Phl Cadets core to form future Gilas

MANILA, Philippines - SBP deputy executive director for international affairs Butch Antonio is looking forward to the future when the Gilas Cadets will form the nucleus of the senior national team to represent the country at the 2019 FIBA World Cup and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Antonio heads the Cadets delegation that left Manila for Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight yesterday afternoon to compete at the SEABA (Southeast Asian Basketball Association) Stankovic Cup on May 22-27. Two in the 12-man cast are PBA players, Troy Rosario of Tropang TNT and Almond Vosotros of Blackwater and five were recently named to the 24-man Gilas pool for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament here in July– Rosario, Kevin Ferrer, Roger Pogoy, Mac Belo and Russell Escoto.

The Cadets lineup is composed of 6-7 Rosario, 24; 5-10 Vosotros, 26; 6-4 Ferrer, 23; 6-2 Pogoy, 23; 6-3 Belo, 23; 6-6 Escoto, 23; 6-4 Raymar Jose, 23; 5-11Mike Tolomia, 23; 6-9 Ken Holmqvist, 22; 5-9 Jiovani Jalalon, 23; 6-4 Jonas Tibayan, 17 and 6-2 Von Pessumal, 23. The tallest is Holmqvist, a Davao-born Fil-Norwegian.

The SEABA Stankovic Cup is the qualifier for the FIBA Asia Challenge which will be held in Iran on Sept. 9-18. The Cadets open the single round-robin eliminations against Malaysia tomorrow then will play Singapore on Tuesday, Indonesia on Wednesday and Thailand on Thursday. The top two placers will dispute the crown on Friday. The two finalists will book tickets to the 10-team FIBA Asia Challenge, the first step in qualifying for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup.

“The players on the Cadets team have the quality and potential to carry our colors as Gilas mainstays in the not so distant future,” said Antonio. “We got together for our first practice last May 2 and had at least 15 sessions. With the short period of time to prepare, it helps that most of the players have been on the same team before.”

Five Cadets were on the Philippine squad that took the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore last year – Rosario, Vosotros, Belo, Jalalon and Ferrer. Six were on the FEU team that captured the UAAP senior men’s championship last year – Belo, Escoto, Pogoy, Jose, Tolomia and Holmqvist. The schools represented in the roster are FEU, Chiang Kai Shek High School (Tibayan), NU (Rosario), La Salle (Vosotros), Ateneo (Pessumal), Arellano (Jalalon) and UST (Ferrer).

The Cadets lineup has no naturalized player although Fil-Tongan Mo Tautuaa would’ve been eligible. Because Tautuaa received his Philippine passport as a dual citizen only last year and not before he turned 16 as required by FIBA, he would be eligible to enlist only as a naturalized player. “Mo was in the initial pool of 24,” said Antonio. “He was considered for the final 12 as a naturalized player but unfortunately, couldn’t be available. It made choosing the final 12 a lot easier because of the availability of players.” Tautuaa is also in the 24-man Gilas pool for the coming Olympic qualifier as Andray Blatche’s back-up. In the final 12-man roster, FIBA allows only one naturalized player to be listed.

Cadets head coach Nash Racela will be backstopped by assistants Josh Reyes and Mike Oliver. Therapist Dexter Aseron, who is with Tropang TNT and Gilas, will join the Cadets in Bangkok. The delegation also includes Filipino referee Ricor Buaron who will be in the FIBA pool of arbiters for the tournament.

Antonio said the Stankovic Cup is a critical tournament because it’s a qualifier for the FIBA Asia Challenge. “The top two finishers of the Stankovic Cup will go to the Challenge Cup where the top five placers will determine how many teams in a zone will play at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup,” he explained. “In the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, the top 14 will advance to play the home-and-away series, starting in November, on the way to qualifying for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. There will be 16 teams in the home-and-away series and FIBA Asia has the right to add two teams to the 14 that will qualify from the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup.”

Antonio said FIBA’s qualification process for the 2019 World Cup and the 2020 Olympics will be different from what it was in the past. The November 2017 home-and-away window will be the first of six qualifiers of nine days each for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Other windows are scheduled in February, June, September and November in 2018 and February in 2019. The 2019 FIBA World Cup will welcome 32 countries in the biggest conclave ever. The combined regions of Asia and Oceania will be represented by seven countries to emerge from the qualifying windows.

“The FIBA system is now all linked up and the Stankovic Cup is a key component in the process,” said Antonio. “That’s why the tournament we’re playing in Bangkok is important. We’re out to win this.”

Racela said familiarity with the Cadets system was a factor in choosing the final 12. “Given three weeks of preparation, we chose players who were more familiar with the system,” he said. “That lessened teaching time to new players. Chemistry is improving based on our tune-up games against Blackwater, FEU and Tanduay. Troy is the captain but we are also looking at others who have SEABA experience to lead the team.”