MANILA, 22 August 2003 — It could well be the missing piece in his long list of basketball titles.
Joel Banal, who steered Talk ‘N’ Text to the Philippine Basketball association (PBA) All-Filipino Cup championship last month, is hoping he could coach a national team in the prestigious Asian Games.
The 45-year-old bench taskmaster knows it pretty well the mission to win back the regional crown for the Filipinos is like scaling the Mt. Improbable yet he wants a shot at it anyway.
Considered the new darling of Philippine basketball owing to his growing collection of titles in just about every level, Banal believes the Filipino cagers - given proper motivation, support and preparations - could one day reclaim hardcourt supremacy in Asia.
“I’d like to coach the Philippine team in the Asian Games,” said Banal. “If given a chance, I might be able to succeed (winning back the Asiad gold).”
He gave the Phone Pals their first-ever basketball crown that ended seven years and a 21-conference futility for the franchise dating back to its days as Pepsi in 1990. Led by 6-foot-9 Paul Asi Taulava, the Phone Pals defeated the Coca-Cola Tigers in the finals.
The Phone Pals fought back from a 0-2 deficit in the series to win the title, 4-2, racking up four straight victories. Only two other teams in the 28-year history of the PBA had managed to turn the trick, that is losing the first two games and then going on to bag the title. For his feats, he became only the second coach to win titles in the PBA, PBL, UAAP and NCAA (the first being Arturo Valenzona).
He has won championships in just about every level in Philippine basketball — Universities Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP), Natioinal Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and Philippine Basketball League (PBL, among other leagues. After accomplishing his mission for the Phone Pals, Banal enhanced his status as the newest toast of Philippines basketball coaching. But make no mistake about it, life for Banal does not stop after winning a PBA championship.
Now, Banal is setting his sights on loftier goal: the Asian Games in Qatar in 2006.
“Several great coaches have tried to give the Philippines an Asian title the past many years and none has succeeded,” said Banal.
Past coaches in the PBA who handled the national team but failed in their respective missions to win the Asiad gold include Robert Jaworski, Tim Cone, Norman Black and Jong Uichico.
“I want to give it a try. Who knows? I may just succeed,” Banal said.
Since 1990, the PBA has represented the country in the Asiad, with the Jaworski-mentored squad capturing the silver medal behind China in the 1990 Beijing Games.
The league, however, has yet to make a commitment for the 2006 Qatar Asiad.
Banal’s track record speaks volumes of his capability to coach a national team to the Asiad. Last year, he piloted the Ateneo Blue Eagles to the title in the UAAP - the crown came at the expense of arch-rival La Salle - and made Hapee-Ateneo the first rookie team to win a PBL title in the Challenge Cup.
