The Fiba Asia U18 Championship kicks off this Sunday in Nonthaburi, Thailand with our very own Batang Gilas youth squad among the teams to watch.

The Filipinos, in fact, are among the favorites in the biennial tourney where the top four teams will qualify in the Fiba U19 World Cup next year.

The last time a Filipino team qualified in the U19 World Cup was way back in 1979. The last time it ruled in the U18 level on Asia was more than three decades ago in 1982.

At that time, the RP Youth squad was headlined by the likes of Hector Calma, Leo Austria, Elmer Reyes and current Gilas Pilipinas assistant coach Jong Uichico.

The Philippine U18 team also missed the podium for more than two decades and last finished with a medal in 1992. That U18 team beat Japan in the battle for bronze, 103-74, led by Rodney Santos, Patrick Fran and Arnold Gamboa.

Since then, the highest finish by a U18 Philippine team was 5th place in 2010 and 2014.

Philippine Basketball Association players Kiefer Ravena, Troy Rosario, Kevin Ferrer and Jeron Teng bannered the 2010 squad while current collegiate standouts Kobe Paras, Aaron Black, Paul Desiderio and Leonard Santillan starred for the 2014 team.

Our recent history of falling short at the U18 level deepened our hunger for a breakthrough generation and it certainly seems like this 2018 batch of Batang Gilas may just be what we all have been waiting for.

With an average height of 6-foot-4, the 2018 batch is not exactly the tallest in the coming Fiba Asia U18 joust, but with four players standing 6-foot-7 or taller, this is definitely the tallest U18 Filipino team we have ever fielded.

The twin tower tandem of 7-foot-1 Kai Sotto of Ateneo and 6-foot-11 AJ Edu of University of Toledo will lead the charge while 6-foot-8 Geo Chiu of Ateneo and 6-foot-7 Raven Cortez of De La Salle-Zobel will serve as backups in a frontcourt combo that most PBA teams would give the world to have. To see them playing together in the Asian level is going to be a treat for Filipino fans.

They actually could have been bigger if not for an injury-grounding 6-foot-7 Carl Tamayo of National University and eligibility issues hounding 6-foot-10 Filipino-American prospect Quentin Millora-Brown of Rice University.

The team’s playmaking, meanwhile, will be hinged on the stellar play of Filipino-Italian Dalph Panopio, who learned to play at the renowned Stellazzurra Basketball Academy in Rome.

The 6-foot-1 Panopio has been one of the most sought-after young Filipino-foreign prospects the past couple of years and many are excited that he will finally debut for the Philippines this year.

The other members of the team that will be mentored by newly-minted head coach Josh Reyes are Far Eastern University’s Xyrus Torres, San Beda University’s Rhayyan Amsali, University of Santo Tomas’ Bismarck Lina and a host of players from National University Miguel Oczon, Gerry Abadiano, Joshua Ramirez and Dave Ildefonso.

The squad is drawn in Group B of the competition together with China, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

China is the continent’s winningest U18 team with 11 gold medals, Lebanon was the champion of the West Asia Qualifiers and the UAE placed second in the Gulf U18 Qualifiers.

China has the highest Fiba Boys’ Ranking in the group at No. 12 in the world, with the Philippines ranked No. 34, Lebanon ranked No. 43 and UAE ranked No. 82.

Given their size, depth and experience with Edu and Amsali playing in the Fiba U18 3×3 World Cup last year, there are five holdovers from the team that played in the 2018 Fiba U17 World Cup and Ildefonso played in the 2015 Fiba U16 Asia Championship. Batang Gilas is one of the top-billed teams in the tourney, carrying lofty expectations and implicit promises of making it to the Fiba U19 World Cup next year.

Can this be the “golden generation” many Filipino fans have been praying for?

That is the major challenge for this team.