USA Pan American Games: Basketball Television Schedule Online And On ESPN Networks

The 2011 Pan-American Games have already begun, but the Team USA's basketball team is the only thing of real interest here at Ridiculous Upside. Luckily for those that are interested in following the men representing the United States, all of their opening round games will be televised in some form or fashion.

As a quick reminder the reason we should all be interested in the men's basketball team is because all 12 of the players will play in the D-League this season and the coaching staff is made up of coaches from around the NBA Development League (roster available here).

The first game for Team USA is against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. ET. This game will probably be the game I'm most interested in considering the Domican team features the venerable Jack Michael Martinez, but it's unfortunately being pre-empted by men's volleyball on ESPN2 according to my cable company's description. Instead, it seems I'll be tuning into this website.

On Thursday night -- October 27th, for those confused by days instead of dates -- Team USA will take on Brazil, broadcast live on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET. I couldn't find a roster, but Tiago Splitter and Marcus Vinicius are two names familiar to basketball fans that played for the team at the FIBA Americas Tournament.

Friday night's game will be played against Uruguay at 6:30 and be broadcast on ESPN Deportes. That game will not be worth staying at home to watch considering Uruguay's best player, Esteban Batista, is instead in Turkey playing for Anadolu Efes.

Following preliminary play, the top two finishing teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, while the No. 3 teams play for fifth place and the No. 4 finishing teams compete for seventh place. All of that will begin on Saturday and conclude on Sunday.