By JONAS TERRADO
Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes is looking at fielding a squad composed mostly of collegiate players for the FIBA Asia Cup slated July 12 to 24 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Still reeling from the stunning loss to Indonesia in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, Reyes already has eyes set on having players outside of the PBA for the pandemic-delayed continental competition.
The PBA season will be ongoing at that time, leaving Gilas to rely on amateurs and players based abroad.
Reyes even mentioned some names he would like to be part of the squad, particularly those who excelled in the recent UAAP season.
“In our plans, it’s going to be composed of UAAP and NCAA players because the PBA will be ongoing at that time,” Reyes told PlayItRightTV.
“We want to expose Carl Tamayo, SJ Belangel, Dave Ildefonso and even guys like James Spencer of UP, Justine Baltazar. We want to expose them to higher level Asian competition.”
If plans push through, Reyes hopes to mix them with overseas-based pros like Dwight Ramos, Thirdy Ravena and possibly Kiefer Ravena who are in Japan’s B.League.
Ramos played for Gilas under Reyes during the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers window in February while the Ravena brothers were part of the national squad that lost to Indonesia for the gold in the recent regional meet in Hanoi.
The Asia Cup will be one of the first tournaments of Gilas since the SEA Games debacle which put Reyes and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas under fire.
