Standhardinger tapped for WC 3x3
Fil-German Christian Standhardinger is tipped to lead the roster of players that will make the Philippine team to the FIBA 3x3 World Cup set June 8-12 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Basketball Association will jointly announce the makeup of the team before tip-off of the Barangay Ginebra-Rain or Shine game at 6:45 p.m. tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Stanley Pringle, Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos, Chris Ross, Troy Rosario and RR Pogoy are among those reportedly considered.
The personal choices of PBA commissioner Willie Marcial are Standhardinger, Pringle, Lassiter and Japeth Aguilar. Marcial, however, later asked the SBP to scratch Aguilar from the list since Barangay Ginebra is to play NLEX in Legaspi City on June 9.
Team Phl will be handled by coach Ronnie Magsanoc in the event where the host team is bracketed with Russia, Brazil, Canada and Mongolia in a tough group in the preliminaries.
The Philippines needs to make the Top Two in group plays to advance to the knockout stage of this tourney where the team of Kiefer Ravena, Jeron Teng, JR Quiñahan and Kobe Paras finished 11th out of 20 teams in Nantes, France last year.
Serbia and the Netherlands, the 2017 finalists, curiously found themselves in the same group in Pool A with Romania, New Zealand and Kyrgyzstan. Christian Standhardinger
Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Japan and Ecuador slug it out in Group B while Latvia, Ukraine, Croatia, Jordan and Nigeria battle in Group D.
The Philippines is seeded second to last based on federation ranking points.
Serbia is on top followed by Slovenia, Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, Brazil, Poland, Netherlands, Romania, Estonia, Mongolia, Croatia, Jordan, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador, the Philippines and Nigeria. The Philippines is seeded last on the distaff side. Venezuela is No. 1 followed by China, Andorra, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia, France, Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Iran, Germany, Spain, United States, Switzerland, Malaysia, Turkmenistan, Argentina, Uganda then the Philippines.