JULY is in full bloom and so have the premier collegiate basketball circuits in Metro Manila such as the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
The NCAA opened its Season 90 last June 28. Host school is Jose Rizal University. There are 10 member schools in the oldest athletic association in the Philippines.
Two weeks later on July 12, it was the UAAP’s turn to unwrap its 77th campaign. The University of the East is this year’s host. Overall, eight teams are seeing action.
The NCAA was established in August 1924 upon the initiative of Dr. Regino R. Ylanan, the athletic director of the University of the Philippines. It is far older than the United States’ own NCAA, which was inaugurated in 1939.
The eight founding members are Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle College, the Institute of Accounts (now known as the Far Eastern University), National University, San Beda College, the University of Manila, the University of the Philippines-Manila and the University of Santo Tomas.
By 1936, UP, UST and FEU had withdrawn from the NCAA.
Ateneo quit the glamorous league in 1978 due to the violence that had become rampant during the games, including the tumultuous best-of-three 1977 finals between the then-two-time defending titlist Blue Eagles and the Red Lions. The series-deciding third game was held on closed doors following the melee that broke out in the opener at the Araneta Coliseum. San Beda won Game Three to deny Ateneo a third consecutive championship.
At the time of their departure, the Blue Eagles owned the most number of titles in the seniors division, a distinction that has since been acquired by San Beda College (now totaling 18th championships).
Ateneo’s chief nemesis, De La Salle, also left the NCAA in 1981 following a brawl between the fans of De La Salle and the supporters of Colegio de San Juan de Letran during a second-round encounter. The old Rizal Memorial Coliseum was a wreck after the two opposing sides ripped apart the chairs screwed to the ground and threw them as weapons.
The NCAA, which had been considered the most glamorous and popular collegiate league in Metro Manila at the time (even if the UAAP owned the more talented players), lost much of its luster following the departure of Ateneo and De La Salle.
Not even the vibrant Bedan faithful could prop up the NCAA’s sagging image through the years, at least until the influx of foreign student-athletes in the mid-2000s.
By then, the UAAP, which was founded by FEU, NU, UP and UST in 1938, had already supplanted the NCAA as the No. 1 gate attraction insofar as Metro Manila college ball is concerned, aided by the entrance of elite schools Ateneo in 1978 (the year the Blue Battalion squad exited the NCAA) and De La Salle in 1986.
University of the East, Adamson University, Manila Central University and UM were the first four expansion teams in 1952. Of the four, only UE survived for good although Adamson was readmitted to the league in 1970.
The eight-school UAAP has prospered by leaps and bounds in the last two decades with its unpredictability, excellent on-court product and a hard-driving marketing strategy by its television coveror.
Back to the NCAA, I believe powerhouse San Beda College will run away with the seniors title this season. Honestly speaking, the championship is for the Red Lions to lose as there is no other team out there that could really offer a formidable challenge against them.
The University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, Arellano University (under rookie head coach Jerry Codiñera) and San Sebastian College-Recoletos look like title pretenders judging by their performances in the early goings of the double-round, 18-game elimination segment but Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the bridesmaid (or runner-up) in the past two seasons (forcing SBC to a Game 3 in both final series), has struggled despite the return of Mark Cruz and Kevin Racal as league Most Valuable Player Raymond Almazan (a PBA rookie with Rain or Shine this past campaign) has joined the pros.
San Beda, the only founding member remaining in the NCAA, is bidding to capture a fifth straight men’s championship and duplicate the 1993-97 feat of San Sebastian College for the longest title-winning streak in league history. (Romel Adducul earned rings with the Golden Stags from 1994 to 1997.)
With wily court general Baser Amer and Nigerian import Ola Adeogun in the forefront, coach Boyet Fernandez’s Red Lions appear invincible and ready to collect their eighth championship in nine seasons.
During the stretch, only the SSC-R Stags were able to squeeze through San Beda’s championship stranglehold, having defeated the Red Lions during the 2009 finals.