KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran's AsiaScope) - A few facts first. Iran, the Philippines and Korea are all deserving representatives of FIBA Asia at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup to be played in Spain from Aug 30-Sept 14. No two opinions on this indisputable matter.

But... none of the three have done anything spectacular at the next level on the international stage. This too is an unfortunately incontrovertible reality.

The next eight weeks will see these three teams strive hard to enhance the first fact and end the second.

But how?

The roads that lay ahead for the coaches of all three teams lead to the same hill, but each is peppered with its own hurdles and trials.

And each coach will need to break away from the traditional way of thinking, questioning each traditional fact at every step - in the exact manner that Rene Descartes propounded his test of methodic doubt and pronounced Corgito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am).

On the face of it, Iran's Memi Becirovic is spoilt for choice - to choose from the abundant talent available at his disposal. But let's not forget this has been the case and yet Iran hasn't made a mark on the international scene. There comes the need to dispute the traditional fact.

Philippines' Chot Reyes is at the helm of what is arguably the most dynamic domestic structure in the entire basketball world, yet it has taken almost four decades for the country to reach the international stage. Again, something certainly not right with the traditional way of thinking.

Korea's Yoo Jae-Hak has the support of one of the most organized league structures in FIBA Asia, but unlike the first two, is plagued by injury worries to many of his mainstays. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I have to state that Korea too needs some out-of-the-box thinking to achieve what they need.

Of course, each step along the way, there will be more than necessary and desired detractors who will advise the coaches to bog them down. But then the key factor for the coaches to remember is that on the court - the most important part of the exercise - it's just the team that takes the brunt. Therefore, it would serve them well to chart their course before they enter the court as well.

The detractors - euphemistically calling themselves advisors - have their own agenda attached to every word they speak, for or against the coaches and teams. These are exactly the ones who leave failure to be an orphan. What use then is there for these 'advisors'?

My point is: everything depends and revolves around what you do on the court. It might as well be you that decides what you do there.

Becirovic and Reyes surely have an advantage over Yoo Jae-Hak in playing a serious international competition to tip off their preparations - the 5th FIBA Asia Cup to be played in Wuhan, China from July 11-19 - but sticking to the traditional way of thinking will only retrench the possibilities of taking the entire exercise to the next level.

The bottom line for Iran, the Philippines and Korea over the next two months is simple and straightforward: you are at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup because you deserve and belong there. The point is to start believing in it yourself!

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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