After a first qualifying window in Chihuahua, coach Omar Quintero is already thinking about what is coming for the Mexican basketball team and the dream of qualifying for the World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The Mexican Basketball Sports Association (ADEMEBA) and the National Teams Project revealed the pre-selection list for the second window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 qualifiers, with visits from Mexico to Havana and Washington in February.
Coach Omar Quintero selected 25 players, a list that will have to be reduced to 14 elements on February 14, as a deadline imposed by FIBA. The games will be against Cuba and the United States in their respective capitals.
The list includes young talents who are being considered for the first time, such as Santiago Camacho, Iván Bernal, Josué Lara and Víctor Valdés; In addition, players considered in the first window in Chihuahua return, such as Orlando Méndez, Gabriel Giron Jr., Fabián Jaimes and Daniel Amigo.
The complete list of 25 players is made up of Paul Stoll, Jorge Gutiérrez, Alex Pérez, Orlando Méndez, Kohl Meyer, Moisés Andrassi, Santiago Camacho, Francisco Cruz, José Estrada, Iván Bernal, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gabriel Girón Jr., Jaime Jáquez Jr., Josué Lara, Eduardo Girón, Víctor Valdés, Gael Bonilla, Irwin Ávalos, Fabián Jaimes, Jonatan Machado, Jorge Camacho, Edgar Garibay, Daniel Amigo, Israel Gutiérrez and Kelvin Jones.
In the case of Juan Toscano (Golden State Warriors in the NBA) and Jaime Jáquez Jr. (UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference of university basketball), it is difficult for them to attend the matches against Cuba and the United States due to their commitments in his leagues, but he contemplates them in his future project, in addition to other players who have not entered this call, such as Juan Pablo Camargo, Jorge Moreno, Esteban Roacho Amador, Bryan Ceballos, Santiago Ochoa and Isa Silva
On January 14, the FIBA Americas Regional Office stated that the usual round-trip format will be used for Groups B and D, but Mexico will be visitors in both, since they were host in the first window and played their two home games in bubble format, so they will travel to Havana to play against Cuba on February 24, while they will go against the United States on the 27th of the same month.
The 12 Warriors come from beating Puerto Rico and the United States at the Manuel Bernardo Aguirre Gymnasium in Chihuahua, placing with a record of 2-0; It will be the second of six qualifying windows for the 2023 World Cup.
The first three qualifying windows will face the teams twice with their Group rivals, so that the best three advance to the next phase against other countries of the continent, but keeping the points achieved, so winning from the beginning will be essential to go for qualifying for the World Cup. There are 16 countries that are fighting for seven tickets for the international fair.
