US Men's Team Drawn Into Tougher Olympic Pool The way things have been going, Americans should have expected a tough road back to Olympic men's basketball gold. "It's been that kind of a year," USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said. The U.S., reeling from major injuries to NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose, was placed into what appears to be the more difficult group Monday during the draw for the London Games in Rio de Janeiro. The defending champions face powerful Argentina, France and Tunisia in Group A, plus two more teams from a last-chance qualifying tournament in Venezuela in July. Solid European squads such as Lithuania, Russia and Greece - the last team to beat the USA squad - are favorites to grab those spots. Argentina, the 2004 gold and '08 bronze medalist, will have Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola back. The resurgent French were the European runners-up last year behind San Antonio point guard Tony Parker. Tunisia earned its first Olympic berth by beating Angola last year for the African championship. The Tunisians trailed the Americans by only four points in the third quarter at the world championship two years ago, before the U.S. pulled away for a 92-57 victory. "It appears that our group, Group A, is going to be extremely competitive," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. It's a tough draw with a former Olympic champion in Argentina; France is another powerful team, a veteran team that is extremely talented; Tunisia continues to improve, and then our group will add the top two teams from the FIBA World Qualifying Tournament. In the Olympics you only have 12 countries qualify so you're going to have tough draws, and that's why winning a gold medal is such a great accomplishment. Spain, the 2008 silver medalist, heads Group B, which includes Australia, Brazil, China and Britain. One qualifier from Venezuela will join them. The one thing you know is you've got to beat them all. To win it, you've got to beat everybody," Colangelo said. The top four teams in each pool advance to the quarterfinals. And with the retired Yao Ming no longer playing for China, and Golden State center Andrew Bogut unable to play for Australia after ankle surgery, the hosts may have a chance to be one of them. "Although there is never an easy game at this level, I'm happy with the draw," British team captain Drew Sullivan wrote on Twitter. The American women's team, winners of the last four Olympic gold medals, has the easier draw - Group A, with China, Angola and three teams from the qualifying tournament played in Turkey in June. Group B consists of Australia, Brazil, Britain, Russia and two qualifiers. The biggest game of the preliminary round will be between the Russians and Australians to determine who gets the No. 1 seed in that pool and avoids playing the U.S. until potentially the gold-medal game. The Olympic basketball tournaments will take place from July 28-Aug. U.S. women's coach Geno Auriemma said that although the Americans' draw looks better now, it may not turn out that way. People might say we've got an easier draw than teams in the other bracket, but you have to remember that China is the Asian champion. They have been climbing back up the world ranks and finished in the top four in Beijing, and Angola will be excited about playing in their first Olympics," Auriemma said.