AJ Edu excited over Batang Gilas program
WITH the national youth basketball program steadily improving in the last few years, Filipino-Nigerian AJ Edu said he is very excited over how things are panning out for Batang Gilas and happy to be finally suiting for the team in a 5-on-5 setting.
Making his five-a-side debut for the national youth team, Edu, 18, who represented the country in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup last year in China, is part of the U18 Batang Gilas team currently competing in Thailand for the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship.
It is a fulfilment of one of his goals as a player since committing to the Batang Gilas program three years ago and something in his mind for some time now.
“I represented the Philippines in the 3-on-3 World Cup last year and it had a different sort of feeling. This time there is a lot of people giving focus to it and there is a little pressure about it. But me I’m more excited and it’s something that I was looking forward to for a while now,” said 6’10” Edu in an interview with BusinessWorld in the send-off for the U18 team hosted by supporter Chooks-to-Go last Thursday.
“When I first joined Batang Gilas, when I first committed to them when I was 15 years old, they already mentioned this tournament so I have been waiting for it and to be here now in the process it’s really great. I’m excited how the program is growing in just short a period. I think it’s great. The players are improving year after year,” University of Toledo player Edu added.
In the FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship, Edu is to tandem with seven-footer Kai Sotto to form a tall frontline for the national team.
Edu said he is enjoying playing alongside Ateneo’s Sotto and that he expects that the two of them get to feed off the play of each other to help Batang Gilas in its campaign.
“Obviously there is a lot of hype about the two of us playing together. There is much attention to it. Our relationship on and off the court is really good. I am really looking forward to it. I think we can help each other’s game. With him around I get to play more on the perimeter rather than at the five spot most of the time,” he said.
Edu went on to say that versatility is one facet of his game that he hopes to bring to the table in the biennial Under-18 tournament.
“My main strength is versatility so I’m just going to bring that both on offense and defense. On defense I can play all positions and on offense I can play on the perimeter and inside. So I’m just going to bring those and the energy and try to lead by example,” the FilipinoNigerian said.
Batang Gilas was to begin its U18 Asian Championship bid later yesterday against Lebanon in Group B. It is to take on the United Arab Emirates today and China tomorrow.
Other groupings have 2016 winner Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan and Indonesia in Group A; Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain and Thailand in Group C; and South Korea, Chinese Taipei, India and Syria in Group D.
The top teams in the grouping advance outright to the quarterfinals while the second and third place teams go through a playoff to determine who get to advance to the quarters.
“We are just focusing on taking it one game at a time. Our immediate focus is Lebanon. They like to crash for offensive rebound and they get a lot of their points on second-chance opportunities. So we’re focusing on limiting their strengths and try to increase ours,” Edu said of the mind-set of the team, which is coached by Josh Reyes.
Apart from Edu and Sotto, part of the Batang Gilas U18 team are Miguel Oczon (Nazareth School of National University), Dalph Panopio (Italy-based), Gerry Abadiano (NU), Xyrus Torres (Far Eastern University-Diliman), Joshua Ramirez (Chiang Kai Shek), Rhayyan Amsali (San Beda High School), Sean Ildefonso (NU), Raven Cortez (De La Salle Zobel), Bismarck Lina (University of Santo Tomas High School) and Shaun Chiu (Ateneo).