At their best, the Boomers have looked a medal contender earning their first win over the United States at Marvel Stadium last Saturday. But they also lost games to Canada and US then a loss to Germany in China on Wednesday night showed just how fraught this campaign could be, while an injury scare to veteran centre Andrew Bogut added to that feeling. The team are keeping "positive" about Bogut's chances of facing Canada, should he miss the game it would be a massive blow. What Bogut sees as their biggest strength was their ability to fix their problems on the fly. "The biggest thing I like is that we make good adjustments game to game from watching film and taking feedback, both positive and negative," Bogut said after the win over US.

"Sometimes we even make those adjustments happen quarter to quarter. When that happens you know you have a special group.” Whether they can maintain their top form for an eight-game tournament run is perhaps the biggest question they face. For the nation there is a big moment here. All games will be on during television's prime-time viewing in Australia, however the television rights will only be on pay television with Fox Sports showing all Boomers and US games while streaming service Kayo will live stream all World Cup games.

THE FORMAT If the Boomers can get out of their group they will carry their results with them and play two games against the top-two sides in group G which, on paper, look likely to be a star-studded France and Germany.

The two-top teams after those games will make the knock-out quarter-finals. The US and Greece, which feature NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, are in groups E and F respectively so the Boomers are likely to face one of them. If they win that game, they will be into the medal rounds. It's too tough to predict an opponent but Spain, Serbia and Argentina are the leading lights on that side of the draw. The Boomers' hardest games may come before the medal rounds. OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION

Whoever finishes higher out of Australia and New Zealand automatically qualifies for the Olympics. So if the Boomers make the second round and the Tall Blacks miss out, Australia goes to Tokyo. If both sides missed the second round, their two classification games in Shanghai against other losing sides become crucial as the highest-placed team goes to Tokyo. Whoever finishes lower will have to win an Olympic qualification tournament next year to make it. THE ROSTER

Australia have arguably never had a side with as much big-game experience with NBA championship winners Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova and Aron Baynes joining EuroLeague title winner and Utah Jazz star Joe Ingles as the leaders while Jock Landale, Chris Goulding, Nick Kay and Mitch Creek will likely round out the main rotation. Landale has started at power forward and Bogut played off the bench during lead-ups, while Goulding is also playing a pivotal role as both a scoring threat and court spacer. He matched Mills with 19 points in the first game with Team USA last week but has been closely guarded since then. NBL trio Nathan Sobey, Cameron Gliddon and David Barlow will have bit roles to play, but Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis will likely ride his veterans unless injury or foul trouble arise. WHERE IT'S WON OR LOST