MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - Chinese Taipei's men's national team has enjoyed several milestones over the past two years.

At the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, they defeated continental rivals Philippines on the latter's home court and proceeded to upset the defending champions China in the Quarter-Finals. The team eventually finished in the tournament's top four for the first time since 1999.

A year later, at the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup, Chinese Taipei surprised a lot of people when taking second place and doing so without many of the top players. It was the country's highest finish in that particular competition's history.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the team is surely looking to build on those previous successes and mark even more milestones this summer, including at the FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China (23 September-3 October), which serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

With the domestic league long finished and national team members playing abroad already back home, the time is ripe for the squad to begin preparations in earnest. One roadblock, however, is the coach, or, to be more accurate, the lack of one.

Super Basketball League (SBL) champion and veteran national team coach Hsu Chin-Tse was supposed to be the default choice this year, but health reasons have forced him to step down.

Tapped to replace him was former national team player and coach Chou Jun-San, but, just recently, he too backed out due to other prior commitments.

Right now there is a void in coaching, but the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) has not rested on its laurels, offering the position to other top-level tacticians like Huang Wan-Lung of the Dacin Tigers and Yan Chia-Hua of Taiwan Beer.

Regardless of who the coach is going to be, however, he will have a rich and deep pool of players from which he can pluck his dirty dozen.

Going by the national team's past few iterations, it's reasonable to assume that the 2015 Chinese Taipei national pool will strike a balance between veterans and youngsters. Iconic players like Tseng Wen-Ting, Tien Lei, Lin Chih-Chieh, Lee Hsueh-Lin and Tsai Wen-Cheng are sure to figure prominently, as their expertise and experience are gems that the national team can certainly not do without.

All of those players have had significant roles in the past 10 years for the national team, playing even through the dark ages when the squad landed at its lowest-ever finish - 11th place at the 2003 FIBA Asia Championship in Harbin, China. Apart from that year, however, the national team has enjoyed a healthy level of success in Asia, finishing among the continent's top eight teams in the last four editions of the continental championship.

One of the main reasons for the team's consistently strong performance is prominent swingman Lin Chih-Chieh, who has become one of the best players in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship after averaging 10.7 points, 4.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Lin battled through injury for most of 2014, but he is much healthier now and is expected to continue being the team's chief playmaker.

Aside from Lin, the twin tower combination of Tseng Wen-Ting and Tien Lei is also pinned to be among this team's bulwarks. Tseng is considered one of the continent's most versatile big men, able to attack opposing defenses as a low post scoring threat or sublime passing big man. Tien, meanwhile, is a match-up nightmare as his size and three-point shooting make him very difficult to guard for more traditional frontliners in the region.

Aside from these seasoned cagers, though, Chinese Taipei will also look to their young players as they hope to beef up the roster for the future. Some of the country's sharpest young guns are Liu Cheng , Hu Long-Mao, Chen Ying-Chun and Chou Po-Chen.

Among these, the one who is definitely on the verge of stardom is Liu, who was the MVP of the 2013-2014 SBL season. In 2015, he achieved a higher level of success by leading his club, Taiwan Beer, to the SBL Finals, and he is expected to elevate his game even further for the FIBA Asia Championship.

Liu's shining moment actually came at last year's FIBA Asia Cup, where he was the biggest reason for his team finishing second right behind Iran. In that joust, Liu impressed by putting up 15.5 points, 3.8 steals, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest.

On the heels of a series of landmark successes, Chinese Taipei have definitely set themselves up for higher expectations this year. Whether they will actually meet (or exceed) them is highly dependent on the balance of veteran leadership and youthful energy on their team and how soon they can begin serious preparations.

If everything falls into place, nobody should be surprised if this team makes even more waves in 2015.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

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