NIKOLE JAVIER 

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes extended his sincere apologies to the home crowd as the national team failed to earn the outright Olympic berth in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup on Thursday, Aug. 31, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

The breakthrough has slipped away from the hands of the Nationals four times in a row as they suffered an 87-68 beating against South Sudan in the classification round of the tournament. 

In a previous report from One News, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan revealed that Reyes reached out to him following Gilas’ winless group stage campaign. 

While Pangilinan hasn’t grasped the right words in response to Reyes, the Filipino fans have been vocal on social media about their frustrations specifically directed at the latter since his appointment. 

“I’ve had [apologized] numerous times [to the fans]. I have already said that I’m really sorry that we were not able to deliver and I take full accountability, I take full responsibility,” Reyes said. 

Going to their final match in the world meet with a 0-4 record, the Philippines is now out of chance in becoming the best-placed Asian team even with a potential win over China. 

With the loss, Reyes even admitted that the FIBA tournament shouldn’t have been the place for learning experiences, but for execution and success. 

Though the future remained supposedly bright for the Philippines with Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and Rhenz Abando in tow, Reyes is just glad that some of the players have something to look forward to. 

“No, [this was not a learning experience]. This was a time for us to win and execute. The learning is supposed to happen way back. This was a time for us to win and execute. And like I said, we didn’t get the job done. But for the guys like AJ, a lot of young guys Kai, Dwight, they definitely grew from this experience and learned a lot. There’s a lot to look forward to for those guys,” he added.