SAN JUAN (William Rosario's Somewhere in the Americas) - This column is usually dominated by topics on the elite teams from the Americas. There’s always Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela and the United States. But I’m in Colombia this week for Group D of the 2015 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas and it got me thinking about the new competition system that will be launched two years from now and those other teams that I don’t talk enough about.

What is happening with our game in those countries?

In the Americas, the magic number being thrown out there in terms of that new competition system is 16. That means that sixteen teams will make up the qualification cycle for the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Some people think it will not be easy to find those last four maybe five teams, but I disagree. My thought is that the hardest moment every year will be leaving out those two or three that don’t make the cut. 

And I say four or five because I’m jumping off of the premise that for the FIBA Americas Championship there are always 10 teams that suit up to compete at the highest level in our continent. There are those nine (including USA, who’s never there and Uruguay who always is) that consistently make it to the continental tournament. And then there are those satellite teams that might be there depending on the timing of the talent of that year’s generation, organization of the national federation, and quite frankly…luck. 

Those teams are: Cuba, Panama, Paraguay, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands; always competitive and with good player resources, but tragically lacking in a cohesive national structure that allow them to be consistently there.

Then there are those that are never there but that you can see maybe entering the picture if you take into account economics, country’s infrastructure and genetics.

Colombia is the number one prime example of that last one. To come here is to realize the sadness of not having the country be a part of the big dance. This is a country that has huge economically solvent and eager to invest corporations, more than six or seven impressive basketball coliseums and a genetically inclined ready to play the game makeup.

To roam the streets of any Colombian “departamento” (state), is to see tall, strong, athletically gifted citizens just walking the streets. They just have suffered from years and years of erroneous basketball leadership in the national federation level. But there’s a league that’s making strides in the country, and that has good sponsorship behind it. To be in that new competition system might help in forcing them to get their act together to host national team games in the country.

Then there’s Chile and Ecuador who might end up on the out side looking in due to the same situation. They have some kind of traction, Chile due to the fact that they have assimilated the Argentinean style and know how to play the game and Ecuador due to the fact that they have moved forward thanks to their continuous participation in the international club competitions.

So we are talking about eight teams competing for six spots. The qualification system for 2017 hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the talk goes to having the 2016 Centrobasket and South American Championship serve as qualifiers for the cycle.

If that is true, that 2016 summer basketball season promises to be a fight to the finish. There might be some huge upsets, some teams that one expects to be there, ending up eliminated and missing a competitive window. A lot at stake. FIBA Basketball at its best. 

William Rosario

FIBA

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