If the FIBA World Cup Asia qualifiers were to end today, the Philippines wouldn’t make the cut to join the eight Asia/Oceania teams in the 32-nation FIBA World Cup in Qatar on Aug. 27-Sept. 12 next year. That’s the situation Gilas is in at the moment with three more qualifying windows in the calendar.
The qualifiers are now on the second round with 12 survivors split into two groups of six. Eliminated in the group stage were Guam, Chinese-Taipei, Iraq and India. After the second round, the seven top-ranked teams from both brackets will advance to the World Cup plus host Qatar. Australia (6-0), Iran (5-1), Jordan (5-1), Lebanon (5-1), New Zealand (4-2), Japan (4-2) and Qatar (4-2) are currently the top seven squads. The eighth slot is a tie among Saudi Arabia, South Korea and China with identical 3-3 records. Saudi has the best plus-minus score of +15 with South Korea at 0 and China at -5. Gilas shares the cellar with Syria at 2-4.
It’s critical for Gilas to pile up wins on the second round and the race begins on the fourth qualifying window where the Philippines hosts Jordan at the MOA Arena on Aug. 28 and Iran in the same venue on Aug. 30. Because of the turmoil in West Asia, FIBA tapped Manila to stage six games on the next window with tripleheaders on two playing dates. The games are Syria-Australia, Iran-New Zealand and Philippines-Jordan on Aug. 28 and Australia-Jordan, New Zealand-Syria and Philippines-Iran on Aug. 30.
On the fifth window, Gilas will play Syria on Nov. 27 and Iran on Nov. 30. On the final window, Gilas will face Jordan on Feb. 25 and Syria on Feb. 28. Assuming Australia and New Zealand will clinch two of the eight qualifying spots, Gilas must bring down either Jordan or Iran or both to book a ticket to Qatar. Jordan’s top gunner is former Toronto Raptors 6-5 guard Jalen Harris, a lights-out shooter who’s averaging 27 points and hitting 45.3 percent from three in the qualifiers. Other stars are 6-2 Freddy Ibrahim, 29, 6-10 Ahmad Al Dwairi, 33, 6-5 Ahmad Alhamarsheh, 39 and 6-4 Abdullah Olajuwon, 22. Iran standout Sina Vahedi, who played for Meralco in the last EASL season, is recovering from ACL surgery and won’t be available until next year but the Washington Wizards’ 2013 second round draft pick 6-7 Arsalan Kazemi, 36, six-year German league import Behnam Yakhchali, 31, 6-7 Piter Girgoorian, 24, 6-5 Matin Aghajanpour, 25, 5-8 Mobin Sheikhi, 29, 6-5 Mohammad Mahdi Heydari, 20 and 6-1 Seyed Mahdi Jafari, 22 are expected to show up for the next window.
The PBA will take a break from its Governors’ Cup schedule on Aug. 15 to Oct. 6 to give way to the fourth window and the Asian Games on Sept. 19-Oct. 4. This will allow Gilas coach Tim Cone and the PBA players in the national pool to focus on the coming competitions. The PBA will return on Oct. 7 to start the quarterfinals. There will be another break on Nov 9-Dec. 3 for the fifth window.