RIO DE JANEIRO (2015 FIBA Americas Championship) - Ruben Magnano looked on with immense pride as Brazil went unbeaten at the Pan American Games in Toronto and showed there is plenty of talent in the national team pipeline.

That impressive squad, which beat the United States and hosts Canada in the last two games of the competition en route to the title, will have a much tougher task in a few weeks time at the FIBA Americas Championship, where the two finalists are going to seal places in the Rio de Janeiro Games and the teams that come in third, fourth and fifth will claim berths in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

Flamengo star Marquinhos wasn't a part of the Pan American Games squad but the veteran, who was arguably Brazil's best player at last year's FIBA Basketball World Cup, has been added to the team for the FIBA Americas Championship, where Brazil will take on Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay in Group A.

Brazil are hoping their men's and women's teams will soon have their places in the Olympic tournaments confirmed as the host nations by FIBA and with that in mind, the confederation has decided to rest other frontline stars like Tiago Splitter, who has signed this summer with the Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz rookie point guard Raul Neto, veteran playmaker Marcelinho Huertas, Brazil league veteran Alex Garcia and Washington Wizards center Nene.

Each is likely to be with Brazil at the Rio Olympics if the team is indeed present.

Vanderlei Mazzuchini, the technical director of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB), said: "According to the planning prepared by the technical department and the technical commission of the Brazilian team, the 2015 season was to be used to give experience and enhance the development of some athletes with a view to thinking about the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the future of the national team.

"The first step was achieved with the teams that won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto and the fourth in South Korea Universiade.

"We trust in the work developed with FIBA regarding the automatic classification for the Olympic Games Rio 2016, so we kept the initial planning."

Brazil preliminary squad for 2015 FIBA Americas Championship: Derek Evandro Ramos, Larry James Taylor, Ricardo Fischer, Rafael Freire Luz, Vitor Alves Benite, Danilo Fuzaro Siqueira, Leonardo Simoes Meindl, Marcus Vinicius Vieira de Souza "Marquinhos", Carlos Alexandre Rodrigues do Nascimento "Olivinha", Marcus Vinicius Urban Toledo dos Reis, Augusto Cesar de Lima Brito, Joao Paulo Lopes Batista, Rafael Ferreira de Souza, Rafael Hettsheimeir and Ronald Rudson Rodrigues dos Reis.

Go to fiba.com/Americas2015 for complete coverage of the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.

FIBA