3x3 lineups finalized soon

The deadline to submit the Philippine men’s and women’s team lineups for the FIBA 3x3 World Cup is May 8 or a month before the fifth edition of the annual competition is held at the Philippine Arena on June 8-12 but the rosters may be firmed up when the PBA Board of Governors meets in Hong Kong on April 18-21.

Nothing is final at the moment although unofficial candidates have been named in media. Both men’s and women’s teams will be made up of four players.  Among those often mentioned for the men’s team are Terrence Romeo, Japeth Aguilar and Marcio Lassiter. Lately, Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle and Arwind Santos have been suggested. For the women’s cast, the leading candidates are Afril Bernardino, Gemma Miranda, Janine Pontejos and Jack Animan.

No coaches have been confirmed. But the scuttlebutt is the men’s coach will be an assistant coach of a PBA team while the women’s coach will likely be Perlas national coach Pat Aquino. SBP executive director Sonny Barrios could not be reached for comment on the possible coaches or players.

SBP president Al Panlilio said, “We have a suggested lineup for the men’s team which I will clear with the PBA Board in Hong Kong next week.” He confirmed the deadline to submit the rosters of the men’s and women’s teams is May 8. Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said nothing is set in stone and referred the issue of lineups to Panlilio.

There will be 20 men’s and 20 women’s teams in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup at the Philippine Arena which FIBA describes as the world’s largest indoor arena. The previous men’s winners were Serbia in Athens in 2012, Qatar in Moscow in 2014, Serbia in Guangzhou in 2016 and Serbia in Nantes last year while the women’s winners were the US in 2012 and 2014, Czech Republic in 2016 and Russia last year. The FIBA 3x3 World Cup was initially held every other year but starting last year, FIBA decided to make it an annual event. The men’s and women’s competitions are staged in the same tournament.  Next year’s conclave will be held in Amsterdam.

The 20 men’s and women’s teams are split into four brackets of five each. Teams play a single-round robin in every bracket then the top two of each group advance to the knockout quarterfinals where the top four proceed to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for the gold while the losers battle for the bronze.

The Philippine men’s team is seeded No. 19 and is in Group C with Russia, Brazil, Mongolia and Canada. The women’s team is seeded last and is in Group D with Hungary, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Last year, the Philippines was represented by Kobe Paras, J. R. Quiñahan, Kiefer Ravena and Jeron Teng in the men’s division and placed No. 11 of 20. The team failed to make it to the quarterfinals, finishing third in Group B after losing to Slovenia, 21-14 and France, 22-11 and beating Romania, 21-15 and El Salvador, 21-14.