Norwood not joining RP team?

Malaya
Monday, October 8, 2007

Up to this date, the Philippine basketball team preparing for the Southeast Asian Games has not received word if Fil-Am guard Gabe Norwood will be playing for the country or not.

RP-Harbour Centre head coach Junel Baculi told The STAR that the latest word he received regarding the 6’5” sixth man from George Mason University was an e-mail forwarded by Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas executive director Patrick Gregorio.

“It was forwarded to me Friday, and it was from Norwood’s father, Brian,” Baculi elaborated. “He said that they were happy he was picked by Hapee in the draft, and that they were going to visit the Philippines.”

Baculi added that the message did not confirm if Norwood was playing or not.

Norwood, who helped George Mason to the NCAA Final Four in 2005 before visiting the Philippines with the Athletes in Action last year, played with the Philippine team in the FIBA-Asia tournament in Tokushima, Japan, three months ago. He had previously expressed willingness to play both in the PBL and SEA Games in Thailand in December, but has since been vague about the latter commitment for some unexplained reason.

Nevertheless, Baculi said he would be glad to have Norwood on the team.

“We would be more than happy to accommodate him, but I wish he would get here sooner than later,” Baculi emphasized.

The RP-Harbour Centre team leaves for Korea on Wednesday for a series of scrimmages against top commercial teams there. – Bill Velasco