Black to coach RP five to 2011 SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - After a triple crown in the recent UAAP and an earlier grand slam in the Philippine Basketball Association, Ateneo coach Norman Black looks ahead to win the top prize in an international competition.

Black has agreed in principle to handle the all-college Philippine team that the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) will be forming for next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

“It’s very difficult for me to turn down the opportunity to help the cause of the national team, mainly because I’ve been living and working in the country for the last 29 years. Anytime I can give something back, I would want to do that,” said Black during the PSA Forum yesterday.

This will be the second tour of duty for Black as RP team coach, having mentored the all-pro quintet that fell short of a bronze medal in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan.

The SEAG, though, would be a lot easier than this previous stint.

“I know the Philippines has not lost in the SEA Games for a long, long time so definitely we’d be the favorites to win that tournament. I think it’s just gonna come down to getting the right players and the preparation going into the tournament and I expect to win it again,” he said.

Black said he intends to tap Glen Capacio, his adversary in the recent UAAP finals, as one of his assistants for the SEAG campaign.

The multi-titled mentor plans to scour basketball hotbeds in the provinces such as Bacolod, Iloilo and Cebu to look at possible candidates, too, not just concentrating on the big guns of the UAAP and the NCAA.

He said the SEAG-bound team should be formed as early as summer next year, and would have to go full blast in training after the collegiate seasons, a good one month before the November conclave.

Meanwhile, Black advised the Gilas Pilipinas cage team to use their quickness and outside shooting to offset the height advantage of their taller rivals in next month’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

“I think one thing we have to accept is that no matter what we do, we’re not gonna have the size of the teams (in the Asiad) so we have to be quicker, faster, play a fast-paced game.

“We’ll have to be strong, we’ll have to be tough to ‘gang rebound’ so we can’t get overpowered and once we do get the rebound, we’re gonna have to make it a fast-paced game,” he said.