He’s relishing the idea of playing against the world’s best in front of the world’s best fans.
Dwight Ramos always knew that the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 was the goal.
It was January 2018 when the list of 23 young players was published by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. Ramos had no idea he was included in the list but took it as great news nonetheless. In his quest to be the best basketball player he could be, Ramos always knew that the FIBA World Cup would be a huge part of his journey.
“The first time someone reached out to me about Gilas was to get me for the under-16 team but during that time I was not that good yet, and I needed to work harder and practice more in America,” Ramos stated.
“Next time I heard it was for the 23 for 2023 list. I was on there and I didn’t know how. But everything I was doing was geared towards that. I tried to do my best when I was in college in the US. Try to improve as much as I can but in the back of my mind, the 2023 World Cup was always there.”
Transferring to the Philippines was a move that Ramos considered and then parked for a while.
“It was difficult to leave because I already finished three years of college, and I only had one year left,” he said. “I ended up transferring to Ateneo, but I had to go back to being a freshman.”
Ramos was all set to play for Ateneo, but the pandemic delayed his UAAP debut. He had opportunities, however, to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers and that’s when he started really getting a lot of attention from the region.
In the end, the Ateneo stint never materialized as Ramos decided to forgo his one year of eligibility to sign with the Toyama Grouses in the Japanese B.League.
“I’ve been playing with the national team and we’ve been playing against pro players already. I felt like I was doing pretty well,” he shared. “I just didn’t see the need to play college anymore because college is supposed to prepare you to play professionally, and I thought I was ready already. And that was what led to my decision.”
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes has often said that Ramos is good enough to play as a guard in Europe and this current Gilas trip to Estonia and Lithuania is giving the player an opportunity to prove that to himself.
“When you’re playing teams, sometimes you just have to guard one or two players with some help. It’s a lot harder guarding European teams because there’s so much going on all over the court and it’s happening so fast,” Ramos said.
“It really tests your mind and your fundamentals, but the fact that we’re starting two months before the World Cup gives us a lot of time to work on the things we need to improve on.”
The fact that he played most of his Gilas games either in a bubble or away makes Ramos feel that he has not yet felt the full experience of hometown advantage. With the World Cup less than two months away, he’s relishing the idea of playing against the world’s best in front of the world’s best fans.
“It’s a dream come true,” Ramos closed. “It’s not every day you get to play against that level of competition and to do that in the Philippines is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
(MDB)