FanNation

A tidbit from the Houston Chronicle on Yao Ming's continuing recovery and his hopes for the Olympics:

Recovering Yao wants top-eight finish in Beijing (Houston Chronicle)

Conventional wisdom and Yao seem to be on the same wavelength: a top-eight finish for Team China in the men's basketball tournament seems within reach if China plays to its best. That said, their bracket is a killer: both the United States and Spain, the defending world champions, are in the same bracket as China.

A big "whoops" on my part, by the way, for writing earlier that China and the U.S. play each other in their second match of the tournament after facing qualifiers in their first matches - that would be the U.S. women, the defending Olympic champions. The men's event will see China and the U.S. facing off in their first match of the Games on August 10, two days after the Olympic opening ceremony. The full schedule for both the men's and women's Olympic tournaments can be found here.