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Basketball goings-on

Manila, Philippines-Gary David of Gilas Pilipinas hoists the MVP trophy during the 2014 PBA All Star Game held at the Mall of Asia Arena on 06 April 2014. ( Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

In the World of Hoops that many of us love, so much has happened in the past couple of weeks.  For hoop junkies (as BTV’s Jinno Rufino calls them, and they include me), there is really never enough basketball to enjoy, so, come on, keep it coming!  Let’s take a look at some of the significant happenings in basketball as April 2014 rolled in.



PBA All-Star Weekend

The PBA Commissioner’s Cup, in its elimination round homestretch, took a short break for the annual All-Star activities from April 3 to 6 2014.  The PBA held several activities off the court, as players and league officials had a press conference, made a hospital visit, conducted a basketball clinic for kids, held a referees’ clinic (hopefully there were fit, competent young men with whistles discovered here), and made several public appearances to invite fans to come and see the activities that would happen on the court throughout the three days.

All-Star Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena had a bunch of fun competitions.  In the Obstacle Challenge, San Mig Coffee’s Mark Barroca dethroned four-time champion Jonas Villanueva of Air 21.  In the Three-Point Shootout, former champ Marc Macapagal of Global Port regained his crown by beating last year’s rainbow country king, Chris Tiu of Rain or Shine.  Last year’s Slamdunk Contest champion, Chris Ellis, was out-dunked by unheralded Rey Guevarra of Meralco and rookie Justin Melton of San Mig, who were named co-dunk champions, showcasing an array of high-flying slams that wowed the crowd and the viewers on TV.

Slideshow: Then and Now: PBA Legends and who they think are their current PBA counterparts

The PBA Stalwarts vs Greats game held also that Friday, had legends Atoy Co and Bogs Adornado as coaches, and certain “old-timers” like Noli Locsin, Freddie Abuda, Franz Pumaren and Richard del Rosario, playing with current players such as Mark Cardona, Cliff Hodge, Guevarra, Melton, Villanueva, and Ronjay Buenafe.  Three-pointers rained and slam dunks thundered as the two teams tried to outdo each other, highlight after highlight, but ended up in a tie, 136-all, much to the fans’ delight.  Guevarra won MVP honors with 34 points, almost all on jams.



The “All-Star Game” held on 06 April 2014 between national team Gilas Pilipinas and the PBA All-Star selection turned out to be very different from any of the past years’ All-Star finales.  It was actually a tune-up game for Gilas, as the PBA All-Stars pushed and shoved them, played straight-up defense, and challenged them to play both ends off the court.

Absent were the usual several-highlights-per-minute and absence of defense that usually prevail in an exhibition contest, and although there were a few replay-worthy sequences, and a clash of giants, the game will probably be remembered more for its contribution to Gilas’ preparation for the FIBA World Cup.  Gary David emerged as MVP, scoring 15.  The teams’ pre-game dance-off?  No comment.



Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame 2014 Inductees

In February 2014, during the NBA All-Star Weekend, the Hall of Fame announced five “directly-elected” members, namely, Bob Leonard of the ABA, former NBA player and African-American pioneer Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, former NBA player Lithuanian Sarunas Marciulionis, Guy Rodgers, and former NBA Commissioner David Stern.  On 07 April 2014, the Hall announced five more inductees, namely, Immaculata University’s championship teams from the 1970s, NCAA Coaches Gary Williams and Nolan Richardson, and former NBA stars Mitch Richmond and Alonzo Mourning.

The NBA is having another great year, and with just a few games left in the regular season, the complete playoff pictures for both conferences have yet to be determined.  Fittingly, such a talented league deserves at least one inductee into the Hall every year.  Marciulionis’ contributions were more to the international game than in the NBA, though he was a solid NBA player for several seasons.  Both Richmond and Mourning seemed to be borderline all-stars, considering the level of achievement many others inducted before them possess, but their numbers do not lie, and they are impressive.

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Richmond averaged 21 points per game, scoring more than 20,000 points overall.  Mourning first nine out of ten seasons were solid, but a kidney ailment limited his effectivity for the remainder of his career.  He finished averaging more than 17 points and 8 rebounds per game.  Congratulations to all the new Hall of Famers, who will be inducted in August 2014.

US NCAA Champion UConn Huskies

March Madness happened again, and it sure was one heck of a ride.  Every gameday, there were nail-biters, wins on buzzer-beaters or come-from-behind thrillers that made Filipino basketball fans stay tuned, even if they weren’t familiar with all the teams.  Brackets were definitely broken as upsets abounded and possible Cinderella teams emerged.  At the end of it all, the two last teams standing forced a matchup between dogs and cats, as the Huskies of Connecticut faced the Wildcats of Kentucky.

Slideshow: University of Connecticut Huskies celebrate their unlikely NCAA championship

Both universities had won multiple NCAA men’s basketball championships (UConn 3, Kentucky 8), but the stories for each team this time around were different.  For the Cats, talk centered around their all-freshman first five.  For UConn, the coach’s story seemed to overshadow the team’s.  Former Husky Kevin Ollie, an NBA journeyman in his first year at the helm, had taken over a seemingly faltering program, but had taken his team to the final game.

In the title game on 08 April 2014 (Manila time), Kentucky fought valiantly, but UConn led early and weathered every storming Wildcat come-back attempt, to notch its fourth NCAA title.  Yahoo-search the history of these two teams and you will find how many familiar names there are on their championship rosters.  It was an entertaining final game and a splendid way to cap off another edition of such an exciting yearly tournament.



UAAP Residency Rule tackled in the Philippine Senate

The UAAP, supposedly the country’s top university league, instituted last year a rule that any high-school student-athlete of a UAAP-member school who “transfers” to another UAAP-member school for university cannot play for a period of two whole years in the UAAP.  This drew a ton of comments and criticism from every direction at the time, to the point that Senator Pia Cayetano spearheaded an investigation on the matter, and publicly exhibited her scorn for the rule, vowing to ensure it would not last.

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The rule was once again tackled in a public hearing held on 01 April 2014, and another on 10 April 2014, wherein different stakeholders and resource persons were allowed to give their opinions and suggestions, “in aid of legislation.”  Senator Cayetano was ably supported by Senator Cynthia Villar, and the two lady senators all but proclaimed that the rule could no longer be enforced, especially after the Magna Carta of Student-Athletes will be passed into law in June 2014.  I have been against the rule from the get-go and would like to see it abolished and never heard from again.  Now, as for the other facets of the Magna Carta, hopefully, other “problems” of student athletes, including benefits, allowances, academic requirements, etc. are also addressed.  Let’s wait and see.



PBA Expansion

To the delight of PBA fans everywhere, as well as the league stakeholders themselves, there will be three new teams at the start of the PBA’s 40th season later this year.  The applications of Kia Motors, NLEX, and Ever Bilena were granted on 10 April 2014, a historic day for Asia’s first play-for-pay basketball league.

The clamor for expansion had been there for several years, particularly because of the deep talent pool throughout the country and the lack of opportunity of so many skilled players to showcase their skills in the premier stage for hoops in the country.  With the guidelines presented and accepted, the three new teams will bring the team roster up to thirteen, with hopefully another team to even out the number coming in very soon.

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Despite the great news, in a world where it is hard to please everybody, complainers abounded after it was announced that the new teams would have to pay a huge sum (P100M), not be allowed to have direct-hire players, and that the current PBA teams could protect fourteen of their players, only exposing the rest to the expansion draft.  I say, stop complaining and be happy with this development.  Stop the negativity!  Any way you look at this, it is good for the league, the fans, and the players.  Bravo to the PBA and to its three new member teams!  Welcome to the PBA!

On a final note, I would like to convey my belated but sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of the late Ely Capacio (23 February 2014) and Rob Williams (10 March 2014), both of whom played on 1986 PBA champion teams of league pioneer franchise Tanduay.  Rest in peace, gentlemen.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.