FOR the first time in 36 years, our beloved Philippines will take part in the 17th FIBA Basketball World Cup (formerly known as the FIBA World Basketball Championship) to be held in six major cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Bilbao, Seville and Las Palmas) in Spain from August 30 to September 14.
In Group B action, Gilas Pilipinas makes its debut today against Croatia while Greece takes on Senegal and Puerto Rico clashes with Argentina.
On Day Two, the Philippines meets Greece (2 a.m. Monday), Argentina tangles with Croatia and Senegal battles Puerto Rico.
The rest of the Group B schedule: Sept. 2 – Argentina vs. Philippines (11:30 p.m. Monday), Puerto Rico vs. Greece and Croatia vs. Senegal; Sept. 3 – Rest Day; Sept. 4 – Philippines vs. Puerto Rico, Senegal vs. Argentina and Greece vs. Croatia; and Sept. 5 – Senegal vs. Philippines, Croatia vs. Puerto Rico and Argentina vs. Greece.
All the Group B games will be held at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville with a seating capacity of 10,200.
The Filipinos had last competed in the World games in 1978 when the country hosted the quadrennial cage showcase in Manila and automatically qualified for the final Round of Eight that employed a round-robin format).
With its top players having joined the PBA three years before, the national team dropped all its eight assignments, including the 7th-to-8th-place game against Australia.
The members of the ill-fated contingent mentored by Nicanor Jorge were Alejandro Clarino, Steve Watson, Eduardo Merced, Federico Israel Jr., Ramon Cruz, Federico Lauchengco, Bernardo Carpio, Nathaniel Castillo, Gregorio Gozum Jr., Leopoldo Herrera, Cesar Yabut and Cesar Teodoro.
Overall, the Philippines is seeing action in the World competitions for the fifth time, having earned berths for the Games in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (where it placed third with a 6-3 record, until now the highest ranking by an Asian country in the World’s 60-year existence), 1959 in Santiago, Chile (where it ranked eighth with a 4-2 ledger) and 1974 in San Juan, Puerto Rico (where it finished 13th with a 2-5 mark that included one-point victories over 12th-placer Australia, 101-100, and 14th and last-placer Central African Republic, 87-86).
Gilas Team Pilipinas earned a ticket to the 2014 World Cup following its silver-medal finish during last year’s FIBA Asia Championship (formerly known as the Asian Basketball Confederation tournament) in Manila behind titlist Islamic Republic of Iran.
Joining Iran and the Philippines in the World is FIBA Asia event third-placer South Korea. The 24-nation World roster also includes host nation Spain and reigning Olympic gold medalist United States as automatic qualifiers; Angola (1), Egypt (2) and Senegal (3) from FIBA Africa; Mexico (1), Puerto Rico (2), Argentina (3) and the Dominican Republic (4) from FIBA Americas; France (1), Lithuania (2), Croatia (4), Slovenia (5), Ukraine (6) and Serbia (7), the team made it since third-placer Spain was an automatic qualifier) from FIBA EuroBasket; Australia (1) and New Zealand (2) from FIBA Oceania; and Brazil (2016 Summer Olympics host and FIBA 10th-ranked team), Greece (FIBA fifth-ranked team), Turkey (2010 World runner-up and FIBA seventh-ranked team) and Finland (FIBA 39th-ranked team) as wildcard entry.
There were questions on how Finland was able to secure a wildcard slot over the People’s Republic of China, a traditional Asian power, and Russia, the bronze medalist during the 2012 London Olympics, and Germany.
Scuttlebutt has it that the Finnish were a favorite of FIBA executives because of their ability to fill up the FIBA coffers and sell a lot of tickets at the gate.
Finland and Ukraine (mentored by former NBA head coach Mike Fratello) are taking part in the World Cup for the first time ever.
The 24 World teams have been divided into four groups of six teams each. In the preliminary round, each team will play against the five others in its group.
The preliminary groupings are:
Group A – Brazil, Egypt, France, Iran, Serbia and Spain
Group B – Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Senegal
Group C – Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand, Turkey, Ukraine and United States
Group D – Angola, Australia, Lithuania, Mexico, Slovenia and South Korea.
The top four finishers in Group A and Group B will be bracketed together for the single-loss knockout Eighth-Finals or Round of 16 that features cross-pairing matchups of A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
The same formula goes for the other Round of 16 bracket that is composed of the top four placers in Group C and Group D with cross-pairing matchups of C1 vs. D4, C2 vs. D3, C3 vs. D2 and C4 vs. D1.
Meanwhile, the fifth- and sixth-place finishers in each of the four preliminary groups will be eliminated from further action.
In the single-elimination quarterfinals (Round of 8), the pairings will be A3 vs. B2 winner vs. A1 vs. B4 winner, A4 vs. B1 winner and A2 vs. B3 winner in one bracket and C3 vs. D2 winner vs. C1 vs. D4 winner, C4 vs. D1 winner and C2 vs. D3 winner in the other bracket.
The Final Four or semifinals will pit the quarterfinal winners in their respective brackets. The semifinals and finals will be held at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid in Madrid.
Note that there are no longer classification-round games for 17th-to-24th places, ninth-to-16th places, and fifth-to-eighth places.
The gold medal-winning team in the FIBA World Cup will receive the James Naismith trophy, which was first awarded in 1967. It will also automatically earn a berth in the men’s basketball competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 12-man Philippine squad to be piloted by Chot Reyes is composed of Japeth Aguilar, Ranidel De Ocampo, Jimmy Alapag, Junemar Fajardo, Marc Pingris, Gary David, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Jayson Castro William, LA Tenorio, Paul Lee and naturalized player Andray Blatche.
Only Lee and Blatche were not with the national team that snared the silver medal in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. Lee is a replacement for the injured Larry Fonacier.
Blatche, a 6-foot-11, 28-year-old frontliner of American blood, played for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA during the 2013-14 wars. He replaces aging but hardworking American Marcus Douthit, who suited up for the national team during the 2011 and 2013 FIBA Asia Championships, as the Filipinos’ new naturalized player.
There are no grandeur expectations that Gilas team Pilipinas will win a game or two in Spain, let alone qualify for the Round of 16 (or second round). Even coach Reyes downgraded his troops’ chances to advance that far – “slim and none” as he calls it.
Then again, I believe we have a fighting chance (heart or “puso” over inferior talent and height disadvantage) against Senegal and even Puerto Rico. One team. One nation. One flag. Let’s all support the Philippine national team.