Bermuda men’s basketball coach Sullivan Phillips is targeting a spot in the play-offs at the Fiba AmeriCup 2029 Caribbean pre-qualifiers in Georgetown, Guyana.

Drawn in group A, Bermuda face Antigua & Barbuda on Wednesday, Turks & Caicos on Friday, Guyana on Saturday and Dominica on Sunday.

At the end of the group matches, the top two in each pool will proceed to the knockout phase.

“We're in a decent group and our expectations are to make it to the knockout round,” Phillips told The Royal Gazette.

“That’s the minimum; there’s no question of that. Or goal is to get there and we're looking to compete for a medal.

“That's what our guys understand the challenge is. In tournaments like this, there's always a chance to win, but you also have to be realistic.”

Phillips, who is based in Maryland, met the players in Guyana on Monday. Assistant coach Gavin MacKenzie and team manager Tim Trott have been doing most of the coaching for players based on island.

“Coaches Trott and McKenzie have been working primarily with the bulk of the team,” the coach said.

“We meet a couple of times a week and we talk about strategy. We talk about different things, to make sure everybody’s on the same page.

“We’ve been meeting along the way with them to talk about expectations and stuff. They’re fairly familiar with what we want to do, but obviously there’s always fine-tuning the last so we’ll be doing that.

“Most of these discussions have been online. Virtual, a lot of film, looking back at what we’ve done in the past, just trying to reincorporate what our habits look like, what we want to do as a team.

“On island, we have seven guys and the rest are abroad. That’s what makes it challenging, but it’s just a part of the process.

“Nobody has all the guys on island at this tournament. Most of the guys are from away or going to school in America, so we all face the same challenge.”

With no big stars in the side, Phillips is counting on the team working as a unit. “Honestly, we don’t have what you can call a big-name player,” the coach added.

“This is a unique group that has a lot of good players. We have some players that are abroad in college, but we don’t have a big-name player that we’re going to call upon. “This is a group that will leave everything on the court and win together. I think we have a great chance of doing well.

“The captain for the team is Jalen Williams and Caelin Peters. Those are our two leaders going into the tournament.”