Left impressed

THE Philippine national youth team’s campaign in the FIBA U18 Asian Championship took a dip south as it progressed but nonetheless Batang Gilas did not fail to impress, punctuated by the country booking a spot in the FIBA U19 World Cup next year.
Opened its bid in the tournament that ran from Aug. 5 to 11 with four straight victories to book a semifinal berth, the Filipino lads lost in their last two games — against Australia, 77-43, and China, 76-67, in the bronze medal game — to settle for fourth place and outside of a podium finish.
It was a reality check anew for the country’s basketball program, which while has made significant strides in the last few years still needs to be worked at and fine-tuned to produce the much-desired result down the line.
Nonetheless, finishing at fourth assured the Philippines is playing in the U19 World Cup in 2019, joining champion Australia, runner-up New Zealand and China.
Zeroing in on how Batang Gilas performed there is a lot to be bullish about the future of basketball in the country.
For one, seven-foot Kai Sotto is truly a cornerstone to build around.
It is amazing how the 16-year-old second-generation player is developing his skills set and improving.
In the just-concluded U18 tournament in Thailand, the Ateneo High School player averaged all-around numbers of 12.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks against players mostly older than him.
He still needs to beef up some more, sure, but the good court sense and IQ is definitely there and could only be expected to improve some more.
Then there are the newly harnessed talent in the form of AJ Edu and Dolph Panopio.
Based abroad, Edu and Panopio showed they could play and talents to be considered for future national teams.
Filipino-Nigerian Edu showed the way for Batang Gilas with averages of 14.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game while Italy-based guard Panopio was steady manning the point with numbers of 7.3 points, four rebounds, four assists and 1.3 steals per game.
Their good showing hopefully could inspire other Filipino-foreigners to consider sharing their talents to the motherland.
Of course, the whole Batang Gilas program, has to be commended for making things happen on the ground.
It has hard to argue with the kind of results it has been having of late, with the U17 World Cup in Argentina where the Philippines finished at 13^th place, its highest placing in the tournament to date, and now fourth in the U18 Asian Championship and a place in the U19 World Cup.
The program still has its work cut out for it in making it sustainable and making more people buy into what it wants to accomplish.
This is apart from jacked-up competition in this part of the world with the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand in the mix.
But the program is seemingly on the right track and showing foresight which only bodes well for the future of the sport of basketball in the country.
So to Batang Gilas, kudos for a solid showing in the FIBA U18 Asian Championship. It stumbled along the way but it was something to learn from and build on moving forward. May you continue to develop and improve.
 
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
msmurillo@bworldonline.com