Will Gilas be World Cup surprise?

SEVILLE – Making it to the knockout round-of-16 is the Philippines’ goal at the FIBA World Cup and Gilas coach Chot Reyes said yesterday nothing is impossible in basketball as proved in recent history with surprises registered by underdog teams in different zone qualifiers.

“Egypt was a surprise qualifier in FIBA Africa and Finland came from nowhere to beat several giants in FIBA Eurobasket last year,” said Reyes. “Let’s not forget how Gilas defied the odds to finish second in FIBA-Asia. It’s no longer surprising for surprises to come in international basketball competitions. Going back to the 2002 World Cup, New Zealand placed a surprising fifth. Who knows? Maybe, the Philippines will be the surprise of this year’s World Cup.”

Reyes said it will take two wins in the preliminaries to advance to the round-of-16. Last Monday, the Philippines was drawn to play in Group B with Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal. The consensus is Group B is the second toughest among the four brackets behind Group A composed of Spain, Serbia, France, Brazil, Egypt and Iran. Group D is third in the power rating with Slovenia, Lithuania, Angola, Korea, Mexico and Australia. Group C is made up of the Dominican Republic, Turkey, USA, Finland, New Zealand and Ukraine.

“The draw could’ve been better for us but we can’t complain because it could’ve been worse,” said Reyes. “Luckily, we didn’t end up in Group A. We’re excited to play in Seville where we hope to bring over at least 1,000 Filipino fans. We were informed that our Ambassador (Carlos Salinas) is planning to organize activities to promote our participation. This is a huge event for Philippine basketball as it’s our first World Cup appearance as a qualifier since 1974. We hosted in 1978 and were seeded into the final eight so technically, we didn’t qualify for the tournament.”

Reyes, team manager Aboy Castro and logistics director Andrew Teh flew yesterday to this Spanish city from Barcelona where the draw was held. They were welcomed by Jose Antonio Ruiz Barrera and Adriana Piquet who work with the Seville government international events promotions arm. The traveling party inspected the 7,000-seat Palacio Municipal de Deportes and the 295-room Barcelo Renacimiento Hotel where the Philippine team will be billeted during the tournament.

When Reyes and his companions were at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes, the Seville professional club Cajasol coached by Aito Garcia was on the court for practice. Reyes met Garcia, the legendary coach who led Spain to the silver medal in basketball at the 2008 Olympics. Garcia, 67, has won nine Spanish league championships with Barcelona and joined Cajasol from Unicaja Malaga in 2012.

Garcia said he was impressed with the Philippines’ showing at the FIBA-Asia Championships last year. “Anytime a national team performs well or has a good result in an international competition, it means promoting pride for the country,” he said. “Sports is a great way to inspire people to achieve. I’ve heard a lot about Philippine basketball and I think a Spanish team even went to Manila to play in the 1960s. I wish the Philippines all the luck in the coming World Cup.”

Reyes said Gilas’ schedule is a huge challenge. The Philippines makes its first appearance against Croatia on Aug. 30 then battles Greece on Aug. 31 and Argentina on Sept. 1. After three straight games, Gilas will take a rest on Sept. 2 then returns to action against Puerto Rico on Sept. 3 and winds up its schedule against Senegal on Sept. 4. If the Philippines advances to the round-of-16, its knockout game on Sept. 6 in Madrid. Assuming Gilas finishes fourth in Group B, it will face the top placer in Group A, likely to be Spain, in the knockout round-of-16.

“We need to score an upset in our first four games then go for fourth place against Senegal to make it to the knockout round-of-16,” said Reyes. “All we need is one good game where our naturalized player dominates, our shooters are on target and we hold our own in defense. If we win that one game in our first four, we’ll go for it against Senegal.”

Reyes said winning twice in the preliminaries won’t be easy. Puerto Rico is bannered by former PBA import Renaldo Balkman, NBA veterans J. J. Barea, Daniel Santiago and Carlos Arroyo and 6-5 naturalized citizen John Holland of Boston University. Senegal is led by seven-foot former Rutgers University center Hamady N’Diaye who played for the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings in the NBA. Argentina will be fully loaded with NBA veterans Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni. Croatia’s stars include 2011 Miami Heat second round draft pick Bojan Bogdanovic and 5-11 naturalized citizen Dontaye Draper. Greece’s roster lists 6-9 Milwaukee Bucks naturalized citizen Antetokounmpo of Nigeria, 6-4 former Houston Rockets gunner Vassilis Spanoulis and 7-0 Greek-American Kosta Koufos, a five-year NBA veteran from Ohio State. Greece boasts nine players standing at least 6-8 with two seven-footers.