Christian Standhardinger banners SEAG pool

MANILA, Philippines — PBA stars Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle together with top amateurs Isaac Go and Thirdy Ravena lead the initial 24-man pool being considered to carry the national colors in the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting on Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio said they’re forming a young team with the SEA Games and the 2023 FIBA World Cup in mind.

“It’s’ really a way for us to develop players. If you’d see the mix of the players in the list, there are amateurs and there are PBA players,” said Panlilio.

From the China world joust, the SBP is shifting its focus on the SEAG, the formation of the SEAG lineup and the World Cup.

The SBP has made an initial 24-man training pool, but it’s subject to change upon the appointment of the new national coach.

The cage federation has until Sept. 30 to submit the official names of both the players and the coach for the regional meet.

“We’ll tweak it so I cannot divulge (the complete list) yet. It depends on the new coach. That’s the next move because the coach will also assess the pool. It will be sooner than later. As we speak right now, my assessment is we’re gonna start from scratch. We’ll revisit the list and come up with the new pool but definitely, it’s a mix of PBA and collegiate players,” said Ryan Gregorio, the special assistant to the SBP president.

In the last edition of the SEAG two years ago in Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines also paraded a mix of collegiate standouts in Kobe Paras, Ray Parks and Kiefer Ravena, and PBA stalwarts in Baser Amer, Troy Rosario, Carl Bryan Cruz and Kevin Ferrer. Also in the lineup was Standhardinger.

The Philippines has won 17 of the 19 previous SEAG editions including a sweep in 2017 punctuated by an emphatic 94-55 win over Indonesia in the finals.