Going Down Under

March 13, 2010 | Posted by Benjie

I understand that almost every Filipino by this time is too preoccupied with tomorrow’s ‘The Event’. We sometimes tend to overlook some other major sports events. Take the Aussie trip of the Smart Gilas, for instance. I was aware that they’re scheduled to leave Manila by March 12 as they embarked their second ‘road’ trip to hone their skills as a team. Thanks to Chris Tiu for the tweet as they have officially stepped down the land they call ‘Down Under’.

Australia’s basketball may not be as big as in the United States or in the Philippines. Cricket, Rugby, Australian Football, Horse racing are far more popular in terms of crowd attendance. However, there’s one thing that caught the attention of coach Rajko Toroman in the Aussies – zone defense.

I remember back in 2004 Athens Olympics, Australia played against the United States in the preliminaries. The Americans had a hard time breaking the zone of the Aussies. Though the former won in that game, it was a close match that pushed the Americans to the brink. Note that Team USA was made up of NBA stars including Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. The Americans ended up third in that tournament though.

The Australia trip of the Gilas is the second of the series of international exposures as a run up to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China beginning November 12. Scheduled to follow this tour is a series of exhibition games in Serbia, United States and possibly against the Canadian national team in April.