Sorry for being silent for quite awhile. Pilipinas U21 has been doing quite well in the Asian Continental Championships.
Let me give you a rundown on what transpired during the course of the U21 Asian Continental Championships:
First Round:
We were in Pool C in the first round together with Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Macau. Australia was the other contender in the group and the team who has the capacity to mount a serious challenge. We cruised the preliminaries and topped Group C. Australia came in second with its only lost against Team Pilipinas.
Notables:
Moises Dabby – Although at first I was eying him as a back-up he has been giving Team Pilipinas quality minutes. He even proved be a starting center when the other bigs had their game shape slumps.
Francisco Abada- Eyed as a reserve at the start of the season. With Tianpeng's dismal performance, this defensive SF proved that he could do more than what was expected of him. And much more. A reliable scorer and a defensive gem.
Disappointment:
Cai Tianpeng – We had high hopes for this SF who have unbelievably well balanced skills. The SF we lacked last season. He was suppose to be the player who could defend and score both inside and outside. Unfortunately, the foreign owner refused to train him. Sadly he had no pops this season. This led to his eventual dismissal from the team.
Second Round
Going no. 1 in Pool C enabled us to prevent an early encounter with China. Luckily we were placed in a much easier pool together with Hong Kong, Iran, Taiwan, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. Our big guys played key roles. Outclassing the opposition from the inside.
Notables:
Tian Jianchao – Always reliable. His improvement this season has been tremendous. A solid figure both in offense and defense.
Wilmer Musa – Although he struggled to maintain good game shape, he is probably the best offensive big man we have. On his better game shape periods, he has been unstoppable inside.
Ritche Ikotun – this season's top SG. Has consistently been the outside threat.
Hope for Next Season
Next season looks promising as we hope to go again to the World Championships and again fight the best out there. As of now we have four 20 year old in the line up. They will be our main players next season. And looking at their skills now, I have high hopes that we could do much better in the Worlds.
Last edited by PH-harmsome at 06/24/2010 10:10:24