Given only two weeks to prepare with the final roster still uncertain, multi-titled coach Norman Black believes the Philippine men’s basketball team’s Southeast Asian Games campaign might be the toughest ever he’ll ever face.
“It’s a little bit different because when I coached the team the last time in the SEA Games, there was really a time table where we can all focus on the team,” Black told Pinoystep.com. “As a matter of fact, we probably practiced every Monday for about five straight months leading up to the tournament.”
“Then when the time came say like three weeks before the tournament, we started practicing almost every day. So it’s going to be a little different this time because a lot of players were playing in other teams and some of the teams overseas will not release their players to play for SEA Games because it’s not a FIBA-sanctioned event. It’s going to be difficult because we’re going to bring in guys with just about two weeks of preparation.”
Unlike in 2011, when he brought in collegiate stars to beef up the national team, Black will be tapping professional players although the PBA grand slam coach didn’t divulge names.
The roster will be named a few weeks before the start of the event.
“Our situation is similar to the case of the first all-pro team coached by Sonny Jaworski, whom I assisted in the Asian Games in 1990 as well as the 1994 Asian Games team I coached in Hiroshima where some of the players only joined us in the tournament,” said Black. “
In Black’s first head coaching job in the Asiad, the Philippines, then represented by San Miguel Beer, was riddled by injuries, forcing the PBA to tweak the roster. The team then added three players from Coney Island Ice Cream (Purefoods) — Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera and Rey Evangelista — while Alaska loaned then sophomore star Johnny Abarrientos.
From the amateur ranks, Black decided to bring in scoring ace Kenneth Duremdes and his Adamson University teammate, 6-foot-9 Marlou Aquino.
Already banged up prior to the start of the tournament, the Philippines suffered a big blow when Ato Agustin also injured his knee.
“The key injury there happened on Ato Agustin, who tore his meniscus,” said Black.”
Much have changed as far as the SEA Games is concerned and Black knows opposing teams had improved by leaps and bounds through the years following creations of professional leagues in the region.
“It’s going to be more challenging. I’ve been watching some of them on the internet and any information I can get about the teams, almost all of them are pretty tough, in particular Indonesia, Thailand, they look very, very strong,” said Black.
“It would have bene nicer to have the strongest team representing us. but we’ll go there with the team we have and do our best to win the tournament.”
Two years ago, the Philippines, then coached by Chot Reyes, reclaimed SEA Games crown two years after losing it. Gilas Pilipinas defeated host team, Cambodia, which defeated the Filipinos in the early stage of the competition, but lost to the region’s most dominant team in the battle for the gold medal.
