Its kinda frustrating that we can't produce quality NCAA Div. 1 players in the US while other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Iran, China, & even Taiwan have already produced one or two (or even more). Kung maka produce man tayo, hindi naman FIBA eligible as in the cases of Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green, Ron Harper, Jr., Dylan Harper.
I just hope that the rumor that 6-foot-9 Kamaka Hepa is FIBA-eligible is true & that Hepa would be interested to play for Gilas. I think Hepa did well playing in an NCAA div. 1 school in the US.
We did produce some quality NCAA Division 1-eligible players. Matthew Wright spent his four years at St. Bonaventure University, a team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, where he averaged 16.3 PPG in his final season. Jordan Heading played at California Baptist University, a team in the Western Athletic Conference. While both of them played at low-major programs, it’s still NCAA Division 1, so we got to see their caliber of play. Matthew Wright did decently with Gilas, became a superstar in the PBA, and is still a quality player in the B.League. As for Jordan Heading, we all know what he's doing now and the quality of player he has become. He should definitely still be a locked-in spot for Gilas.
I noticed a pattern: both of them weren’t really homegrown players. They just happened to play for our youth team during their teenage years, which made them eligible to play as locals in Gilas.
We also had Dalph Panopio and AJ Edu from Kai’s batch. Kai would have been our very first US NCAA player who could have played in a high-major program. I still regret that he didn’t get offers from Auburn, Georgia Tech, and even Kentucky, which this article mentions: “
At least seven universities are believed to be interested in Sotto, with the youngster detailing his visits to Auburn, Georgia Tech, and the most successful college in NCAA basketball history, Kentucky.” It makes me wonder why his agent missed these opportunities.
After Kai’s batch, we also had Caelum Harris, who committed to a mid-major program with Nevada. Unfortunately, eligibility issues happened, but he is still with an NJCAA Division 1 program. The key here is to get those Fil-foreigners to play on our youth team so they can be locked into their local status with Gilas. From there, it’s up to them to see where they end up in the US. Jacob Bayla and Alex Konov were also low-major Division 1 NCAA players at least. For our homegrown players, it would take a generational talent like Kai Sotto or Andy Gemao (hopefully he gets it done) to make it to the US NCAA.
Japan is taking the Fil-foreigner route to have US NCAA Division 1 players. Most of their eligible US NCAA Division 1 players right now are Black-Japanese. The exception is their generational talent, homegrown player Yuto Kawashima, who is currently playing at Seattle. We actually have a similar path as them in terms of producing US NCAA Division 1 players. The pattern seems to be: scout an eligible Fil-foreign kid, get them to play for our youth team, let them grow in the US afterward, and if they’re talented enough for Division 1, then here we go.
Here’s an article about how Kai Sotto was highly touted in college back then. What could have been damn.
https://www.olympics.com/en/news/basketball-filipino-kai-sotto-college-decision-georgia
