But when you look back, huge disparity can be clearly felt, as no Asian or African team made into the tournament's last 16.

Without the last 16, and without direct qualification to the 2020 Olympic Games, it undoubtedly leaves a disappointing journey for hosts China, who were quite optimistic for a good showing when the draw was made in March.

After commencing the tournament with a Cote d'Ivoire win, Chinese fans' confidence was boosted, only to witness the ripple effect of mistakes at the end of the matchup against Poland.

Zhou Qi's throw-in was intercepted to waste China's one-point lead at the dying moment, as Poland bagged the win in overtime.

The defeat to Venezuela meant that China failed its attempt to advance to the last 16.

More agonizingly, the hosts were unable to earn direct entry into the Olympics after their second round loss to Nigeria in classification.

The gravity of world basketball is still centered in Europe and the Americas, with 15 teams reaching the last 16 and Australia being the exception from Oceania.

But not everyone is happy about the huge gap separating different continents.

"There are some groups from the start that you probably know which two teams are going to advance. These groups are obvious. I don't know that it's a good thing in general for the competition," commented Serbian head coach Sasha Djordjevic after his team thrashed the Philippines by 59 points.

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