And while Tyler Lamb of Thailand would not be playing for Thailand, the fact that no professional players would be suiting up for Gilas was still cause for some concern.
And when the first quarter ended with Gilas up by just 2 (21-19), courtesy of some hot three point shooting from the Thais, those concerns bubbled up again.
And then Juan Gomez de Liano decided to take matters into his own hands, hitting successive three pointers to give Gilas some breathing room. And then Dwight Ramos showed why he has been so highly touted.
With these two leading the way, Gilas raced off into a big lead and was never bothered again.
Here are my top five impressions from the game:
Impression 1: Dwight Ramos is going to be a problem for every other UAAP team out there. He has elite size, considerable ballhandling skills, and devious scoring skills. He could play in the PBA tomorrow and make an immediate impact.
Impression 2: Justin Baltazar and Isaac Go will be part of our frontcourt of the immediate future. While most of the attention has been focused on Kai Sotto and AJ Edu (and rightfully so), Baltazar and Go will be that next line, which gives us the luxury to wait for the likes of Carl Tamayo and Raven Cortez to develop.
Impression 3: The brother-combos deserve to be there. Juan Gomez de Liano and Matt Nieto were sort of expected to make the team while Javi and Mike were, simply said, not. So when they made the team, there were some discussion on whether they really deserved their slots. I think this game answered those questions. Javi, with his size and skill set, may actually thrive as a shooting guard in the international game, or as an undersized small forward against certain Asian teams. The way slimmer Mike Nieto needs to make defense his calling card to keep his slot and he showed in this game that he could be that defensive stopper we were expecting the likes of Jaydee Tungcab and Will Navarro to be.
Impression 4: Rey Suerte is an elite scorer. His energy, ability to find or create shots, and fearlessness in attacking the paint will serve him well. He does need to work on his defense though. His propensity to foul will get him into trouble once bigger, better teams start singling him out.
Impression 5: This Gilas team has something I have not seen since the 2013-2014 versions of Gilas. plainly said, this team had "gigil", a fire in their bellies that would not be denied. Most pro teams go about their business with a smoothness that speaks of how they know their business. Most amateurs don't have that yet, so they make up for it in that frenetic energy that, harnessed properly, can overcome tremendous odds. This Gilas team had it in spades.
All things considered, this was a fantastic result for Gilas and I can't wait for Monday's rematch with Thailand.
