Mayhem in Manila
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ANY doubts about the quality of play in this year’s Collegiate National Championship have to be shipped out of Manila.
The country’s capital city can now lay claim to the reality that it has witnessed the best brand of college ball the nation has to offer. Despite some schools opting to skip the annual tournament for announced (Letran) or rather vague (De La Salle and UE) reasons, the level of play has been nothing but superb.
Let’s begin with the squads that literally flew into Manila to sow mayhem. Ex-Philippine Basketball Association sniper Boy Cabahug’s University of the Visayas Green Lancers, for instance, aren’t the biggest strangers on the country’s basketball map. But nonetheless, the school that made an immovable force out of current Alaska Ace JR Quiñahan was never tipped to strike it big in this year’s affair.
Hypothetically, the top-seeded DLSU Green Archers could have impeded the Lancers’ progress. The absence of the current UAAP champions, however, should not be taken against their counterparts from the Cebu Sports Association Foundation Inc., particularly with the way the Lancers demolished their opposition. After drubbing the Lyceum Pirates by 21, UV took apart the University of Mindanao Wildcats by 20.
UV’s stellar play has been spearheaded by 6’11� Greg Slaughter, a promising recruit who’s got pro teams buzzing. Much of the offensive load, though, has been shouldered by off-guard Ritchum Dennison and polished inside operator Rino Berame, who’s averaging a double-double in points and rebounds. These three players all have the potential to follow in Quiñahan’s footsteps and make it big in the Philippine hoops scene.
Outside the glamour of the NCAA and UAAP but within the confines of the National Capital Region are the STI Olympians. Seeded a lowly 13th after copping the NAASCU plum, the Olympians may have benefited from the Red Warriors’ withdrawal, but proved to be worthy opponents by shocking University Games champions Far Eastern University.
STI’s upset, the biggest since the tourney’s inception in 2002-03 and possibly UP’s 52-41 win over Letran in 2005, should not be taken as a fluke. Instead, it’s indicative of the fact that the basketball landscape in the Philippines is changing, with erstwhile unnoticed programs like that of the Olympians inching their way up the hoops ladder despite having relatively littler resources than the big teams.
If anything, the Collegiate National Championship is fertile ground for the talent and development that evades our view of mainstream basketball. Once all this gets noticed, expect even more mayhem in the years to come.
Tags: CCL, CCL-2007, CNC, Collegiate-Champions-League, News, Postgame, Rey-GuevarraRelated posts
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tax_e_vasion
+0
Wednesday, 30 January 2008 at 1:25 pm
Pwede pwede ba? Yang mga hindi sumali sa CNC dahil tamad o takot matalo tahimik na lang at respetuhin ang panalo.
Wag nyo sabihin na walang kwenta rin ang panalo ng UST nung 06 dahil wala Lasalle at ng Beda ngayon dahil wala PCU.
Pwede ba pwede ba?
At yang mga nagsasabing bano yung mga kasali sa CNC na wala sa UAAP/NCAA?
May alam ba kayo?
Siguro naglalaro nmn talaga kayo ng basket at alam nyo na kung may effort at galing ay mananalo ka talaga.
Bottom line, yng mga eskwelang tulad ng UV ay kung tutuusin ay magaling rin naman.
Wag kayo mayabang. Wala na nga sila sa lugar nila umabot pa sila ng matagal.
Eh kung kayo kaya maglaro sa home turf nila?
Siguradong may excuse na naman kayo pag natalo kayo don.
yun yun!!!!
Christian Soler
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 10:58 pm
Well ABUSAYAF, all I want is some semblance of maturity in threads like this. We’re all basketball fans, so let’s try to show it in a civil way, whether or not our favorite school won or lost.
As for basketball players from Zamboanga, I frankly don’t know any prominent ones. I’m sure there are, and I’ll have to check on that. Although I’ll give you an interesting sidenote. Bader Malabes of DLSU, in one of his profiles online, claims to be based in Basilan.
GoBlue
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 11:52 am
Hahaha! ;)
One Big Fight! :)
ABUSAYAF
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 11:09 am
GOBLUE PISOT!
ABUSAYAF
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 9:34 am
SIR SOLER PASENCYA NA LANG MUNA KC TALO ANG MGA BISAYAS.LET HIM EXPRESS HIS FEELINGS TOWARD SA GAMES GANUN TALAGA PAGTALO MA INIT ANG ULO.KC CHAMPION TEAM TALAGA YUN U.V NUN PA SINCE 70′S .VISMIN CHAMP YAN EHH,KATAKUTAN TALAGA YANG TEAM NILA BIRDUGO YAN DIN EH .GRABE TALAGA ANG TRAINING DIYAN SA U.V LAGYAN NG BANGKO PAG MAG LAY UP SA PRACTICE .MASAKIT SA KANILA .THEY FEEL KC THEIR THE BEST.JUST LEAVE HER ALONE HANGGANG SAN CYA ,MATAHIMIK LANG YAN HEHE HE
ABUSAYAF
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 9:20 am
YAN YAN GUSTO MO BA?IPA PULIS KITA!
ABUSAYAF
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 9:17 am
sir christian ,may mga player ba ng uaap or ncaa galing a zamboanga city?cnu?cla wat school?aside from chek chua from air 21?from now cnu?pa?
ABUSAYAF
+0
Monday, 3 December 2007 at 9:09 am
WAG TAYO MAG SABI NG CHAMBA ANG LARO NG STI,TALAGANG PINANALO NILA ANG LARO ,THEY MADE THIER BEST,NA NINGOHA CLA MADAUG,MAGALING TALAGA YUN MGA DROP OUTS NG NCAA.SOME SAYS ,,DO NOT UNDERSTEMATE A PERSON BY ITS COVER,OR JUDGE THE PERSON .THEY HAVE THE POTENCIAL .TO THE DROP OUTS CONGRATS KEEP UP THE GOOD WORKS .WALA SA PANGALAN YAN NASA TAO YAN .KUNG BOBO TALAGA MAG LARO ANG PLAYER BOBO TALAGA.THIS IS THE CHALLENGE TO ALL PLAYERS FROM THE NCAA TO UAAP AND ALL THE TEAMS IN THE PHILIPPINES
prince
+0
Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 6:14 pm
to everyone out there, please i just want to see a better league. we have the power to have that if we make enough noise. i went to ust and if i’m still there i would talk to the pe department teachers and maybe mrs. francisco if she’s still there. talk to your pe teachers. talk to the players. talk to the coaches. unfortunately i’am out of the country and am having trouble reaching the right people. if you would just read my posts back on nov. 26. i feel there’s a valid point there. we’ll never get to the bottom of who has the best squad until more games with more teams are played. you dont have to play every team in every league. two or three from another league is enough to start. play twice a week. send two or more teams at a time to the south and viceversa. watch us ncaa basketball. right now they have the big 10/acc challenge and the pac 10/big 12 challenge. let’s get some ideas from that.
prince
+0
Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 6:03 pm
i dont have the numbers, but i think a better organized national collegiate league would have better ratings than the pbl.
prince
+0
Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 6:00 pm
would you say that the pbl is good or bad for collegiate ball? in my opinion these companies should just spend their money sponsoring a better organized national collegiate league. on the other hand i understand the financial impact this league has on the players.
yellow_we
+0
Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 1:09 am
Congratulations to the Blue Eagles. Since you represented our league (UAAP) in the finals and bested the Lancers, it made us all winners as well. For straight five CNC/CCL seasons, UAAP dominated again. True enough, UAAP is certainly the league of stellar champions.
Kudos to the entire Blue squad specially to Nonoy Baclao who did an excellent job stepping up bigtime for Ateneo. No wonder, he was just named as the MVP of this league. Ken improved a lot. Kirk is a potential scorer. Eric is a dependable point guard. A great future awaits for this blue squad for the next UAAP season. Indeed, this proves the BLACK MAGIC is now working on their hands.
Thanks for making your UAAP family proud of you.
Christian Soler
+0
Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at 11:37 pm
That’s a good suggestion GoBlue. Of course, we have to do our homework first. If you want a short rundown though on southern talent in Manila, here it is:
Franz Dysam, PG (Perpetual Help), Cebu
Nonoy Baclao, PF/C (ADMU), Negros Occidental
Mark Cagoco, PG (JRU), Davao
Pong Escobal, SG (San Beda), Davao
Eman Monfort, PG (ADMU), Iloilo
JR Cawaling, SF/PF (FEU), Cagayan de Oro
Roel Hugnatan, PF/C (AdU), Negros Occidental
I surely am missing out on other talents from the south, so my apologies there. But I’ll surely get back to you.
Hope this helps.
GoBlue
+0
Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at 11:30 pm
Sir Christian Soler, probably you guys can write a topic here about southern talents who are currently playing collegiate metroball. :)
Animo Ateneo!
GoBlue
+0
Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at 11:27 pm
It is the 1st time that I saw this Slaughter guy play ball. It’s good to see more southern talents invade the metro with the likes of pros Dondon Hontiveros, Junthy Valenzuela, etc. Even in Collegiate basketball, southern talents are starting to make names for themselves. Ateneo has 2 in their team (if i’m not mistaken), Nonoy Baclao, who transfered from Western Negros and Eman Monfort, who came from Ateneo de Iloilo High School.
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