The Greatest Philippine Basketball Team Ever? Part1

Written By J.P. Sakuragi on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 | Tuesday, September 04, 2012

The Philippines always had a rich basketball history marked by success in the regional and global tournaments from the SEA Games to the Asian Games, FIBA World Championship to the Olympics. However, the country's favorite sport has fallen on hard times as other countries in the region grew stronger and even supplanted us from our spot as the top basketball-playing nation in Asia. Despite having one of the most organized and established professional basketball leagues in the world, the Philippines has lagged behind in continued development of homegrown talent that will be able to compete in a world-class level.

We still dominate the SEA games, William Jones Cup, and other tournaments to a certain degree but competing in prestigious FIBA tournaments with the likes of China, South Korea, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, and other powerhouse teams can be a tough nut to crack. Twenty years ago or so, we tend to routinely blow out these teams in huge margins but now, these teams do it to us. There are a couple of times we manage an upset but we tend to lose games when it matter the most. Remember this?

 Oh yeah, Olsen Racela choked on this game big time!

Let's move on from the heartaches and failures. Maybe we can learn the lessons from the past and know why the greatest Philippine basketball teams were successful. Which of the teams below can be considered as the "greatest Philippine basketball team of all time"? Bear in mind, it is not about having the greatest individual players on the squad nor the greatest collective talent. Winning is also part of the reason why these teams are great. With talent and winning into consideration, which team is deserving to have that "greatest ever" accolade?

1954 Philippine Team
Played in:
1954 FIBA World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Bronze Medal (6W 3L)
1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines - Gold Medal (6W 0L)

Lineup:
3 Lauro Mumar (captain), 4 Francisco Rabat, 5 Napoleon Flores, 6 Mariano Tolentino, 7 Benjamin Francisco, 8 Rafael Barretto, 9 Ponciano Saldaña, 10 Florentino Bautista, 11 Ramon Manulat, 12 Bayani Amador, 13 Antonio Genato, 14 Carlos Loyzaga — Coach: Herminio Silva

This is the Mount Olympus of Philippine basketball (even on an Asian level) because it is the best finish of any Asian team that played in FIBA's world championship tournament. It was the same year that the Philippines captured back-to-back gold medals in Asian Games basketball, the first country to do so. Carlos Loyzaga was considered as the best player in Asia at that time.

1936 Philippine Team

Played in:
1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany - 5th (4W 1L)

Lineup:
Charles Borck, Antonio Carillo, Jacinto Ciria Cruz, Franco Marquicias, Primitivo Martínez, Jesus Marzan, Amador Obordo, Bibiano Quano, Miguel Pardo, Ambrosio Padilla (captain), John Worrell, Fortunato Yambao — Coach: Dionisio Calvo

Considered as the first "true" national team, the 1936 Olympic team finished fifth (still the best finish by any Asian team in the Olympics) even though it only lost one game. Most of us don't know the real story of this forgotten national team but their legacy remains golden as our aspiration for Olympic gold continues until this day.

1956 Philippine Team
Played in:
1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia - Quarterfinalist 7th (4W 4L)

Lineup:
3 Ramon Manulat, 4 Ramon Campos Jr, 5 Carlos Badion, 6 Loreto Carbonell, 7 Martin Urra, 8 Rafael Barretto, 9 Leonardo Marquicias, 10 Antonio Villamor, 11 Mariano Tolentino, 12 Carlos Loyzaga, 13 Antonio Genato (captain), 14 Eduardo Lim — Coach: Leo Prieto

Despite getting the holdovers from the 1954 FIBA World Championship team that finished 3rd place, the 1956 Olympic team failed to duplicate its success by stumbling out in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, the team is loaded with talent that can even compete against any pioneering PBA teams in the 70s.