The Philippine National Men’s Basketball Team, Gilas Pilipinas will join former world champion Argentina in Group B after the draw result was announced at the Palau del Musica Catalan in Barcelona, Spain, on February 4, 2014.
The FIBA World Cup 2014 Group B teams were composed of national teams from Argentina, Senegal, Puerto Rico, Greece and Croatia. The Preliminary Round of the competition will start this coming August 30, 2014 in four cities of Spain such as Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Granada and Seville.
The Final Round of the 2014 FIBA World Cup will be held in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. The Top Four Team in each Group at the end of the preliminary will advance to the 16-Team Knockout Round.
Meanwhile Group A of the FIBA World Cup 2014 are composed of Spain, Serbia, France, Brazil, Iran and Egypt.
Group C is made up of reigning FIBA champion United States of America (USA), Ukraine, Finland, Turkey, Dominican Republic and New Zealand.
The FIBA World Cup Group D are composed of Slovenia, Lithuania, African champion Angola, Korea, Mexico and Australia.
Gilas Pilipinas Head Coach Chot Reyes announced the results of the draw through his official Twitter account. The multi-awarded Filipino coach previously hopes that Gilas will be bracketed alongside Ukraine and Finland, the two teams whom he thought Philippines have a chance to beat. Nevertheless, Coach Chot hopes for the best for Gilas Pilipinas.
The Philippine Team will be facing some of the world’s most strongest teams, particularly Argentina, Croatia, and Puerto Rico, this three teams are prominent figures in international basketball.
Even the lowest ranked on Group C of the FIBA World Cup 2014, the African country Senegal will probably parade their current lone NBA Player, Gorgiu Dieng of the Wolves aside from former NBA players such as Hamady N’diaye of the Wizards, DeSagana Diop (Bobcats) Pape Sy (Hawks) and Saed Sene, of the Seattle Super Sonics.
Go for it Gilas Pilipinas. Try to reclaim the long lost glory of basketball loving Filipinos.