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| HOOPSTER:
FIBA Rankings - A Hocus-Pocus Game? by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (09/01/2010) |
| Going into the WBC, China ranked No. 1 among Asians in the FIBA ranking, taking the ninth spot overall. Iran was 21st, Lebanon 24th, Korea 27th, Qatar, 28th, Japan 32nd, Kazakhstan 36th, Jordan 38th, Chinese-Taipei 42nd, India 52nd (tie), Syria 52nd (tie) and Kuwait 55th. Our beloved Philippines placed only 56th. The rankings of the other Asian nations are as follows: Uzbekistan, 60th; Hong Kong, 63rd (tie); Indonesia, 63rd (tie); Saudi Arabia, 66th; United Arab Emirates, 67th; Malaysia, 70th; and Sri Lanka, 73rd. Why the ranking of the Philippines is so low, nobody really knows except the ones who did the FIBA polls. Heck, Iran was also rated lower than China even though the former had won the FIBA Asia tournament in its last two stagings. Before a shell-shocked Chinese crowd in Tianjin, Iran humiliated China, 70-52, in the championship game of the 2009 FIBA Asia tournament to retain its crown. Two-time tournament MVP Hamed Haddadi, the Iranians’ 7-2 center who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies in the U.S. National Basketball Association, chalked up 19 points and 17 rebounds in last year’s finals against China. Jordan walloped Lebanon, 80-66, to capture the bronze medal. Chinese-Taipei grabbed fifth place. Qatar placed sixth; Korea, seventh; and the Philippines, eighth. How Japan, Kazakhstan, India, Syria and Kuwait ranked higher than the Filipinos in the latest FIBA polls is hard to understand. Putting Argentina ahead of the United States at the top of the rankings is also a puzzlement, if not an absurdity. The Americans, who were bannered by Kobe Bryant and 11 other NBA stars, whipped Pau Gasol and the Spanish squad to regain the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Because of its automatic 2010 World berth as the reigning Olympic champion, Team USA opted not to field a team to the\ 2009 Tournament of the Americas where Brazil edged out host Puerto Rico in the finals. In the same TOA, Argentina knocked off Canada to place third and earn one of the four automatic tickets to the ongoing World Championship in Turkey. During the Beijing Olympiad, Argentina surrendered the gold it won in Athens in 2004 after losing to Team USA during the semifinals. The Argentines eventually\ settled for the bronze against Lithuania. With far better credentials than Argentina in the past year, it’s shocking to see Team USA not ranked No. 1 in the FIBA polls. Maybe, just maybe, hocus-pocus is also a game they play out there in the FIBA headquarters in Switzerland.
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