Gilas Cadets eyed for World Cup

MANILA, Philippines - It’s not far-fetched to imagine that the players picked to form the 16-man pool for the national team competing at the SEABA Championships in April and the SEA Games in June will be the nucleus of the Gilas lineup if and when the Philippines hosts the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

“This is the crop of players which will make up the bulk of Gilas for the next World Cup,” said SBP deputy executive director for international affairs Butch Antonio. “I’ve been involved with the Gilas program since coach Rajko Toroman joined in 2008. I’ve seen the Mark Barrocas, Chris Tius and R. R. Garcias come and go and every batch just keeps getting better. The future of Philippine basketball is represented by our new Gilas Cadet pool and looks very promising.”

The team was formerly called Sinag but has been renamed Gilas Cadets. The U18 selection is called Batang Gilas and the senior squad, Gilas.

National coach Tab Baldwin conducted tryouts for four days with 27 players showing up from last Monday to Thursday, 8-10 p.m., at the PhilSports Arena. He was assisted by Josh Reyes, Nash Racela, Mike Oliver and Jimmy Alapag. After Thursday’s session, Baldwin and the staff met for close to three hours up to 1 a.m. to trim the cast to 16 in a restaurant at Capitol Commons.

Reyes said cutting the pool was a painful and tough decision. “There were overlaps in some positions so that was tough to resolve,” he said. “We were lean in some positions so that was easy. In the end, the guys we expected to deliver performed and made it. Marcus (Douthit) joined the tryouts from the second to the last day.” Reyes said 6-7 Fil-Am forward Richard Smith, born in Subic, was invited to join the tryouts but the ABL veteran from Concordia University and George Fox University couldn’t leave the US because of an injury. Another player Dondon Trollano of Adamson attended only the first day.

“Attendance was solid from Day 1,” said Antonio. “Baser (Amer) and Art (de la Cruz) missed the first day because of exams in school while Norbert (Torres) and Almond (Vosotros) couldn’t make it last Tuesday because of a conflict in practice schedules. Otherwise, the guys whom we invited all came out. The 16-man pool starts practice on Monday (tomorrow) four days a week, 8 to 10 p.m., Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Meralco gym. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to train abroad, we’ll just do practice games with local teams.”

Named to the 16-man pool were Amer, Mac Belo, Douthit, Kevin Ferrer, Jiovani Jalolon, Glenn Khobuntin, Ray Parks, Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, Prince Rivero, Troy Rosario, Jeron Teng, Scottie Thompson, Torres, Arnold Van Opstal and Vosotros. Garvo Lanete may be added to the pool when he recovers from a knee issue.

“Kiefer makes it look easy for his teammates to shine, he’s our creator,” said Antonio. “Troy is one of our standouts. He’s developed an inside and outside game just like Mac. Norbert is a very smart player, Arnold is a shot blocker, Almond is a deadshot, Jeron is Jeron and Prince is impressive with his attitude on and off the court. You can’t push Prince around. He’s the next Ranidel de Ocampo. We in the SBP are hoping the schools allow their players to participate in our program. We guarantee that they’ll all come out better players for the coming collegiate season.”

Antonio said the Gilas Cadet program’s success is hinged on the cooperation and support of the basketball stakeholders who are involved with the players. “We’re reaching out to all parties concerned to back the Gilas Cadets,” he said. “We’re hoping for the support from coaches, schools, clubs and leagues.”

Three of the 16 players are with the La Salle varsity – Teng, Rivero and Van Opstal. Two more are La Salle graduates, Torres and Vosotros. La Salle has the largest representation in the pool. Archers coach Juno Sauler said there is no conflict with the La Salle practice schedule. “Their experience with the national team will help them a lot,” he said. NU contributed three players, Parks, Rosario and Khobuntin while Ateneo is represented by the Ravena brothers. The pool has a player each from UST, FEU, Perpetual Help, San Beda and Arellano.

“The SBP wants to thank all the players who showed up for the tryouts,” said Antonio. “It wasn’t easy to choose the last 16,” he added. “Coach Tab is the type who likes to discuss things with the staff. We went through each name one by one. To be chosen, a player had to be a unanimous pick. That’s why we took up to 1 a.m. finalizing the pool. We’ll cut the lineup to 12 for the SEABA Championships. If we’ll make changes for the SEA Games, the players will come from the pool of 16 or 17 if Garvo is healthy.”