‘Leave ego at the door’

One line stuck out on the eight-point criteria distributed to a throng of aspirants by the national coach on Day One of the tryouts.

"Leave ego at the door."

They had to literally utilize the huge door and the entrance at the basement of the Moro Lorenzo Complex and probably the parking lot to accommodate all the egos and attitudes. They all came in bereft of pride and conceit and armed with a desire to make it to the elite cast.

A total of 46 cagers – coming in all shapes, sizes and hues – came to try out for the national team bound for the Asian Game.

It was a smorgasbord of talents. National coach Ron Jacobs feasted on it at the plush complex in the Ateneo compound at the start of the grind to find the right materials for the Asiad gold.

"It doesn’t matter whether they are Fil-Ams or natural born Filipinos. I’ll just choose the best players. It seems that everybody eyes Fil-Ams having advantage but I don’t think so," said Jacobs.

One thing’s sure though – the assembly was oozing with talent. They’re all here. The aces of the local leagues and some walk-ins. Asi Taulava, Eric Menk, Mark Caguioa, Noy Castillo, Danny Ildefonso, Jun Limpot. Name it, he’s here.

The nation and the man were the big draw. Hopes are all astir that the golden quest could end in Busan. There’s also the opportunity to work under the noted American mentor.

Aware of the heavy turnout and the direction he would take in naming the members of the RP team, Jacobs immeditely distributed a selection criteria for the players. It’s an eight-point decree.

Basically, these are (A) Desire to represent the country, (B) Attitude, (C) Natural talent, (D) Ability to learn and conform, (E) Production, (F) Value in terms of playing position, (G) Utmost effort in practice and games and fearing no opponents but respecting them and, (H) belief in the team’s ability to win the gold.

Then Jacobs bared the kind of team he has in mind.

"There will be two pointguards, four wingmen that basically are shooters and penetrators. I also have another guard type that can play the wing and the point in emergency purposes and in case of injuries and foul trouble. The rest will be big guys," he said.

Role type players... "Guys that would sacrifice their bodies screening off people"... and ball movers to swing the "ball from one side to the other side and get the kind of game that we have" for that campaign in Korea are also in.

Later, the veteran mentor together with PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino and deputy Sonny Barrios and finance officer Ricky Palou watched the aspirants undergo 10-minute scrimmages. They were divided into the teams of black and yellow Adidas bibs.

"Very competitive," said Menk of the field. "I hope to make it to the team and pick it up from there."

All eyes were on La Salle point guard Mike Cortez and how the Fil-Am would fit into the team.

"A lot of PBA superstars are coming out and wanting to play for the country so the competition is very hard. But I want to test myself against the pros," said Cortez.

Jun Limpot of Ginebra, a senior in the cast and a veteran of the Bangkok Games, was impressed by the turnout. "Kung para sa bayan, marami talagang darating," he said.

Two MBA standouts stood out. Laguna’s Chris Clay and San Juan’s Rafi Reavis lit up the floor with some swashbuckling moves. But then there’s the question of citizenship they would need to address to before the tryout is over.

Even amateur Rico Villanueva made some defensive gems against big fella Taulava. "Ang bigat ni Asi," he would later say.

There was in a period of three hours, however, one clear message being churned out. With all the talents, it’s one hell of competition for the 12 slots in the team. There were no superstars. And yes, no egos.