The Philippines remained at no. 31 in the world rankings after the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 qualifiers have ended.
Tallying a total of 317.6 points, the Philippines is a fraction behind powerhouse China, who is at no. 30 in the world with 317.9 points.
Both are among the teams that have qualified to FIBA Basketball World Cup’s tournament proper.
The top seeds of the 32-team tournament are the seven best-ranked qualified teams, namely Team USA, Spain, France, Serbia, Argentina, Lithuania and Greece.
The list also includes Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia in the Africa zone.
Also included are Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela in the Americas zone.
Joining the Philippines and China from Asia are Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea and New Zealand,
Among the 12 European qualifiers to join are Spain, France, Serbia, Lithuania and Greece are the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Russia and Turkey.
The draw of lots for the tournament proper will be known on March 16.
The draw takes place in Shenzhen, one of the competition’s eight host cities.
Gilas coach Yeng Guiao said he has enough players who can play for him the tournament proper.
These players are very versatile and among his choices for Team Pilipinas are Mark Barroca, Marcio Lassiter, Scottie Thompson and RR Pogoy, and big men Poy Erram, Japeth Aguilar and Andray Blatche.
“Easily, they all had the skills to shine in the system we were running,” noted Guiao.
Guiao said he is now leaving it up to top officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas on how they will form the next Philippine team.
He said his contract with SBP is finished as it only runs until the end of the qualifiers.