A Look at China's 7-footers: Li Muhao

With Yao Ming's retirement from the National Basketball Association and Chinese National Basketball Team, Wang Zhizhi aging fast, and Sun Mingming turning out to be a bust, China's next crop of big men can actually provide ample replacements way past Yi Jianlian's basketball career. This blog is the first of a series of posts about China's young big men that will provide readers a glimpse of the headaches to come for the Philippine national basketball team as well as other Asian teams trying to gain Asian basketball supremacy.

7'2" Li Muhao
Born June 2, 1992 at Dongguan, Guangdong Province

Li Muhao was introduced to the world at the 2009 Nike Global Challenge in Portland, Oregon when he was 17. Although not bulky at 100 kilograms, he is among the heftier 7-footers from China who are mostly severely underweight. He played for China in the 2011 FIBA U19 Championships in Latvia where he averaged 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per outing.

In a three-game series against the Duke Blue Devils, Li averaged 16 points and 5.5 rebounds, shooting 62.5% from the field and 54.5% from free throws in the two games he was fielded.

Aside from a 7'5" wingspan, Li has a maximum vertical leap of 36.4 inches. He can hit the perimeter jumper, excels in the fastbreak game as he has above average quickness and ball handling skills for his size.

19-Year-Old Argentine Seeks Philippine Basketball Scholarship

A 19-year-old Argentinian is seeking a basketball scholarship in the Philippines. So far the option for the 6'5" forward include UAAP's UST Growling Tigers and CeSAFI schools University of San Carlos and University of the Visayas. Following is a video highlight of his game:

Tall Order for Philippine Under-16 Team in Vietnam

The Energen Pilipinas Under-16 Youth Basketball Team will be facing a tall order in the 2nd FIBA Asia Under-16 Championships in Nha Thrang, Vietnam on October 18-28, 2011. Mainstays Gideon Babilonia(6'5"), Gelo Vito(6'4"), Radge Tongco and Arvin Tolentino(6'3") have not been released by their schools severely depleting the Philippine frontline. 6'5" reserve center George Isaac Go has been elevated to man the post for the Philippines. While the Philippines is in a lighter bracket in the first round, they stand to face the taller squads of India, China, Lebanon, South Korea and Iran in the later phases of the tournament. China boasts of a line-up that includes four players taller than 6'8" with no player under 6'1". They are bannered by 7'1" Zhou Qi and 6'11" Pan Ning. There's shortest player is 6'1" point guard Zhou Jiwei. India has 7'1" Satnam Singh Bhamara, Lebanon has 6'9" Yaacoub Al Agha, South Korea has 6'8" Park Intae, and Uzbekistan has 7'1" Ruslan Bokhodirov.

Philippines Under-16 Youth Basketball Team head coach Olsen Racela plans to counter the opposition's height advantage with quickness. Following is the final roster for the Philippine Under-16 team that will compete in Vietnam:

5'9" Rodolfo Alejandro III

6'3" Michael Jay Javelosa

6'5" George Isaac Go

6'0" Tomas Gabriel Ramos

6'2" Rashleigh Paolo Rivero

5'8" Anhubert Angelo Cani

5'11" Joshua Nicholas Dalafu

5'7" Adven Jess Diputado

5'7" Joshua Andrei Caracut

5'10" Kyles Jefferson Lao

5'7" Renzar Henry Asilum

6'1" Jordan Timothy Heading