Amazing race to World Cup

There are 24 games and two FIBA World Cup Asia qualifying windows left before the cast of eight teams from Asia and Oceania is finalized to play in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. So far, four teams are assured of slots, including co-hosts Philippines and Japan. The third co-host Indonesia failed to book a ticket because FIBA’s condition was to finish at least eighth in the recent FIBA Asia Cup. Indonesia wound up 11th of 16.

Making it to the World Cup are New Zealand and Lebanon. South Korea is out of the picture for not participating in the windows. The qualifiers started with 16 teams split into groups of four. The top three placers in each group advanced to the second round where 12 teams were divided into two brackets. Results of the first round were carried over except for Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia involving eliminated teams to uniformly classify teams.

After four windows, here are the standings: First group – New Zealand 6-0, Lebanon 5-1, Philippines 3-3, Jordan 3-3, Saudi Arabia 1-5 and India 0-6. Second group – Australia 8-0, China 6-2, Kazakhstan 5-3, Iran 5-3, Japan 3-5 and Bahrain 2-6. The fifth window will be on Nov. 10-14 and the sixth on Feb. 23-27.

The Philippines will face Jordan on Nov. 10 and Saudi Arabia Nov. 13, both on the road. In the last window, Gilas will battle Lebanon on Feb. 24 and Jordan Feb. 27, both at home. SBP’s predicament is the NBA, NBL of Australia, PBA, Japanese B.League, UAAP and NCAA will be in season during the fifth window so it will be a challenge to assemble a competitive squad for the two away contests. That means Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto won’t be available. Collegiate players will be free to join the sixth window but not the pros.

The best three placers of each group in the second round, outside of the Philippines and Japan, will clinch slots in the World Cup to complete the cast of eight. Four games remain for each team. Since India and Saudi can no longer reach six wins, New Zealand automatically qualifies. Saudi can theoretically go up to 5-5 but because it lost twice to Lebanon, the Cedars also automatically qualify. Jordan will play the Philippines twice, New Zealand and India to close out the qualifiers and is expected to claim a World Cup ticket. In the other group, Kazakhstan and Iran are fighting for the last ticket after Japan, Australia and China although no team has officially qualified. Kazakhstan will still play Australia twice, Japan and China while Iran will face China twice, Australia and Japan.