GILAS Pilipinas can start celebrating again just days after its unceremonious quarterfinal exit in the just ended FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Actually, it’s Gilas coach Tim Cone who is happiest of all.
The reason to drink?
Quentin Millora-Brown, the Fil-American big man who helped the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons win the 2024 UAAP men’s basketball crown at the expense of the La Salle Green Archers.
Simply monikered QMB, the 6-foot-10 wonder was labelled last year as a one-and-done Maroon because, for some quirk reason, he was only eligible to play for one UAAP season as a UP center.
After his smashingly successful stint at the State University, QMB went international, with his last team being Macau which played Gilas Pilipinas in a friendly before the national quintet battled in the FIBA Asia Cup where it finished seventh in a field of 16 — an improvement of its ninth-place result in 2022.
But QMB’s lifelong dream is to play for Gilas Pilipinas, saying that’s also in keeping with the wish of his parents for him to join the national team.
QMB’s last American address was Washington, DC. Turning 25 last Aug. 9, I strongly suspect that his mother is from my home province of Pangasinan. As a kid growing up in Mangatarem town, I remember a prominent Pangasinense politician named Alfonso Millora.
Anyway, QMB has initially hurdled the first obstacle in his quest for a slot at the Gilas line-up when the FIBA (World Basketball Federation) recently granted him a naturalized citizen status.
But QMB’s legal team did not stop there.
Working closely with president Al Panlilio of the SBP (Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas), QMB’s lawyers appealed to FIBA to make QMB a Filipino local from naturalized citizen as the country has already two naturalized citizens in Justin Brownlee and Ange Koame. In most FIBA tournaments, a country can only field its naturalized citizens one at a time.
And, as fate would have it, the FIBA agreed.
Thus, with QMB soon to be a shoo-in to the Gilas team, Cone will have a combo of towering centers in 7-foot-2 Kai Sotto, 6-foot-11 June Mar Fajardo, 6-foot-10 AJ Edu and 6-foot-10 QMB come the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in November, February and July.
Are we getting there?