With young talent like (from left) Ange Kouame, SJ Belangel
and Dwight Ramos, Gilas Pilipinas has a foundation to build on.
—PHOTO COURTESY OF FIBA
MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas guard Dwight Ramos won’t settle for anything less than an undefeated campaign in the upcoming window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers here.
Ramos is not tempering his expectations ahead of the Philippines’ four games in five days schedule starting against South Korea on February 24 despite the team already assured of a spot in the World Cup as one of the three hosts.
“I always have high expectations for our team. So of course going into the window, I’m expecting us to go 4-0,” said Ramos on Noli Eala’s Power and Play show.
“Of course, it’s gonna be a hard job but you gotta set high expectations for yourselves and that’s what I’m hoping to do with our team.”
Gilas will also play powerhouse New Zealand on February 27 and Korea again on February 28—games in which the Filipinos won’t be deemed favorites. Also part of its schedule is a matchup against an improving India side on February 25.
Ramos, who joined Gilas’ camp on February 5, was part of the team that swept the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers last June which included two impressive wins over South Korea.
The latest version of Gilas, however, won’t be the same as the previous one with Chot Reyes calling the shots now instead of Tab Baldwin.
The roster will also feature different faces as Gilas deals with manpower issues after several prospects are unavailable due to various reasons.
Joining Ramos at Gilas are the likes of Thirdy Ravena, naturalized player Ange Kouame and Robert Bolick to name a few.
Both Ramos and Ravena left their professional clubs in the Japan B.League to beef up Gilas.
“Hopefully, I can gel with the team and the system as fast as I could, as soon as possible,” said Ravena, who only started practicing with Gilas on Wednesday.
“We have 15 days, there’s no guarantee where we will be within the 15 days but we’re gonna try our best, that’s for sure. We hope that the preparation is enough for us to win in this window against very tough teams like Korea and New Zealand.”