Gilas Pilipinas moves two places up in FIBA ranking

Gilas Pilipinas climbed two spots above the latest FIBA ranking to remain the eighth-best team in the Asia Pacific region on Friday, September 15.

The Philippines improved to 38th globally after finishing the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in 24th place of 32 squads.

Led by Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson, the nationals defeated China in their last assignment to finish the quadrennial meet with a 1-4 win-loss record and win a World Cup game in nine years.

Aside from the Philippines, Asian rivals Japan, Lebanon, and Jordan rose in the ranking.

Japan's Akatsuki Five, directly qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as the best-performing Asian team in the World Cup, leapfrogged 11 notches to 26th place. The Japanese cagers listed a 3-2 slate, featuring back-to-back come-from-behind victories against Lauren Markkanen's Finland and Venezuela after trailing by a double-digit deficit.

The Cedars of Lebanon hiked 16 places above to 28th after tallying two wins for the first time in 17 years since the 2006 World Cup. The Lebanese side defeated Ivory Coast and Iran in the 17th-32nd classification round after a 0-3 group stage campaign.

Spearheaded by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jordan's Super Falcons moved from 33rd to 32nd despite a 0-5 outing in the global showpiece.

Meanwhile, Iran and China slid to the ranking a little. The Iranians fell to 27th from 23rd, while the Chinese dropped to 29th from 28th.

World Cup tenth placer Australia maintained its position as the best nation from the merged Asia-Oceania region despite dropping to fourth place from the third spot. The Boomers failed to advance to the final round after finishing third in Group K, alongside eventual winner Germany, Luka Doncic's Slovenia, and Georgia.

Fellow Oceanian country New Zealand bettered to 21st from 27th, thanks to a 22nd place finish in the basketball extravaganza.

On the other hand, South Sudan is now the highest-ranked Afrobasket team after leaping 32 places to reach 31st in the world. The Bright Stars caught the attention of many around the globe by securing a maiden Olympic berth in their first-ever World Cup appearance since joining FIBA in 2013.

Following South Sudan are Ivory Coast and Angola, which both registered 1-4 tallies, at 33rd and 34th, respectively.

Latvia is the second-best climber in the ranking, moving 22 places to enter the top 10 at the eighth spot. The Latvians finished fifth in their World Cup debut even without key player and NBA superstar Kristaps Porzingis.

Despite settling for fourth place, the United States of America reclaimed the top spot from now second-ranked Spain, which ended up ninth in the final FIBA World Cup standing.

Commandeered by tournament Most Valuable Player Dennis Schroder, first-time World Cup champion Germany entered the top at third place.

Silver medalist Serbia gained a spot higher to rank fifth as previous 15th-ranked Canada propelled to sixth place after a bronze finish – the North Americans' first medal in its basketball program history.