It's that time of the year again, and what better way to end 2018 than to post our wishes for Philippine basketball for 2019?
Let me kick off this list:
1) A sweep of the next two qualifying games vs Qatar and Kazakhstan to get us into our second straight FIBA World Cup.
2) An in-form Andray Blatche to anchor the qualifying team and the team at the World Cup. This should be his last hurrah -- and what a fitting end to his international career.
3) FIBA recognition of Jordan Clarkson as a local player.
4) Kai Sotto finally signing with a team abroad. I'm more of an FC Barcelona fan, but if he goes to Real Madrid, why the hell not?
5) AJ Edu making it to the NCAA Tournament with Toledo.
6) Sotto and Edu leading the U-19 team to the knockout stages of the FIBA U-19 World Cup.
7) Another steady point guard for the U-19 team. One cannot have too many Panopio-type players.
8) Coach Tab finally coaching the U-19 team (and maybe the World Cup team too).
9) Another UP-Ateneo UAAP Finals series.
10) A successful SEA Games, with an all-college/HS core (Thirdy Ravena, Juan Gomez de Liano, CJ Cansino, Kai Sotto, Matt Nieto, Isaac Go, Justine Baltazar, Leonard Santillan, Justin Gutang, Arvin Tolentino, Ken Tuffin, maybe a young naturalized big) demolishing the rest of SEABA and proving that the Philippines is still light-years ahead of the competition.
Happy Holidays, everyone!