FIBA, basketball's ruling body, is opening an investigation into Australia for allegedly tanking or losing on purpose against Angola. The said loss would have deviated the path of Australia from a round of 16 match against the United States.

The ruling organization said that "it is widely suspected" that the Aussies intentionally lost to Angola to increase its medal chances, with a target of a third place match at least. The suspicion is compounded by the decision to rest its best players, Aron Baynes and Joe Ingles, which resulted to a 91-83 defeat in Gran Canaria last week. Pundits were also critical of the body language of the players who allegedly exerted less effort on both sides of the court to compete.

"The on-court behaviour displayed by Australia in that game (against Angola) generated huge disappointment by basketball fans and experts," said a FIBA statement.

"It is widely suspected that Australia lost that game in order to avoid having to face the reigning world champions U.S.A. until the semi-finals," it added.

The Boomers, however, did not advance further as they lost to Turkey, 65-64 in the round of 16 game. Australia led, by double digits, midway through the third quarter, but the Turks chipped away the deficit and shocked the Aussies with an Emir Preldzic three-point shot, which got them the lead for good just five seconds remaining in the game.

Phoenix Suns' court general, Slovenian Goran Dragic, was one of the critical voices of the way Australia played Angola. He mentioned the controversy in two of his tweets, and even made fun of how the Boomers lost.

3+5=7 Somebody miscalculated #Spain2014 AUS vs TUR

— Goran Dragic (@Goran_Dragic) September 7, 2014

FIBA is now giving Australia the chance to state its case before it decides whether any disciplinary action may be imposed on the team.