Gilas Pilipinas FIBA qualifying roster to be filled with College stars

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

With time running out, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) managed to finalize its plans for the upcoming November window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

SBP program director Tab Baldwin revealed that they are already in communication with some of the country’s college stars while others have already verbally committed to be a part of the roster.

Following the PBA players’ decision not to participate in the FIBA stint due to their Clark bubble, Baldwin and the SBP had to act fast.

“We don’t expect the PBA bubble to be able to be broken in any way. So you know at this point, we certainly are ruling out the inclusion of PBA players and coaches,” Baldwin said.

The absence of the PBA players and coaches forced SBP to create the all-college team and will be needing everyone’s full commitment once practice starts.

However, Baldwin isn’t certain that all called up players will be suiting up because he isn’t sure if everyone’s parents will be allowing their sons to participate, especially that the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing.

“Really, what we want to do is finalize a roster as quickly as we can, and then we’ll announce the roster, given that we’re going to be going into a training camp and ultimately playing games in November,” Baldwin added.

Baldwin refused to divulge the names of those who verbally made their commitment heading into the November window but the likes of Isaac Go, Matt and Mike Nieto, Rey Suerte, and Allyn Bulanadi are expected to be included since they are named under the special Gilas draft.