Chot picks top amateurs for RP team to SEABA

Ateneo spitfire L.A. Tenorio, long-limbed Far Eastern forward Arwind Santos and hook shot specialist Mac Cardona of De La Salle lead the list of aspirants to the RP team national coach Chot Reyes is forming for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) tournament in Singapore this June.

The SEABA, comprised largely of member countries from the Southeast Asian Games and scheduled this November in Manila, is the regional qualifying tournament for the Asian Championship in Doha, Qatar next year.

Days after being asked by Philippine Olympic Committee president Peping Cojuangco to form a new national team from the ruins of the previous squad that suffered a humiliating setback in a fledgling tournament, Reyes, coach of the RP team tasked with the mission of securing return passage to the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, submitted his candidates list to PBA commissioner Noli Eala yesterday afternoon.

Included in the pool, divided into guards, wing players and big men are Froilan Baguion, Dennis Miranda, Gabby Espinas, Jay-R Reyes, Jondan Salvador, JR Quinahan, Abby Santos, Cesar Catli, Jett Latonio, Jason Misolas, Abby Santos and Eric dela Cuesta. "After convening the national coaching staff last night, this presents the PBL players we are inviting to be part of the National Team Aspirants Pool," Reyes told Eala.

Practice session, along with the Cebuana Lhuillier players, will start Sunday, 9 a.m.-12 noon at the Moro Lorenzo gym. They will form Team B of the national training pool and will join the PBA-powered Team A in regular practice.

Reyes, who will most likely sit as team consultant, will name his choice for SEABA coach during Monday’s PBA board of governors meeting.

"We will be presenting our game plan in that meeting," Reyes said. In a separate development, Reyes also denied he had guaranteed victory for the Philippine squad in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) and Southeast Asian Games tournaments this year.

Reacting to a headline in the sports page of a broadsheet that said Reyes had assured triumph for the SEABA and the SEA Games.

"I want to correct that statement attributed to me," he said. "I never said the titles in those tournaments are in the bag or anything to that effect; not at all."

Reyes said he has been cautious about issuing statements that could put him or the PBA-powered national training pool in an awkward position, especially after formation of the SEABA team was assigned to him.