of Lebanon. They've won this title 12 of the last 14 years. There's a Great Wall in China, and a second one on their basketball team. With Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Menk Bateer, they've got three players over 7 feet. Bateer is has the most limited skills of the three, but he's almost 300 pounds of solid muscle. Wang is the most developed of the players. Ming has the most star poential.

GERMANY

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki led the entire tournament in scoring, with 29 points per game. With 7'6" Dallas Mavericks center Shawn Bradley, 7-footer Patrick Femerling, and 6'8" Ademola Okulaja, Germany has a tough frontcourt. Okulaja adds both scoring and rebounding. Bradley doesn't do too much. Guard Marco Pesic can be deadly from the field, and hits well from outside. Defensively, guard Stefano Garris is a stopper. Point guard Mithat Demirel dishes assists and steals the ball.

ALGERIA

After reaching the finals in the most recent African Championship for Men, Algeria enters the World Basketball Championship for the first time ever. Guard Ali Bouziane can score. Forward Mourad Boughedir scores and rebounds. The rest of the team all chip in a few points each. It typically takes a total team effort for this team to win.

POOL D: Argentina, New Zealand, Venezuela, Russia

ARGENTINA

Argentina won the Championship of the Americas tournament. This team can score. The star here is 6'7" swingman Emanuel Ginobili, an athletic, dominant European star and future member of the San Antonio Spurs. Center Ruben Wolkowyski, a former NBA player, scores and shoots a high percentage from the field. Fabricio Oberto also scores, and hits the boards hard. Guard Juan "Pepe" Sanchez, also a former NBA player, tosses assists. Leandro Palladino adds scoring. Power forward Luis Scola, who enters the NBA this season, contributes some points and a few boards.

NEW ZEALAND

After years of losses, New Zealand finally beat Australia to win the Oceania Championship. They haven't qualified for the World Championships in 16 years. The team name is the Tall Blacks. "Blacks" is a reference to the all-black uniform color of this nation's national team in various sports, and "Tall" applies to the basketball players. Forward Pero Cameron and guard Phil Jones are both scorers. Point guard Mark Dickel, formerly of UNLV, led the NCAA in assists two years ago and can still pass the ball. Forward Tony Rampton and guard Dillon Boucher grab rebounds. Center Sean Marks is the first New Zealand player to make the NBA. Kirk Penney contributes as well.

VENEZUELA

This team has a bunch of guys capable of stepping up offensively, and as a team they pour in points. Victor Diaz leads with scoring and whatever else he can muster up. While Diaz goes outside, Richard Jose Lugo dominates inside with scoring, rebounding and blocks. Houston Rockets player Oscar Torres scores. Venezuela's point guard is Diego Guevara. Carl Herrera, another NBA player, scores and hits the boards.

RUSSIA

Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko pours in points from the inside and hits the glass. Guard Serguei Tchikalkine bombs from the outside, and can be lethal from 3-point range. Old point guard Evgueni Pachutine barely scores but dishes assists and controls the ball. Zakhar Pachoutine and Serguei Panov both add double-digit scoring.