Does Vietnam have a basketball team/players?

[anthoang]

I follow all the asian teams. I am of Vietnamese descent, yet I don't know anything about Vietnamese basketball. I'm not even sure if Vietnam has a national team. I think there are some vietnamese players playing abroad, yet I don't know who they are.
So if someone can give me some info on these, thank you much!

[DarknessFalls]

Yes, most information about Vietnam can be found through here:

http://www.asia-basket.com/Vietnam/basketball.asp

Looks like they are joining the new ASEAN League, but their national team doesn't get much funding. I heard that Vietnamese government won't give much funding to the teams that don't win a medal.

[Lowman]

There were reports in February that the ASEAN League would expand into Vietnam this season, but that did not happen. From what I heard they had a hard time finding a primary sponsor for the team. The plan is to still have one or two teams in the league eventually, but that won't happen until late 2011 at the earliest.

[rocketstar47]

I Think there is no national team for vietnam since the 2003 SEA Games

[nardy]

I Think there is no national team for vietnam since the 2003 SEA Games

Vietnam was supposed to play at the 2007 SEA Games:





Vietnam Men's basketball team will not participate in SEA Games due to lack of funding - Oct 11, 2007 (by Eurobasket )

According to Viet Nam News, Vietnam's local newspaper, Vietnam will not send its men's and women's basketball team in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

Per report, the top Vietnam sport officials have agreed that they will not give financial assistance since their chance of winning a medal is not that probable.

Head of Vietnamese Games' delegation Hoang Vinh Giang said athletes who had little chance of winning a medal would not receive official funding.

He said he regretted the fact of shortage of funding but said priority had to be given to the country's best athletes that have a greater chance of winning the gold medal.



Vietnam national team hopes to do well in SEA Games - Oct 2, 2007 (by Eurobasket )

Three years ago, Vietnam decided it needed to improve its antiquated basketball program. And they chose a Filipino to do it.

Ricky Magallanes, who apprenticed as an assistant coach with the RP-Cebuana Lhuillier team and a former member of the coaching staff of multi-titled Spring Cooking Oil, was selected to lead the change. He flew to Vietnam in April of 2005 as the head coach of the junior national team. Within six months, he was handed the reigns of the men's team, as well.

This year, Magallanes is again set to handle the Vietnamese national team to the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Thailand this December.

“When you say basketball in Vietnam, it's really nothing, because they're a football country,” Magallanes explains. “They don't have a feeder program, and all their players were even older than I was.”

For Filipinos, it's hard to imagine a country that doesn't love or even play basketball. But the former assistant coach of De La Salle Greenhills had to work from the bottom up. Not only did he have to start recruiting younger players and deal with the inter-city politics between Saigon and Hanoi (the main source of players and funding), he needed to impart the scientific knowledge which is practically second nature to Filipinos.

“Their skill level was so low, they were like children. I had to teach the basics, or else they would never improve,” coach Ricky recalls. “They have many coaches there, but they don't know how to teach. And they don't know how to explain why we have to do those things.”

Last year, Ricky tested his team by bringing them in the Philippines. After having difficulty against a strong high school team, they proceeded to lose all their games to second-tier colleges and smaller schools. But Ricky was undaunted. On this trip, his team has started winning games against teams that used to beat them easily. This despite a lineup that barely has any players over six feet tall.

“Vietnam has really small people, smaller than Filipinos,” he elaborated. “They try to work so hard, I'm really so proud of them, because we've improved our shooting, our dribbling, our passing skills. We really paid attention to those.”

“We really like him, because he is a good guy, very funny. He knows how to make the game more fun, more better,” says Vietnam national team forward Nguyen Thien, at 26 now the oldest member of the team. “Right now, we're feeling we're better in shooting. We've learned a lot from our experiences in the Philippines.”

After so many scrimmages and a few token tournaments, Ricky will face his first major test: the Southeast Asian Games in December. His goals remain modest, though. With Brunei a non-factor (Vietnam demolished them by more than 50 points), coach Ricky is setting his sights on Singapore.

“My bosses say that they would be happy if we win just one game, but of course, I can't allow that,” Ricky declares. “I feel so special, because they really respect the Filipinos, and as a basketball coach, because they really follow my system. They want to adopt the Philippine style of basketball.”

Spring Oil rips Vietnam

MALABON CITY-Spring Cooking Oil crushed the visiting Vietnam national basketball team, 93-71, Tuesday in a goodwill game at the Malabon Sports Complex.

The Cooking Oil Masters of NBC president Nathaniel “Tac” Padilla raced to a 33-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back as veterans Nino Marquez and Larry Rodriguez tallied 20 points each.

The Vietnamese, coached by former Spring mentor Ricky Magallanes, still groped for form as they stepped up their preparation for the Southeast Asian Games set this December in Thailand.

Malabon City Mayor Tito Oreta made the ceremonial toss and then went on to watch the home team plaster the visitors from start to finish.

Bu Tien Bang led the Vietnamese with 12 points while Tran Boan Mark Nguyen and Nguyen San Toh added 10 each.

“I’m happy with the boys’ (Spring) showing,” said Padilla, who's helping bankroll the Spring-NBC Selection’s trip to Taiwan next month.

The scores:
Malabon-Spring (93) – Marquez 20, Rodriguez 20, Epondulan 14, De Castro 13, Reyes 11, Kalaw 6, Tajonera 4, Cuenca 3, Villamin 3,Inigo 2, Aguilar 2

Vietnam (71) – Bu 12, guyen 10, Tran 10, Trieu 8, Soam 8, Pham 6. Robignet 4, Tan 4, Nguyen T. 3, Du 2

Quarterscores: 33-22, 51-41, 72-61, 93-71

MisOr Meteors-Pilipinas rip Hong Kong, Vietnam in China Tourney

October 21, 2009 at 10:52 am



The Misamis Oriental Meteors-Pilipinas ripped Hong Kong National Team, 82-68, then massacred Vietnam, 88-56 in a pair of opening matches in the current Second China-ASEAN CBO Basketball Invitational Tournament that began last October 18 and will run until October 24 in Guangxi, China.


Sleek shooting guard Patrick Cabahug scored 26 points to lead the Meteors against Hong Kong with Eder Saldua and Erian Daja contributing 14 and 12 points, respectively. Cabahug also led MisOr in the Vietnam game with 21 points. They play Perak Farcochem-Malaysia today at the Pinggou Arena in Guangxi.


The Meteors, the reigning Liga Pilipinas National Champions, are representing the Philippines in this tournament where The Philippines, represented by the Smart-Gilas Pilipinas National Team under Coach Rajko Toroman, ruled the tournament’s first edition last year. It also marked Gilas’ initial foray into the international scene.


The Meteors of Gov. Oscar S. Moreno andCoach Jun Noel are bracketed in Group B together with Vietnam, Hong Kong and Perak Farmcochem of Malaysia’s National Basketball League. Group A is composed of entries from Myanmar, Laos, Singapore and host Guangxi.


This marks the first time that a team from Liga Pilipinas has been tapped by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to represent the country in an international tournament.


“We hope to do the whole nation proud this time just like when we gave joy and pride to the people of Misamis Oriental when we won the Liga crown last April,” said Gov. Moreno. “We thank the SBP and Liga for the chance to play in China while also promoting our province.”


Currently occupying Fourth Place in the overall Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference III standings with 26 points and two weeks left on the schedule, the Meteors are in a good position to advance to as high as Second Place and earn an outright berth in November’s five-team Super Leg that will determine the National Champion.


“This is a good exposure for the team as we shoot for to the Super Leg,” said Coach Noel. “The feat of Smart-Gilas is a tough act to follow but we vow do our best.” The Meteors are sponsored by Hapee Toothpaste, Holcim Cement and Hanjin.


In the opening games last October 18, Guangxi ripped Singapore, 84-51, while Myanmar toppled Laos, 74-55 in a pair of Group A skirmishes.

[mvblair]

I was just talking with a young man from Vietnam who told me that he never saw anything about basketball in Vietnam. Girls played some but it is not a very popular sport. At best there might be a small amateur league in Saigon or Hanoi that anybody can join. My guess is that most of the basketball is played in physical education classes at high school for just a week or two at a time.

This is a shame. The good thing is that there is room to grow. All it takes is a businessman who holds a few amateur tournaments. That could grow into an amateur league.

[Servinio]

Re: Does Vietnam have a basketball team/players?

The Philippines whipped Vietnam in the 2001 SEABA Men's Championship at Manila's Rizal Memorial Coliseum, holding them scoreless in the third period! At that time, Vietnam was handled by Coach Mark Warmington, an Australian.

The Filipinos then repeated over Vietnam in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur the following September.

[anthoang]

I was just talking with a young man from Vietnam who told me that he never saw anything about basketball in Vietnam. Girls played some but it is not a very popular sport. At best there might be a small amateur league in Saigon or Hanoi that anybody can join. My guess is that most of the basketball is played in physical education classes at high school for just a week or two at a time.

This is a shame. The good thing is that there is room to grow. All it takes is a businessman who holds a few amateur tournaments. That could grow into an amateur league.

Hey mvblair, I believe your friend might be right. I did a search on basketball courts in vietnam from this website http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/ and was only able to find 3 basketball courts(outdoors) in the entire country. I don't think the infrastructure is there to make basketball popular.

I joined asia-basket.com and was able to find the following Vietnamese basketball players around the world. I recognized the name Bryan Ngo. He played at a highschool near where I live in California and averaged 24.0 points per game as a senior. I believe he might be the most successful Vietnamese basketball player.
(I know it says "Filipino" in his profile, but the name "Ngo" is definitely a vietnamese surname)

[Baller Jobe]

Hey mvblair, I believe your friend might be right. I did a search on basketball courts in vietnam from this website http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/ and was only able to find 3 basketball courts(outdoors) in the entire country. I don't think the infrastructure is there to make basketball popular.

I joined asia-basket.com and was able to find the following Vietnamese basketball players around the world. I recognized the name Bryan Ngo. He played at a highschool near where I live in California and averaged 24.0 points per game as a senior. I believe he might be the most successful Vietnamese basketball player.
(I know it says "Filipino" in his profile, but the name "Ngo" is definitely a vietnamese surname)

Ngo is a common Filipino Chinese name as well in the Philippines. Add to that is the fact that the first name of "Bryan" is a very common first name for Filipinos. Note that Bryan with a "y" is very Filipino. So I would say that Bryan Ngo is definitely Filipino.

[sinobball]

There are a lot of good (= would be competitive in Asia) Viet players in the States particularly in So.Cal. But unlike Fil-Ams they couldn't use their heritage outside of Asian American leagues, due to lack of a national league in Vietnam so I guess all is lost. Occasionally some SoCal Asian teams got invited to Hong Kong for Super Kung Seung tournament and they generally perform well (much better than Vietnam who was also sometimes invited), and I remembered some players like Larry Tieu were clearly of Vietnamese descent.

[nardy]

Ngo is a common Filipino Chinese name as well in the Philippines. Add to that is the fact that the first name of "Bryan" is a very common first name for Filipinos. Note that Bryan with a "y" is very Filipino. So I would say that Bryan Ngo is definitely Filipino.

Bryan also contacted us when we had a tryout for Fil-foreigners at Las Vegas
and was very much interested in joining SMART GILAS but he was not among those who were finally invited by the SBP. That's the time Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz and Japeth Aguilar tried-out. Sean Anthony and Gian Chiu was part of that group.

[nardy]

There are a lot of good (= would be competitive in Asia) Viet players in the States particularly in So.Cal. But unlike Fil-Ams they couldn't use their heritage outside of Asian American leagues, due to lack of a national league in Vietnam so I guess all is lost. Occasionally some SoCal Asian teams got invited to Hong Kong for Super Kung Seung tournament and they generally perform well (much better than Vietnam who was also sometimes invited), and I remembered some players like Larry Tieu were clearly of Vietnamese descent.

maybe they could do what Afghanistan has done wherein majority of its National Players are actually based in the US and Canada. Then aside from competing internationally, they come home inorder to promote the sport of basketball.

[mvblair]

Lots of great information here. Thanks for the contributions, everyone!

I think Vietnam would do well to promote their heritage players, like Nardy suggested.

[Lowman]

Check this article out! They do have a team, and they did not finish in last place in the tournament.

http://www.bt.com.bn/sports-national/2010/12/05/victory-brunei-beat-vietnam

I have been trying to find more info or coverage of this but have not been able to. My main question is who are the players on these teams. With the PBA in season, it can't be the Philippine National Team.

Anyone have info on this tournament?

[raichu08]

^The Philippine team from that tourney is the misamis oriental meteors