Focus on FIBA Asia Cup

The 31st FIBA Asia Cup is set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 5-17 and so far, seven countries, including the Philippines, have qualified. There’s still a third qualifying window in the schedule but it’ll be no-bearing for Gilas.

Guaranteed tickets to Jeddah aside from Gilas are host Saudi Arabia, back-to-back defending champion Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Lebanon and Jordan. The top two placers of six groups at the end of three windows advance to Jeddah. The six third placers will battle for the four remaining slots in a final qualifying tournament. In contention to make it are South Korea, Thailand, Chinese-Taipei, China, Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, India and Iraq.

Gilas will play Chinese-Taipei on Feb. 20 and New Zealand on Feb. 23, both on the road. Coach Tim Cone will open Gilas camp after the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals, likely on Feb. 11. PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro said the quarterfinals will begin on Feb. 5 and end Feb. 9 with the PBA taking a break on Feb. 10-25. The quarterfinal format will be No. 1 vs. No. 8 and No. 2 vs. No. 7 with the higher seeds enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage and No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5 in best-of-three series. Quarterfinal games will be on Feb. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The last day of eliminations is on Jan. 31 with Feb. 2 reserved to set a playoff for No. 8 if necessary. The best-of-seven semis will start Feb. 26.

“We might just stay in Manila for training then go to Doha on Feb. 13 to join a pocket tournament with the national teams of Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt on Feb. 14-16 and leave Feb. 17,” said Gilas assistant coach Richard del Rosario. “We might go back to Manila first depending on flight availability (before proceeding to Taipei).”

The road schedule is tough. From Doha, Gilas will fly back to Manila or travel straight to Taipei for the Feb. 20 game then go to Auckland for the Feb. 23 outing. Without Kai Sotto, Gilas will rely on JuneMar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, AJ Edu and possibly, Troy Rosario to take care of the middle. Jamie Malonzo has returned to action with Ginebra and should be more than ready to rejoin Gilas. Kevin Quiambao, recovering from an ankle sprain in his Korean Basketball League debut last Sunday, should also be in harness along with Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, Mason Amos and Justin Brownlee. Ange Kouame will be a substitute naturalized player.

The Philippines has won five FIBA Asia Cup titles, the last in 1985 with coach Ron Jacobs. FIBA Asia Cup used to be known as the Asian Basketball Confederation championships. China has bagged 16 crowns, Iran three and South Korea, Japan and Australia two each. Australia topped the last two tournaments with neither the Philippines nor China reaching the Final Four. This year’s competition will be an acid test for the Philippines coming off gold medal harvests in the SEA and Asian Games where Australia isn’t a participant.