What To Expect From The FIBA U-17 World Championships

In a week's time, our gallant Batang Gilas U-17 team will be battling some of the world's best young basketball players in Argentina.

It's a pretty tough draw for the young mean of Gilas, given that they have fallen into a veritable Group of Death, with European powerhouses France and Croatia, as well as host and arguably the top South American team, Argentina.

Here are three things to watch out for in the tournament:

Thing #1 World, Meet Kai.
Kai Sotto is literally the biggest thing to happen to Philippine youth basketball. And make no mistake, Sotto is not a lumbering, unskilled big man getting by on his size. He's a mobile young man who has developed a couple of sweet post moves, is active on the boards, and a willing (if not yet very dominant) rim protector.

Three Takes from The First Four Days of the World Cup

It has been a whirlwind four days in the 2018 Russia World Cup and it has been beyond exciting.

Here are my three takes so far:

Take #1: The unexpected is taking centerstage.
Sure, Russia is the host nation and thus, expected to have some kind of homefield advantage but a 5-0 result against a normally solid Saudi Arabian squad? And it was a relatively easy 5-0 win too, as the Russians threatened all game long. And then there was the Mexico's famous victory over Gemany, Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick for Portugal, and Lionel Messi's missed penalty kick to drop Argentina to a draw against Iceland, all of which are sentences we never thought were going to be said in this lifetime.