ALLAN THE MAN

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes believes the Philippine national basketball team deserves to be higher than No. 31 in the latest edition of the FIBA World Rankings (READ STORY HERE), especially after its performances in the past three FIBA tournaments.

Gilas rose three spots to No. 31 after their historic run in the FIBA World Cup in Spain. The news came just before the team is set to leave for Incheon, South Korea to play in the Asian Games.

"We're happy that we climbed the rankings, but to be very honest, I don't know why Korea had a bigger climb than us," Reyes told reporters Tuesday night ahead of Gilas' send-off party at the Araneta Center.

South Korea climbed four spots to No. 27.

"We placed better than Korea in the last three FIBA tournaments," Reyes reminded. "So I'm disappointed with the three-place increase, to be honest with you."

"I felt we deserved to be higher-ranked than 31."

Reyes acknowledged that FIBA "has its reasons for that ranking," but cannot help but wonder why Korea continues to be ranked higher than the Philippines when Gilas "placed better than them in the FIBA Asia last year."

"We (also) placed better than them in the FIBA Asia Cup, and we definitely placed better than them in last FIBA Worlds," said the coach. "So I'm not happy at all with that only three-rank improvement."

Asked if the meager rise in rankings will help motivate Gilas when they play in Incheon, Reyes stressed that the team "never" plays for the rankings.

"We play for pride, we play for the country, and we pay for our families," he said. "The rankings are secondary for us. We don't think of that."

Follow @AllanTheManBlog Follow @allanistheman11