Dwight Ramos feels extremely elated with his inclusion in Gilas Pilipinas’ deep 24-man talent pool made for the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers set to commence later this February.
The 20-year-old is the youngest member of the “hybrid” pool — made up of the country’s best players from the collegiate ranks, reinforced by 11 PBA cagers.
“I was really happy getting picked for this pool. Hopefully getting picked for future events as well,” said Ramos moments after Gilas’ practice, Thursday at the Moro Lorenzo Gym in Katipunan, Quezon City.
The 6-foot-5 swingman is very much a part of the Gilas program moving forward. Back in 2018, he was named to the pool tailored for the 2023 World Cup — the pool more known as 23 for ’23.
But Ramos has only now started to work with the national team, since he and his brother Eli only arrived in the Philippines early last year after committing to Ateneo de Manila.
For Dwight, he never had an idea back then when will they set foot in the country. But now, the former Cal State-Fullerton member feels happy with how things have panned out.
“Back when I got named for that first list, I was like… I didn’t know when I could come to the Philippines,” he said.
“But when my brother graduated high school and we’re looking into coming to Ateneo, like… Okay, this is the time we can come to the Philippines and then start getting into everything with the Gilas,” he continued.
“So when I saw my name on the list again, I was really happy. Coming today, just seeing the jersey, being able to put it on, it just feels good — it’s like a dream come true.”
Now, Ramos is keen on making the most out of this stint. One of his goals is learning from the PBA players to gain a better understanding of the Filipino style of play.
“With me still having two years left playing for Ateneo, getting to learn from the PBA players before the UAAP season… It’s pretty big for me so I can learn more from them how the Filipino style of basketball is compared to with how I’m used to.”
