Gilas OQT preps are in full swing

Who's joining Blatche?
(Photo credit: FIBA.com)

The month of May is almost coming to an end, which leaves Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin less than 50 days to trim down his 24-man pool to about 13-14 players.

From the PBA we have: Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Ranidel de Ocampo, Ryan Reyes, Mo Tautuaa, Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario, L. A. Tenorio, Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, Marcio Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Paul Lee, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, and Marc Pingris.

From the amateur ranks we have Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Ferrer, Mac Belo, R. R. Pogoy, Russell Escoto and, fresh from his stint in the NBA D-League, Bobby Parks, Jr.

Slaughter and Rosser have already formally begged off from Gilas OQT duty owing to injuries, Tautuaa is no longer needed as Blatche is on his way back to serve as our naturalized reinforcement, while most of the amateurs have been sent to secure the SEABA gold medal: Ferrer, Belo, Pogoy and Escoto with PBA rookie Troy Rosario in tow.

Oh, hey, look! We were able to trim down the roster to 15 (16 if you count Blatche who is a lock):

Praying for the best

Our only concern here is,
Pingris, Fajardo, Aguilar AND Slaughter
are all playing HEAVY  minutes this conference
(Photo credit to the owner)

Just a quick update on our Gilas Pilipinas 17-man pool for the Olympic Qualifiers:

Ranidel de Ocampo is out recovering from a near-serious injury. Ian Sangalang has been absent from majority (if not all) of the team's only Monday practices. Paul Lee is still out. L.A. Tenorio for the most part of his PBA run this season, has been off. Collegiate standout and 2x UAAP MVP Kiefer Ravena has officially been added to the pool.

That makes three guys who will have to make up for lost time should they wish to rejoin the group, another guy who seems to be having some trouble getting back to top form and a young blood who fits the bill to a "T" as far as a well-rounded, highly-skilled national player is concerned, but in our honest opinion is probably NOT the guy we wanted to add right now.