Italy, Iran to play national teams here

It’s confirmed. Italy and Iran are coming to engage two selections of the Philippine national basketball training pool at the Araneta Coliseum on April 24-26.

Coach Chot Reyes told The Star yesterday he will split the 21-man pool into two squads and add players from the amateur ranks for the so-called "pocket" tournament. He singled out Fil-Am Kelly Williams of Oakland University and University of the East forward Nino (K. G.) Canaleta as probable recruits from the non-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) sector.

Williams, 23, is a 6-5 forward who averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds as a senior at Oakland, an NCAA Division I school in Rochester, Michigan, in 2003-04. His mother Andrea Mata is a full-blooded Filipina from Cebu. He was recently recruited by Reyes in Detroit where he starred for the Martin Luther King High School varsity before playing four years at Oakland.

The tournament format will group the two Philippine teams in one bracket and the two foreign teams in the other. A team in one group will play the two teams in the other group in the two-day eliminations. The group winners then slug it out in a knockout match for the championship and a $5,000 first prize on the third day.

PBA commissioner Noli Eala said the "pocket" tournament is the first step that the national team will take in its ultimate goal of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The coming-out party for the Philippine team is a big test, said Reyes who expects tough opposition from Iran.

Last year, Iran won the Asian under-18 and under-20 championships. Iran beat South Korea, 86-84, in the under-18 finals and upset China, 75-50, in the under-20 finals. The common denominator in the two Iranian champion teams was 7-4, 19-year-old center Jaber Rouzbahani. The Philippines wound up 13th of 16 in the under-18 meet with coach Johnny Tam and 10th in the under-20 joust with coach Joe Lipa.

Iran finished fifth and the Philippines, 15th of 16 in the last FIBA-Asia championships in Harbin, China, two years ago. Iran’s victims were Chinese-Taipei (83-74), Syria (82-67), Kazakhstan (92-85) and Japan (67-61). Only China, South Korea and Qatar defeated Iran.

Iran is now playing in the first Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia and will likely proceed here after the competitions. National coach Vladimir Bosnjak of Yugoslavia was formerly an assistant coach at Ferris State, Louisiana State and Central Florida Community College. Five of the Iranian national players are at least 6-7.

The Italian team is known as Stranges Papo Movie and sponsored by Pirelli. Playing coach is 6-6 forward Andrea Annese. The tallest player in the Italian roster is 6-9 Oscar Mazzocco. Six of the players are 21 and under.

Reyes said the Australian club Sydney Kings and the Canadian national team coached by ex-pro Leo Rautins will play the Philippine team in a tri-nation, mini-tournament early next month before they compete in a Singapore international meet on May 6-8. The Philippines begged off from playing in the Singapore tournament because of the ongoing PBA season.

The Philippine team will play in the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup here starting May 29. It will tune up for the Jones Cup by seeing action in the Las Vegas Pro-Am Summer League on July 6-15. After the Jones Cup, the team will play in an international tournament in Brunei where Japan, South Korea, Lebanon and several Middle East countries are expected to compete. A goodwill tournament in Manila is being arranged to bring in top teams coming from the Stankovic Cup in Beijing in August. Then, it will be the FIBA-Asia championships in Doha, Qatar, starting Sept. 8.

Reyes said he welcomes Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco’s initiative to summon the country’s basketball leaders to a summit today.

"There is urgency in this matter because if we don’t finish top two in the SEABA (Southeast Asian Basketball Association) championships in Singapore in June, we can forget about playing in the FIBA-Asia championships in Qatar," said Reyes.

The Cebuana Lhuillier team is ticketed to represent the country in the SEABA tilt and the Southeast Asian Games here late this year. But the team’s performance in recent tournaments has put to doubt its capability of winning consistently, prompting Cojuangco to call for the summit.

The Qatar tournament is the qualifying competition for the World Championships in Saitama, Japan, next year.

The national team practices Monday morning and Tuesday evening at the Moro Lorenzo gym in the Ateneo campus. Next week, Reyes will call practices four days a week. Among the regulars in the practices are Jimmy Alapag, Willie Miller, Dondon Hontiveros, Nic Belasco, Tony de la Cruz, Ren-Ren Ritualo, Romel Adducul and Enrico Villanueva.