IT’S always a tall order to represent the country at any level, let alone on the international stage.
But no task has been taller, literally and figuratively, than what greeted Quentin Millora-Brown in his first hurrah with Gilas Pilipinas ahead of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
READ: QMB vows to 'leave everything on the floor' for Gilas
Once a dominant big in his one-and-done championship season with the University of the Philippines, QMB now finds himself surrounded by towering company in 6-foot-11 June Mar Fajardo, 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar, and even a recovering 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto.
And for the 6-foot-10 Fil-Am, sharing the frontcourt with Philippine basketball’s finest has been the privilege of a lifetime.
“June Mar and Japeth have so much knowledge, and Kai’s been in the system for a good while, so just being around those guys and having them show me what the ropes are has been huge for me,” Millora-Brown said.
“They're so helpful. Just any little bit of information that they can try and pass on, they can and they will.”
But how has QMB slotted himself into Gilas head coach Tim Cone’s triangle offense alongside those veteran bigs?
“Coach Cone’s been breaking it down. We've been just building it up a little bit at a time. Nothing too crazy,” he said.
“He understands it's a process, and a lot of it is just playing, right? But you can’t play too much with guys coming off their seasons and having a lot of games already.
“He’s just been building the process day by day, and he has a plan for how he wants it to work over the next week as we prepare for Guam.”
Unibersidad ng Pilipinas to Gilas Pilipinas
And with a few fellow Fighting Maroons also onboard in Juan Gomez de Liano and Carl Tamayo, the national team has started to feel like home for Millora-Brown.
“With Juan also being added to the pool, both of us are just trying to learn as much as we can right now. It’s been a lot of fun,” he said.
“It’s amazing to have even Carl, right? It’s just continuing a tradition of excellence.”
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