Jones Cup Men Day 8 - Freiji shines; Jordan favored to win it all

Jones Cup Men Day 8 - Freiji shines; Jordan favored to win it all
Lebanon 97-79 Korea

Matt Freiji had a tournament-high 39 points and 11 rebounds as Lebanon routed Korea 97-79 in a somewhat meaningless game.

Freiji made 14 of 20 shots, including 6-of-8 from three-point land. His performance and the vision of a Freiji-Faris-Feghali-Khatib frontline will boost Lebanon's confidence in the upcoming Asian Championship so much stronger.

I'm saying this game is somewhat meaningless is because many players sat out the game, including Korea's Kim Min-soo, Lee Dong-jun and Lebanon's Brian Feghali. They were all reported having bad stomachs.

I think these teams are playing tricks and being conservative in the Jones Cup because the Asian Championship in Tianjin is the real deal.

Taiwan 80-76 Iran

Taiwan: Tseng Wen-ting 23p, Wu Tai-hao 10p+7rb, Yang Chin-min 13p
Iran: Nikkah Bahrami 25p(5-9 3PT)

Jordan 93-58
Philippines 94-90 Taiwan 2nd



Standing breakdown

Standing
Jordan 6-1
Iran 5-2
Korea 5-2
Taiwan 5-2
Lebanon 6-2
Philippines 2-5
Japan 1-6
Taiwan 2nd 1-6
Kazakhstan 1-6

Let's take a look at the standing now and break it down. The remaining games tomorrow are Jordan vs. Kazakhstan, Taiwan 2nd NT vs. Japan, Taiwan vs. Korea and Iran vs. Philippines.

Under normal circumstances, Jordan should have no problem beating Kazakhstan, which means it will win its third straight Jones Cup title with a 7-1 record while other teams have two losses at least.

If Jordan loses and Iran beat Philippines, things will be much complicated. Jordan will be tied at 6-2 with Iran, Lebanon and either Korea or Taiwan in a four-way tie.

The first tiebreaker will be the won-loss record of the matches between tying teams.

Situation 1: Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Korea
Jordan 2-1
Iran 2-1
Korea 1-2
Lebanon 1-2

In this case, Iran will be the champion because it defeated Jordan.

Situation 2: Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Taiwan
Jordan 2-1
Iran 2-1
Lebanon 1-2
Taiwan 1-2

In this case, Iran will still be the champion.

Which means if Jordan loses tomorrow, Iran will win the 2009 Jones Cup title.