Norwood gets taste of world hoops stage

ASIA-BASKETby Benny Lirio - Aug 30, 2007Gabriel Norwood (196-G/F-85) helped put his high school team on the map in Pennsylvania. He then helped his college team on an unthinkable journey to the pinnacle of college basketball.Now, Norwood is trying to help a country reclaim its place in the international hoops scene. And he's having the time of his life.Who are we to doubt the former State College Area High School star who led the Little Lions to the PIAA Class AAAA title in 2003, then went on to become the career leader in games played at George Mason University, which he helped reach the NCAA Final Four in 2006?Norwood's latest challenge is currently unfolding as a member of the Philippines National Team, a squad that is in the midst of coming off a two-year ban by FIBA, basketball's world governing body.Norwood, whose mother Tiffiney is half-Filipino, now has dual citizenship and spent two months this summer overseas playing for the Philippines as the country tried to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics.The effort fell short -- the Philippines finished a distant ninth in the FIBA Asia championships -- but it hasn't soured Norwood on the opportunity to continue playing basketball at a high level."It's been a great experience seeing how basketball is played in different countries," said Norwood. "Especially, the FIBA aspect and how much pride is taken in every country with basketball."It was a humbling experience. I thought it was humbling when I was first asked but when I actually got out to the Phillipines and saw how crazy the whole culture was about basketball and how badly the whole country wanted to qualify for the Olympics, my (humility) kicked up even more."The seed for Norwood playing overseas was planted last summer when he was a member of the Athletes in Action touring team that spent two weeks in the basketball-mad Philippines."They caught wind I had Filippino blood," Norwood said. "I don't know how seriously it was taken last summer when our guide was saying that I should try to come back and play with the national team or at least come back and play pro ball."From there, one of the Filippino assistant coaches kept in contact with Norwood's father, Brian, and when George Mason was eliminated from its conference tournament last March, arrangements were made for Norwood to join the national team in Los Angeles, where it was training."I didn't have Friday classes so I flew out for a tryout," Norwood said. "It ended up going pretty well and they invited me back."Before joining the national team, Norwood took another trip with Athletes in Action, this time to Prague. The trip caused him to miss his graduation ceremony at George Mason -- he earned a degree in journalism.After returning from Europe, Norwood had 10 days before he flew to Belgrade, Serbia, to join the national team for several friendly games against pro teams there. Then in July, it was on to the William Jones Cup in Taiwan where Norwood helped the Philippines to a 5-4 record and a third-place finish.The tournament was a warmup for the FIBA Asia championships in Japan, an event the Philippines have won five times. Placed in a group with China, Iran and Jordan, the Philippines opened with a loss to eventual champion Iran before beating China. A loss to Jordan squashed the Philippines' hopes of advancing.In six games at the tournament, Norwood averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and shot 48.8 percent from the floor. He says being eliminated so early was hard to swallow."Basically, halfway through the tournament we knew we weren't going to qualify for the Olympics," he said. "We didn't make it out of our pool. We were basically three days into the tournament and all the work we had put it was over with. It was definitely something that hit the whole team hard, including myself."Norwood's game hasn't changed all that much. He can still play three positions and he has always been able to handle himself at the defensive end."His value is beyond his statistics," national team coach Chot Reyes told the Philippine Daily Inquirer after Norwood poured in 23 points in the victory over India at the FIBA Asia championships.Norwood said he had a workout with the Utah Jazz this summer but it was nothing more than that. His best pro prospects appear to be in the Philippines, where news reports are touting him as the potential first overall pick in next year's Philippine Basketball Association draft. The same reports say some franchises are working on possible trades to acquire the first pick in order to secure a shot at Norwood.Norwood is set to return to the Philippines next month to play in the Southeast Asia Games. From there, he doesn't know what the future holds. More basketball, he hopes."I'm keeping my options open but as of right now," he said, "I'm not 100 percent sure where I'll end up."Todd Ceisner /CENTRE DAILY