High Toroman hopes for Gilas

If the major basketball event in the country last week was the PBA All-Stars in Boracay, this week it is the 22nd Fiba-Asia Champions Cup scheduled at the Philsports Arena in Pasig that started yesterday.
With 10 Asian teams participating, majority coming from the Middle East, the Philippines has been bracketed  with Malaysia, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia while the other group was made up of Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran and Syria.
Coach Rajko Toroman said during the press conference held at Mr. Rockefeller in Greenbelt 3  last Thursday that he expects the Smart Gilas national five to be “very competitive,” despite the other teams being reinforced by “very strong imports.”
He considers the competition in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup tougher than the annual Jones Cup in Taipeh.
“We can play very much better than we did in the PBA,” the coach from Serbia said, citing the presence of neutral referees as one of the reasons for his bright forecast.
The addition of Ryan Gregorio to the coaching staff is another factor, he said.
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A day after Toroman made the forecast, the 10 participating teams in the Champions Cup paraded at the Meralco Multi-Purpose Hall in Ortigas Avenue for the opening ceremonies.
Seeing how tall and hefty the other teams are compared to our own, we wondered if, as Toroman stated, we could manage to be very competitive.
On stage, the Philippines and our Southeast Asian neighbor Malaysia appeared the shortest teams.
But that’s not our worry, said one of the scribes. “Perhaps Toroman has a secret formula to neutralize the opponents’ height advantage.”
SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan didn’t have a forecast. He just said he expected Smart Gilas to play its best.
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While MVP, as SBP head and host  of the prestigious sporting event, and Fiba-Asia president Sheikh Saud Al Thani were the men of the hour during the opening ceremonies, Ricky Vargas turned out to be the most sought-after by the press.
There were so many things to discuss with him, like TV5’s bid for the TV coverage of the PBA, his recent trip to Sacramento with MVP for preliminary talks concerning the possible acquisition of the Kings franchise in the NBA and the recent burglary at his Ayala Heights home in Quezon City.
“The excitement is different when the pursuit concerns the NBA. I get goose bumps every time we talk about it,” said Ricky.
If he had the choice, Ricky said he’d pick the Sacramento franchise over Atlanta even if the Hawks have a stronger lineup.
“Sacramento has a big Filipino community supporting the team,” he explained, adding that MVP is considering both NBA teams but will buy only one in his personal capacity.
MVP plans to get Asian partners, which should make either Sacramento or Atlanta the first Asian-owned NBA team if the deal pushes through.
Pressed by a colleague to reveal the content of the sealed bid submitted to the PBA by TV5, Ricky said he was not at liberty to divulge.
ABS-CBN also made a bid for the PBA’s TV franchise.
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HOOPVINE: At first, I did not recognize the lovely lady with scribe Ronnie Nathanielsz during a recent presscon. It was former PBA courtside interviewer Janelle So, who has definitely undergone a big transformation.  Although she has been host of a TV program in Los Angeles for five years,  Janelle said she is open to returning to the Philippines. Janelle was engaged to be married to Niño Jefferson Lim, now the husband of Krista Ranillo, until she changed her mind. She says she does not regret the decision… This PBA coach used to be a good sport, but not anymore. In a recent practice game with another PBA team, he had the game stopped with only about a minute to go before the final buzzer and the other team leading by 19 points. Some months ago, he was caught on television refusing to shake the hands of a winning coach.