Originally posted by Sikatrix
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And that's exactly my point, being D1 does not automatically guarantee success in FIBA or heck, even in the PBA. Look at Jamie Malonzo struggling in FIBA Worlds and Valandre Chauca not even cracking a PBA lineup.
It's almost impossible for Filipinos to make it to D1 but that does not necessarily mean our youth can't have successful pro or national team careers.
Not all has the resources to relocate to US. Not everybody can afford high school and living expenses in a first world country like Kobe Paras. Not all can be sponsored like Andy Gemao. It's not practical to aim for D1.
What we can do rather, is to improve grassroots and high school level basketball in the country so they won't have to overstay in UAAP / NCAA circuits before becoming fully pledged pros. We're still stuck in the practices of the past where one must use up all his eligibility years before being considered pro-ready.
We have to improve our own high school basketball ranks and collegiate basketball ranks to the point where we have a reputation of producing Pro-ready and Gilas-ready talents at an early age. And to the point where we don't have to resort to recruiting Fil-ams expecting them to save our a$$es because our homegrowns are underperforming. We have to find a way to fast track their development. Just look at our sorry U17 Team
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