By MARK REY MONTEJO
Gilas Pilipinas SEAG team coach Norman Black is scouring for big men in the collegiate ranks to complete the national team lineup for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in December in Thailand.
Though still three months away from tip-off, Black is already working hard to form a formidable team which the country could send to Bangkok for its title defense.
“Well the composition of the team is still ongoing, we’re still trying to recruit players to join the team,” said Black in Tuesday’s PSA Forum where he was joined by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Erika Dy.
“Our biggest problem has been recruitment… it’s been very difficult and challenging to be able to get some guys released to the team,” he added.
According to Black, Dy is already in talks with UAAP and NCAA members schools, hoping to tap the top big men in the collegiate ranks to join the eight players who already expressed their commitments for the biennial meet.
“That was really the goal… I would love to get some players from the NCAA and the UAAP… hoping they will be big men,” Black continued.
“If you look at our lineup, most of them are guards [and] wingmen, and the only big I have is Kouame and then there’s Brownlee. There are lots of good big men here, we just needed to get permission so they could play.”
Among possible players Gilas could tap are De La Salle’s Mike Phillips, Mason Amos, and Seven Gagate, Adamson’s Cedrick Manzano, UST’s Gelo Crisostomo, Ateneo’s Kymani Ladi and UP’s Sean Alter to name a few.
However, both UAAP and NCAA will open their respective new seasons for the coming days with the former firing off Sept. 20 and the latter Oct. 1.
