Winless Graz campaign offers lessons to 3×3 program

Mo Tautuaa (middle) says there’s more than meets the eye in Gilas Pilipinas’ winless stint in the 3×3 Olympic qualifiers. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Gilas Pilipinas is coming off a winless campaign from the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Graz, Austria, but Mo Tautuaa firmly believes that there is more to their record than meets the eye.

“I think we did a great job on our first 3×3 tournament,” Tautuaa told the Inquirer on Saturday in a message.

“Everyone knows European basketball is really advanced, and that falls true for the 3×3 as well,” he added.

Also true, according to Tautaa, is that if Gilas does what’s right, it can “hang with the best.”

Gilas had its finest game in the close 15-14 loss to France on Friday night.

The National Trio, playing without Tautuaa, who was shelved due to a stiff neck, bucked a lethargic start and leaned on Joshua Munzon, CJ Perez and Leonard Santillan to take the fight to France. It was the finest performance Gilas had in the tournament, and it came against Les Blues, who are ranked ninth in Fiba’s rankings for the men’s competition.

“Our training didn’t allow us to have any tune up or anything to replicate or mimic the basketball level here because of the quarantining in Manila,” Tautuaa said. While the Filipinos were locked out of gyms due to the coronavirus pandemic, European teams were already neck-deep in preparations, even competing in pocket tournaments before the OQT.

“So what you saw on the screen was us literally taking our first draft of what we thought would work and putting it to the ultimate test,” Tautuaa said. “It did not look pretty, but in the end, you saw a glimmer of what we’re capable of once we truly fine-tune our team.”

“We will return to Manila with the thought that in time we will be able to match up and compete with the best countries in the world,” coach Ronnie Magsanoc said.