Olympic Basketball Bracket 2024: Women's Quarters TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds
The United States Women's National Team returns to the court Wednesday in the quarterfinals of women's 5X5 basketball at the 2024 Olympics.
A'Ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and the rest of the team has been dominant to this point, clearly the best team in the competition and one that appears poised to roll right into the gold medal game.
They face a scrappy, tough Nigerian team Wednesday, though, who could make things more interesting than they have any right to be and score one of the biggest upsets in any sport at this year's game should they be able to pick up the win.
That match-up headlines a slate of games that also features a fun Belgian team, as well as host country France.
Who plays who, when, and where can fans check out all of the action?
Find out with this look at the viewing info and up-to-date odds with this preview.
TV Schedule and Live Streaming Info
The schedule for the quarterfinals is as follows:
- Serbia vs. Australia (5:00 a.m.)
- Spain vs. Belgium (8:30 a.m.)
- Germany vs. France (12:00 p.m.)
- Nigeria vs. United States (3:30 p.m., USA Network)
All games streaming live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
Current Odds
DraftKings Sportsbook has the current odds for the quarterfinal round as follows:
Australia vs. Serbia
Australia: -345 (bet $100, win $128.98)
Serbia: +275 (bet $100, win $375)
Belgium vs. Spain
Belgium: -230
Spain: +190
France vs. Germany
France: -250
Germany: +205
USA vs. Nigeria
Odds currently unavailable
Can Nigeria Make a Game of It Against the Dominant USA?
In short, yes.
The United States has been the best team in this tournament and with its depth of talent, it is not particularly surprising why. Based on roster alone, they should roll through Nigeria in the quarterfinals and advance rather easily.
With that said, though, it has a particular weakness that could be problematic as they look to take down D'Tigress.
The Americans have a tendency to play a little loose and free with the ball and if they are not careful, Nigeria will make them pay. The underdogs in Wednesday's game has already accumulated 40 steals across three group stage games.
The team's ability to force turnovers has been essential to their advancement to this point in the tournament and will be of the utmost importance if it stands a chance against a bigger, stronger United States team that has the advantage in nearly every other field.
The Nigerian defense is a full press offense, staying in the faces of its opponents, nagging them until they inevitably get sloppy and turn the ball over. The team is not particularly strong when it comes to shooting from the field (37.5 percent) but it will have more opportunities to put up points if it can wrest the ball away from the Americans.
They also have to protect the ball themselves, something they struggled to do against France in the group stage, conceding 21 turnovers.
Unfortunately for the underdogs, their lack of size and struggle with defensive boards will likely be the difference in Wednesday's showdown.
The Americans are bigger and better defensively. They will control the game by tallying defensive boards. They have the size and experience to dominate on the offensive glass, too, and control the clock by controlling the ball.
Barring sloppy pay that Nigeria capitalizes on and makes a closer game out of things than it had to be, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where we are not talking about Breanna Stewart, A'Ja Wilson, and Co. competing in the next round of these Olympic Games after Wednesday.