Chot Reyes still coach of RP men's caging team

Chot Reyes remains as the coach of the Philippine bastketball team despite the ninth-place finish of the local cagers in the last FIBA-Asia Men's Championship held in Tokushima, Japan. This was affirmed at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday by the Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP). "Chot remains as the national team," BAP-SBP executive director Patrick `Pato' Gregorio said. The 44-year-old Reyes was recently tapped by Talk 'N' Text as its new head coach after his year-long stint with the national squad and with San Miguel both as mentor and consultant. The Philippines' sole governing body for basketball announced its support for Reyes when it met with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) board recently, where officials of the BAP-SBP presented several proposals concerning the league's participation in several upcoming international tournaments. Among the points raised by the BAP-SBP, according to Gregorio, is the possible representation of the PBA Philippine Cup champion to the FIBA-Asia Men's Champions Cup this coming May in the United Arab Emirates. "After all, that's what the Champions Cup is all about – club champions from around Asia competing against each other in 1 tournament," said the elder brother of Purefoods Giants coach Ryan Gregorio. "It can be the entire All-Filipino Cup champion or a mythical selection together with the core of the champion team." As of the moment, the PBA has yet to decide on whether to give its nod on the BAP-SBP proposals. "The league asked for some time to study it," Gregorio said. The BAP-SBP executive director also said he's still waiting whether San Miguel Corp. will commit itself to funding the training and program of the national squad. The food and beverage conglomerate funded the whole-year preparation of the SMC-RP men's basketball team under Reyes in 2007, a stint that saw the nationals compete in the FIBA-Asia, the Champions Cup in Iran, the Jones Cup in Taiwan, the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Men's Championship while undergoing training in the US and Belgrade. "But what we've reiterated is that instead of just supporting a particular team, we'll be more than glad if we'll get support to the entire program itself in order to sustain its continuity until 2012 when the next Olympic comes," Gregorio said. Under the program now being laid out by the BAP-SBP is the formation of the Nokia-Pilipinas Youth team under head coach Franz Pumaren. From a pool of 160, the roster is now down to 17, whom the basketball body will present before the media next week. The young cagers are currently training six-times a week as part of their training for the SEABA under-16 championship and the FIBA-Asia under-16 championship. The team is set to compete as a guest ballclub in the coming conference of the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) and then will be leaving for the US on March 15 for further training. - GMANews.TV