The draw held on February 17 divided the qualified teams into four groups named A, B, C, and D, as listed for the preliminary round. Aside from the fact that those teams in the same pot would not be in the same preliminary round groups, there were restrictions on how teams may be drawn. Before the draw was aware that Latvia will not be the same group with Lithuania, who will play in
Liepāja. In addition to the
FIBA wanted the first stage in each city to play over the three European teams, which meant that Russia should play a sample set of Valmiera groups. ==Group stage==