THERE CAN TRULY BE ONLY ONE

by Rey D. Gamboa

The last phase of Philippine Collegiate Championship League (PCCL), the “Sweet5 16” Finals, is ongoing, and soon, a new champion will be crowned. We can expect full-packed venues in the next playing dates as the best among the best of the collegiate teams in the country meet head-on in do-or-die matches to capture the title, Philippine Collegiate Champion, held last year by De La Salle University Green Archers.

Now on its seventh year, the manner by which the PCCL games are conducted has undergone major changes that I believe will lead to a stronger league. Thanks to the full support being provided by the main sponsors, PLDT and SMART, and others such as ABS-CBN Network, Molten Balls, Coke, Philippine Star and PAGCOR-Sports.

Whereas in the past, participation in the knock-out Sweet 16 games was largely invitational, many of the qualified teams in the zonals prior to the Sweet 16 round are now products of knock-out matches held in the many regions of the country.

This year, I made it a point to go around and visit some of the regional and zonal elimination games – and to talk with the people who make college basketball in the regions outside of Metro Manila what it is now.

Uneven levels

Admittedly, there are still huge discrepancies in the level of play even among teams at the zonal levels. And this is one observation that is shared even by the basketball team managers of the small colleges and universities.

For sure, however, a good basketball team is the product of a supportive college or university management or owner, and/or a local government. West Negros University in Negros Occidental is a good example of the former, while the Western Leyte College is a product of a well-supported city government athletic program.

Both of the mentioned teams managed to get to the regional finals, but only the WNU Mustangs slipped through to the zonals. WNU is known to have a relatively strong basketball program largely through the generosity and support of Tony Agustin, who is also part-owner of the team and the school.

WNU, even after losing its star player to the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, is an example of a traditionally strong team that continues to draw fear in the regional matches. But when faced with other top ranked teams in the zonal matches, it failed to advance to the Sweet 16 ring.

Commitment continues

Despite the losses, teams like WNU and Adamson University that did not make it to the final round, now look forward next year to make a comeback. On the other hand, teams like the Ateneo de Davao or the University of Baguio are setting their sights on hurdling next year’s regional matches to get to the zonals.

As coach Leo Austria of the Adamson Soaring Falcons aptly observed, collegiate teams are now putting the PCCL in their athletic calendars, and looking at the collegiate championship games as another milestone after wrapping up their own league’s calendar.

Thus, even if it meant taking a trip to the provinces, the De La Salle University Green Archers, the Mapua Cardinals, the Arellano University Chiefs and Adamson’s Falcons played against the winners of “lesser” mother leagues. Adamson and DLSU are both with the UAAP, while Mapua and AU are with the NCAA.

Exposure

For teams like the University of Nueva Caceres, even if it failed to get into the zonals, playing against DLSU was a great opportunity to learn about better basketball.

In fact, giving provincial teams the chance to match up against the stronger Manila teams has become a welcome opportunity to scrutinize and compare each one’s athletic programs, and to improve on the physical conditioning regimen of players or the skills of coaches.

Equally important is the air time that ABS-CBN is giving the regional games, even if the game is aired at a later time. The PCCL is now another step being taken by the television network to help promote and develop collegiate basketball nationwide.

ABS-CBN, which covers the UAAP and NCAA games, shares the PCCL’s goal of giving more exposure to provincial champion teams, and hopefully, to motivate them to upgrading their own respective competitiveness.

Out-of-town games

If more teams are suiting up for the PCCL zonal and final games, cities like Cebu, Naga, Ormoc, Davao, Bacolod and Dagupan are realizing there is value in hosting PCCL games.

This year, Ormoc City – with the full support of Mayor Eric Codilla – broke ground by hosting the first-ever out-of-town Sweet 16 match. The proud city warmly welcomed the teams of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, University of Sto. Tomas, Jose Rizal University and University of San Carlos.

As PCCL winds down this year’s league, it is looking forward to next year – and even succeeding ones – to further strengthen collegiate basketball in the country.