Format
Men's tournament:
- Two groups of six teams are formed, where the top four from each group advance to the knockout stage.
- Fifth and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th–12th places in the final ranking.
- In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
- The four teams eliminated from the quarterfinals form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
- The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1.
- The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.
Women's tournament:
- Two groups of four teams are formed, where the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.
- Third and fourth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
- In the semifinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B2, A2 vs. B1.
- The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.
Tie-breaking criteria:
- Head to head results
- Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
- Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group
Read more about this topic: Basketball At The 1988 Summer Olympics