As a long-time fan since the Gilas program's inception in 2009, this hurts...

Let me get started by saying that I'm at a loss. I don't know what to make out of this situation. I love OUR basketball national teams, our basketball community, and the sport in general, like many Filipinos do.

Last night's events were shameful and disgusting. We had "basketbrawls" before, notably the Minnesota Gophers team vs the National Team - dubbed the Centennial team - in the late 90s. This was the first of its scale in the era of the internet and social media, and boy, are we receiving a ton of flak from the international basketball community. The whole thing is another unwanted publicity for our country, as if we haven't received enough already.

The players deserve any penalties - like fines and suspensions - FIBA will hand out. I've been tirelessly reading the laws since last nightregarding this, and our players will definitely get the hammer handed down on their asses. The basketball federation - the SBP - should be fined and penalized for failing to control the fans (notably Japeth's dad who is the douchebag who threw the chair), the coaches, and the reserve players. The nine players who participated in the brawl should receive game suspensions and fines. Heck, suspend them from FIBA-sanctioned competitions for year or two. Ban those goddamn weak refs who failed to control the players' actions.

Even the most level-headed player - Jayson Castro - and coach - Jong Uichico - participated in the melee. However, it doesn't matter if the Australians were being racist (Chris Goulding ALLEGEDLY called some of the Gilas players monkeys) and disrespectful even before the game started. We went overboard and it was a disgrace. Sure, the Gilas players reasoned out that they were simply protecting their brothers, but there's a huge difference between protecting your teammates and starting a brawl.

Chot Reyes should step down as coach, while Jong Uichico should never coach a Philippine team again. If you can't control your players and even order them to "put the opposing team on their asses", then you have no business coaching. Give the job to more level-headed (and competent) coaches like Norman Black or Tab Baldwin. If the San Miguel Corporation allows it, put Tim Cone on the sidelines. I still dream of the day when we'll have him as the head coach with Norman Black, Ryan Gregorio, Jimmy Alapag, and Alex Compton as assistants and Tab Baldwin as consultant.

What I don't get though is why are some of you suggesting and even promoting the notion that the national team should be banned in future competitions?

That's just harsh and selfish, and a knee-jerk reaction to an issue that can simmer down and be rectified if all the governing bodies would do their jobs. I mean, us die-hard Gilas fans won't get to enjoy international basketball in the improbable likelihood that FIBA brings down a ban hammer. Parang kayo, mga Aussies at mga football purists lang ang gusto niyan.

In the likely event the nine players who participated in the melee will get suspended, there's a silver lining as this could be an opportunity for our basketball stakeholders to band together and start forming a competitive team for the September and November qualifying windows.

Local fans know that there is a rift between the San Miguel Corp and Manny Pangilinan camps, with the former a little reserved in lending their players - including college-supported players (notably La Salle) - to the national team. This is why most of the Gilas players are mainly made up of Talk 'n' Text mainstays like Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy, Terrence Romeo, and Troy Rosario. If they do end up standing behind the program, we may see the likes of Marcio Lassiter, Greg Slaughter, Ian Sangalang, etc wearing the country's colors in the near future.

There are signs that the SMC camp is warming up, given that they've donated a huge sum of money to the POC, which is now headed by Ricky Vargas, a man belonging to the MVP camp.

We need to be united more than ever. Even if we have opposing views regarding the matter, we all need to stand behind our brand of basketball which is already world class. Last night was not OUR basketball, and we need to change things fast to improve it.

Hoping for a ban won't get us anywhere in atoning for what happened. Instead, we need to make everyone involved accountable, call for tweaks to the system, and we need to change this shit culture of barbarism and supporting our own countrymen even if they are in the wrong. I still don't get why some idiots actually support the players' actions and it's depressing. No surprises though, given the kind of leadership and culture of violence and impunity we have today.

Note:

We are in a great position to qualify for the FIBA World Cup in 2019. We're currently third in the merged group, second behind Australia and Iran. Below us are Kazakhstan, Qatar, and Japan (we won't face Australia and Japan in the second round anymore). Kazakhstan and Qatar are manageable threats, while Iran will be difficult to beat. We just need to retain our third place spot and we'll be cruising to the World Cup which is another huge achievement.

We're also hosting the FIBA World Cup in 2023 and a lot of things need to change if we want it to be a successful one.

EDIT:

We also have to commend the three players who didn't join the melee: Gabe Norwood, Baser Amer (who was making his FIBA debut), and Junmar Fajardo who was just chillin' and smilin' when the fracas occurred (his reaction to the chaos was funny af). Troy Rike - a reserve and new player - deserves a hand for protecting one of the Aussie players who was down on the floor.