IT seems unfair but, as they say, that’s how the ball bounces.
Since the FIBA incorporated Australia and New Zealand as part of the Asian region, allowing them to compete in the Asia Cup and participate in the World Cup qualifiers, life was never the same again for the continent’s usual power squads.
As soon as the Oceania neighbors got in, the impact was profound. Asia ceased being the battleground for China, South Korea, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, and Gulf behemoths Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
Instead, Australia dominated and New Zealand stood just behind, leaving the once-big bad wolves of Asia to fold and battle for scraps as the new order took place.
It was 2017 when Australia and New Zealand were brought into the Asian fold, and since then the Aussies have won two straight championships without losing a single game, while the Kiwis, less dominant than the Aussies, placed third in 2022 and fourth in 2017.
A third straight championship for the Boomers, which is how the Aussies are called, is a given. The championship will be decided in the next few days, with Australia meeting Iran and New Zealand facing China in the semifinals.
Australian and New Zealand domination can well be the pattern in decades to come, unless Asians discover strong magic potion or miracle food. Aussies and Kiwis are simply ahead of the game in weight and height and overall body construction.
The athletes of the two countries are Westerners by regular standards. Their stock is primarily European. They are tall, big, fast, and furious. Steaks, potatoes, and lots of vegetables fuel them, not to mention energy and muscle-boosting supplements their fare.
We rejoiced when suddenly there was the possibility of Quintin Millora-Brown playing for Gilas Pilipinas soon. Millora-Brown, a Fil-American, was recently granted local player status by FIBA, making him eligible for our national team.
READ: Cone likens QMB addition to Gilas getting the No. 1 draft pick
At 6-10, Millora-Brown will give Gilas the added ceiling to complement centers Kai Sotto, 7-3, and AJ Edu, 6 -10, plus shooters Dwight Ramos and Kevin Quiambao. With them, the Philippine team acquires more weapons to go up against not only Aussies and Kiwis, but also Chinese, Iranians, South Koreans, and Japanese.
But seven footers and 6-11s and 6-10s are a dime a dozen in Australia. And they have flashy 6-7 and 6-6 players who can shoot threes in clusters. These players are, by all accounts, of European descent. As such, even as we and other Asian teams try to match Australia’s height advantage, there is only a slim chance the real Asians can beat them in basketball.
Europeans once colonized Australia with force and advanced weapons, and they now seem to have done the same with Asian basketball, only with a different arsenal.
New Asian order Philippines must face
And as fate would have it, the Philippines has been drawn into the same group with Australia and New Zealand in the World Cup qualifiers, alongside Guam. The Boomers and the Tall Blacks had just stamped their class on Gilas in the Asia Cup.
It’s the card we’ve been dealt. We have to accept it. Other Asians have to accept it, too. For any of the original Asian teams to win the Asia Cup, most likely, they have to get past the Australian gauntlet.
What we have in Asian basketball is a new kind of colonization.
We’re not trying to use the race card here but by the region's new composition, Asians must now in the World Cup qualifiers face athletes who are, by all accounts, of European descent.
How can this be the case? Asians are unafraid of any team, but matches against Europeans, Americans, Africans, and South Americans must happen in the World Cup championship proper, not in the qualifiers.
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