PLAYING the “Group of Death.”
That’s the situation Gilas Pilipinas will have to endure when the Nationals play in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers later this year.
The Philippines was bracketed with powerhouse teams Australia and New Zealand in Group A after the draw early yesterday at the Al Hazm in Doha, Qatar.
The Aussies are ranked No. 7 in the world while the Tall Blacks are No. 22, with Gilas sitting at No. 34 in the FIBA rankings.
Completing the pool is Guam, which has San Miguel Beer guard Jericho Cruz on its roster.
With the first window of the qualifiers set in November, the Philippines five surely needs a lot of moving parts in its build-up, including the naturalization of former Beermen import Bennie Boatwright.
But that will have to wait at least after President Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address.
“Congress is out of session and we need the Committee on Justice to convene to hear his naturalization case. I don’t think that’s going to happen until, the earliest would be in June,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy said. “Of course, pagdating ng June, alam naman natin na nag-re-shuffle din iyan ng committees and all of that.
“So, I think the reasonable expectation or the time period is after the SONA pa mahahahain iyong kanyang naturalization process,” she added.
Gilas assistant coach Sean Chambers represented the team in the draw proceedings, co-supervised by FIBA Global Ambassador and retired NBA star Carmelo Anthony.
The rest of the brackets were composed of Japan, China, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei in Group B, and Iran, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq in Group C.
Making up Group D are Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, and host Qatar.
Six rounds make up the home-and-away tilt, where the top three squads in each group reach the second round, where teams in Groups A and C will be clustered and ditto with those in Groups B and D.
Slates in the opening window will be carried over to the next phase.
The top three teams in each group, along with the fourth-best placed side and host Qatar, will represent Asia-Oceania in the prestigious cage extravaganza in the rich Middle Eastern city of Doha in Qatar.
Add to that the Asia Cup in August and the Southeast Asian Games in December, to say National coach Tim Cone has his work cut out for him is an understatement.
