CentroBasket 2008 - Cancun, Mexico

[J-Mart]

August 27 - August 31
Qualifier to the Tournament of the Americas 2009
4 Spots Available


Group A
US Virgin Islands
El Salvador
Mexico
Dominican Republic

Group B
Puerto Rico
Cuba
Costa Rica
Panama

August 27
Cuba .vs. Panama
Mexico .vs. El Salvador
Puerto Rico .vs. Costa Rica
Virgin Islands .vs. Dominican Republic

[mvblair]

There isn't much competition here, honestly. Puerto Rico is by far the best team. They will bring a few of their younger, inexperienced players and win first place.

Mexico might be the weakest they've been in the past 25 years. USVI has some potential because of their one or two NBA players. DR always puts up a good show with clubs and they could give a little surprise. El Salvador, Cuba, and Panama are all pretty bad. I played ball with a guy on Costa Rica's NT the other day, and all I can say is "good luck" to Costa Rica.

[JGX]

Why is there an extra Central American team this year compared to the past few Centrobaskets? I would think another Caribbean team like the Bahamas or Antigua is at least better than El Salvador.

I played ball with a guy on Costa Rica's NT the other day, and all I can say is "good luck" to Costa Rica.

Are you eligible to play for Costa Rica now? That would be a great thread.

[cardenales]

I know Costa Rica has a good guard name Henry Martinez. Puerto Rico has an excellent team but for this tournament they are going to start practice in August 13 which is very late. Watch out Mexico, they have the team almost complete and Horacio Llamas ex nba is back in the team. What make Mexico more dangerous in this tournament is that they have been practice and playing scrimmage against Argentina (the same team that would play in the olympics), Poland and Uruguay plus they play the other days a team of US players in Mexico and Mexico won. Cuba should be with their full team and this team have no players playing overseas, so they have all year long to get together. DR, USVI and Panama have talent but I dont know if they are getting ready, I mean start practice of no. Costa Rica and El Salvador, I dont expect much things for them.

[J-Mart]

Dominican Republic 28 Man Roster
Francisco Garcia
Al Horford
Luis Flores
Antonio Pena
Eniel Polynice
Edgar Sosa
Dominick Mejia
Luis Martinez
Manny Quezada
Sammy Mejia
Franklyn Western
Josh Asselin
Alejandro Flores
Amaury Filion
Otto Vantroy
Andres Sandoval
Franklin Matos
Ivan Almonte
Kelvin Pena
Alberto Ozuna
Andy Williams
Manuel Fortuna
Manuel Guzman
Elius Baez
Carlos Morban
Joel Ramirez
Jack Michael Martinez
Sandro Encarnacion

Head Coach- Scott Roth

[Mojado]

Mexico's roster so far:

Hugo Carrillo
Pedro Meza
Ray Castillo
Horacio Llamas
Arim Abdul Solares
Ramses Benitez
Jesus Lopez
Omar Quintero
Alonso Izaguirre
Enrique Zuniga
Gustavo Ayon
Karim Malpica

Missing key players:

Romel Beck
Hector Hernandez
Lorenzo Mata-Real
Anthony Pedroza

Mexico will qualify for the Torneo thanks to the homecourt-advantage but needs to add some of the missing players to compete with the bigger teams on the continent.I'm pretty confident this will also happen in the future.

[alermac]

It seems that Dominican Republic learned from what happened in 2006. They thought they could qualify easily, above Panama and the Virgin Islands, but they lost and couldn't play in 2007 Americas.

And now, they are trying to get all its top players there. Let's not risk it again.

Every time, Puerto Rico and Mexico qualify. And every time, one of three teams between Panama, Virgin Islands and the Dominican is left out. In this case, Group A says it will be a battle between these last two, and Group B says Panama will virtually get a free pass to the semifinals and therefore the 2009 Americas. Unless they lose to Cuba or Costa Rica (a definitive longshot)

[J-Mart]

Puerto Rico
Carlos Arroyo
Filiberto Rivera
Larry Ayuso
Javier Mojica
Carmelo Antrone Lee
Joel Jones
Ricky Sanchez
Peter John Ramos
Luis Villafane


expected to practice for the available spots...
Angel Vassallo
Angel "Piwi" Garcia
David Huertas
Victor Davila
Jorge Bryan Diaz
Angel "Buster" Figueroa
Andres Rodriguez
Angelo Reyes
Alex Falcon
Luis Rivas


no Jose Juan Barea, no Daniel Santiago, no Rick Apodaca

[J-Mart]

Cuba
Michael Guerra
Allens Jemmott
Yudnier Perez
Geoffrey Silvestre
Oreste Torres
Alexis Labastida
Taylor Garcia
Henry Simon
Yorman Polas
Jaca Yordanis


I still need 2 more names...

and mark my words...

Cuba will qualify

[J-Mart]

There isn't much competition here, honestly. Puerto Rico is by far the best team. They will bring a few of their younger, inexperienced players and win first place.

Mexico might be the weakest they've been in the past 25 years. USVI has some potential because of their one or two NBA players. DR always puts up a good show with clubs and they could give a little surprise. El Salvador, Cuba, and Panama are all pretty bad. I played ball with a guy on Costa Rica's NT the other day, and all I can say is "good luck" to Costa Rica.

disagree...
Puerto Rico is weak right now. We assumed we were wining the whole thing with Ayuso/Arroyo the last edition and all we got was a bronze (thanks Jason Edwin!), our worst showing ever at CentroBasket.

Mexico is not that weak, Cuba is not that bad and Panama is dangerous (I dont give a <censor> about their WBC performance, IMO that was a fluke)

[Mojado]

Same view...

I see it the same way, Cuba is always a contender that wont buck down against good competition.Panama could surprise, depends on the preparation.
PR is looking good IMO.I was in Athens and I liked players like Mojica steppin up.Santiago was fairly weak there and wont be missed, and maybe a younger player could jump in and catch Daniel's spot on the team.Joel Jones need to contribute more from the perimeter, he looked strong against Germany during the test matches but somehow was unspectacular in Greece.Is Arroyo healthy and a lock for Cancun ?

The Dominicans have always the problem that not all the good ones are showing up to the tournaments, so lets wait and see if all the names mentioned above are actually going to play in Cancun.

Who is going to cover the games on TV ? Is there a chance to catch a game or two on U.S. American TV ?

[mvblair]

Are you eligible to play for Costa Rica now? That would be a great thread.

I wish I could, but I'm not good enough. I guess I'm eligible because I just got dual residency, but I'm still holding out for the US Senior team.

cardenales: Costa Rica does have some very talented indivual players. Some names people might recognize are Henry Martinez, Hernold Hall, and Franklyn Ferguson, who is playing in a low-level European league.

Unfortunately, they just can't compete with some of the other teams.

If Llamas is back with Mexico, I suppose they'll be OK. Will Quintero be playing? Nevertheless, I don't think this Mexico is as good as it was in '90 nor will it ever be.

[alermac]

Panama is dangerous (I dont give a <censor> about their WBC performance, IMO that was a fluke)

Much of their performance will depend on coaching, i think.

2005 with Nolan Richardson: great team despite big absences.
2006 with Guillermo Vecchio: worst team in the WC, losing to Japan, despite having a much better roster.

[Mojado]

News...

Center Larry Turner will be naturalized to play for the Dominican Republic.Seems like they are not really confiendt with the players available.Josh Asselin won't be available that's why they made that move.
Mexico is trying to bring in Pedroza and Beck, but unless Beck is not signed to play in Europe or the NBA, he probably will pass.I heard Pedroza has a difficult character, let's see if he can find some time to play (Owns a company that is building houses in Mexico).
Llamas was really a fat a** altogether with another gordo named Avila in the post at the last tournament in Vegas. I would prefer to see Ayon and Hernandez along with Parada getting more time on the court.

[cardenales]

What happen with Parada? Does his going to be in the mexican team?