Gilas Thoughts On the Chinese Taipei Win and the Croatia Loss

It was a wild weekend for Gilas fans, as the  senior Gilas team won resoundingly against Chinese Taipei (93-71) while the Gilas Under-17 team lost just as resoundingly to Croatia (97-75).

Here are three thoughts on the contrating fortunes of our national teams.

Thought #1 The New Gilas.
Who would have thought that the Gilas teams would finally be anchored on skilled big men, instead of talented guards? While past Philippine teams have had its share of outstanding big men, Gilas team shave almost always been undersized, and relied more on the speed and shooting ability of its guards and wings to offset our opponents' size advantage.

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.